OOPS...

Not sure how it happened (aging brain cells maybe?) but this even though this was written it never got posted  so it's out of order- sorry

Yesterday, Wednesday, 2/19, was a very busy day for us. Our first stop before leaving Tennessee was a visit to the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg, TN. Guided tours are offered with or without sampling their products. (We chose without as there was much driving to come. We thought perhaps one could get a “high” anyway from the aromas wafting from the stills.) Our tour was very complete and interesting. Our tour guide was personable and a font of knowledge. Aside from all the great facts about the Jack Daniel’s distilling process, one spot of interest for us was a room with brass plaques with the names of people/companies who order a barrel/barrels of Jack Daniel’s. To join this impressive “club” you pay $9,000 to $12,000 per barrel. This may seem too rich for most people’s blood, but you DO get to keep the barrel! (For our 50th anniversary, I plan to order a barrel of Jack Daniel’s for Ladd. Please don’t tell him because I want it to be a surprise….LOL!)

Our first stop in Birmingham, Alabama was at the Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark. When we pulled up students were boarding three school buses departing from their field trip there. If you are from a school district near ours in upstate New York you may not even remember what field trips are unless you’ve “been around for a while.” These were trips the students went on to support and enrich the curriculum and to help bring it to life. When we told the guide at Sloss Furnaces we were glad to see students coming for a field trip there since we no longer had them, she asked where we were from. We said we were from New York, and she said, “What? Isn’t New York a ‘rich’ state?” With all our budget cuts we do not have field trips anymore, but “poor” Birmingham still does. The students, and we, got to learn the history behind the Sloss Furnace ironmaking industry. Ironmaking was the quintessential Birmingham industry and “made” Birmingham. The raw materials for making iron – iron ore, limestone, and coal – were available in abundance in the Birmingham area, and for ninety some years men turned these materials into pig iron at Sloss. On our tour we got to see the furnaces, blowers, stoves, boilers, and the amazing network of pipes that carried steam, water, and gas. Hard to imagine the genius, drive, and determination needed to envision and develop this process and industry!

Our next stop was at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. What an impressive presentation of displays of a sad, shameful period in our country’s history. One of the exhibits was a K.K.K. robe and cross that had been burned. The sign said the K.K.K. robe was “donated anonymously”….no surprise there, right??! Being officially old, Ladd and I remembered some of the historical events depicted in the museum’s exhibits. Despite being “aware” of these events, the exhibits were so powerful that we viewed them anew with disbelief, anger, sadness, and hope for a better future. As we neared the end of the self-guided tour, one of the Institute employees was chatting with us. He directed us to an autographed photograph on the wall and said, “See if you recognize the people in that picture.”  In the photograph was President Clinton, facing Reverend Shuttleworth, with then Senator Obama pushing the Reverend’s wheelchair! It was autographed by both President Clinton and then Senator Obama! The black woman at the desk saw how interested we were in the photograph and said to us, “I told the Institute that if that picture ever ‘disappears’ that they should look at my house first because I want that picture!” LOL  She had been a teacher prior to working at the Institute so we had an easy time talking to each other! We told her how powerful we thought the exhibits were, and she told us she could not get her mother to come to the Institute because her mother says, “I LIVED it.”  Across the street from the Institute is the park where the police used fire hoses and dogs on the demonstrators fifty some years ago. This woman told us about the struggles of the Latino population now marching in that same park for their rights. She said she felt sorry for them, understood their struggles, and wondered about “history repeating itself.” Hmmm…attempts to impose new, harder voter registration requirements on college students, the elderly, the poor…does made one wonder if we’ve learned anything from history or if we’re “doomed” to repeat it. The conversation then turned to a lighter topic: her suggestion for a good place to eat a late lunch/early dinner. She said without hesitation, “The Sweet Tea.” We are never ones to argue with recommendations from locals, so to the “Sweet Tea” we went. (Actually, before heading to the “Sweet Tea”, we went across the street to “The 16th Street Baptist Church”. We wanted to go inside there, too, but it was closed.)  At the “Sweet Tea” were great aromas and so many super-looking choices, we were slow making our decisions as we moved through the cafeteria-style line. We both chose the roasted chicken, corn-bread stuffing with gravy, corn muffin, collard greens again for me, and mac and cheese for Ladd. The place was “jumping” with locals and a busy take-out business, too. We could see why…yum! Full and happy we headed to our hotel to rest up for our travels to New Orleans on Thursday.