Birmingham

Alabama was fun.

Chris and I had one of the best meals of our trip at a little restaurant downtown Birmingham called Hot and Hot Fish Club.  Amazing menu, atmosphere and service.

We stayed at a very cool little hotel called Aloft.  It’s part of the W hotel brand and super hip.   The kids loved the pool table and Wii in the lobby.

But I think the most powerful part of our stay was the Civil Rights Institute.  It was very well done and extremely powerful.  We learned so much about the Crow Laws, Segregation, the Freedom Riders, and demonstrations of violence in the 1960′s.  (Unbelievably not that long ago.)

Looking out the window of the Institute you can see the street where men, women and children were shot with fire hoses and the 16th Street Baptist church that was bombed by the KKK killing four little girls. Sobering.

On the way out of the Institute, we were mesmerized by a video of artist Denny Dent painting speed painting Martin Luther King.  I wish I could find it online because it is so amazing.  I did find one of him doing Jimi Hendricks.  He does his portrait in the time it takes to play one of his songs-it’s worth the three minutes.  So impressive.