Background Music: "Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)"  performed by The Doors
Written in 1927 by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill and used their 1930 German opera "Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny"
"Oh, moon of Alabama, We now must say goodbye" seems appropriate for our last Alabama stop, though we're not big fans of whiskey...
Hurray!  We made it through all 3 Alabama stops without using "Sweet Home Alabama"  :)


We’re in Mobile, Alabama this stop. It’s our first look at the sandy white beaches and blue water we were told we’d find around the Gulf of Mexico- much different than the gulf we saw in Texas. The beauty of the gulf is only slightly marred by the half dozen or so massive oil rigs on the horizon. As people who are using more than our share of gasoline on this trip around the country, we can’t really complain about that.

The tourist attractions here include the beach (of course), beautiful botanical gardens and old southern homes, and The Civil War- or at least the part that the Battle of Mobile Bay played. The famous line, “Damn the Torpedoes!”, and the fall of the monitor, Tecumseh, happened here.

Also, to some, this is the primary destination for Mardi Gras. It was the location of the first Mardi Gras celebrated in the United States, and if the tour guide at the Mobile Mardi Gras Museum is to be believed (and we do), the celebration here offers just as much pomp, circumstance and fun-loving foolishness as the better known one in New Orleans. Our tour guide was in his 70’s and still takes part in a number of the Mardi Gras parades, dressing as court jester- a part he’s played for over 50 years. It was fun listening to his stories given in a cocky southern drawl, jokingly calling people, “those darn Yankees”, and talking about showing off his “sexy legs” in his jester tights.

The city of Mobile itself is pretty small, only a few short blocks, but it’s a nice little city- a lot going on in a little area. We were able to visit three forts, two museums (Mardi Gras and the USS Alabama), two botanical gardens, a couple of state parks and take a ferry trip across the bay all within a 40 mile radius- a luxury compared to some 1 to 2 hour treks we’ve taken to see one attraction.

So, this is our last stop in Alabama. We’re moving east to Florida now- furthest from home, it’ll mark our halfway point on the trip. We like Alabama, but Disneyworld is a-callin’. Bye Alabama- it’s been fun!