Kids Korner

Visit Birmingham, AL and Beyond! Alabama Adventure Park Vulcan Park McWane Center Ready for some cornbread and sweet tea? You’ll find plenty in Alabama—that’s if you have time to stop and eat between checking out race cars at the track and alligators at the zoo, jumping waves at the beaches, riding water slides, fishing at state parks and, hopefully, learning about the Civil Rights Movement along the way.

Did You Know?

• Can you believe there was a time not long ago when business owners refused to serve African American customers? Birmingham, AL was at the center of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s that changed the country. Visit the 16th Street Baptist Church where four little African American girls died in a bombing that was a turning point for race relations; Kelly Ingram Park, where you can walk the “Freedom Walk” and see sculptures telling the story of the brave men, women, and children who played such an important role in the Movement. Visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute that will introduce you to the people who dared to confront discrimination and bigotry (www.bcri.org).

• You can check out an alligator swamp right in downtown Birmingham—at the Birmingham Zoo. It’s Alabama’s top tourist attraction with more than 700 animals. There’s a new Children’s Zoo too where you can help brush the sheep (www.birminghamzoo.com).

• The Talladega Superspeedway is the biggest and fastest motorsports track in the world. Visit the Superspeedway and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame while you’re in Alabama (www.talladegasuperspeedway.com) or the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum and racing track where there are motorcycles as well as cars (www.barbermuseum.org).

• You can see replicas of Noah’s Ark, St Peter’s Basilica, Old Bethlehem and more all near Birmingham at the Ave Maria Grotto. Brother Joseph Zoetti crated the sites over 50 years in Cullman, Ala., about 50 miles from Birmingham. He used everything from marbles, shells, and coconuts to build the 125 miniature structures as small as three inches (www.avemariagrotto.com).

• Folk artists don’t have to have any special training. Some hunt junkyards and trash piles to find pieces of metal, signs, toys, and other “treasures” people have thrown away that they use in their art. People come from around the world to visit Alabama’s folk artists and 2007 has been proclaimed the “Year of Alabama Art.” You might be able to visit artists in their own studios. Check out Space One Eleven where artists and talented inner-city kids create and sell their works (www.spaceoneeleven.org) or the Alabama Folk Art Exhibition, mounted by the Birmingham Museum of Art, at the Young and Bvann Warehouse in Downtown Birmingham (www.artsbma.org).

• The world’s biggest cast iron statue—56 feet high!—is in Birmingham. The statue of the Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and forge, was originally built in 1904 and has been the symbol of Birmingham ever since. You’ll find it on top of Red Mountain in Vulcan Park (www.vulcanpark.org).

• You can party all summer long at Celebration Street at Alabama Adventure, a theme and water park in Birmingham. Check out the four-foot-high waves in the wave pool and the rampaging Rampage, considered one of the country’s best wooden coasters. For the littlest park goers, there’s an interactive water play area and a sand beach (www.alabamaadventure.com).

• Birmingham was founded in 1871 at the crossroads of two railroad lines. Now it’s the biggest city in Alabama (www.thediversecity.org).

• Birmingham is a great place to sample old-fashioned Southern cooking. Ready for cornbread, ribs, greens, fried chicken, and cobbler? If you’re going to try grits, add some butter, salt and pepper. If you’re feeling adventurous, try dipping your cornbread in “potlikker,” a greenish brew that drains from fresh cooked turnip greens. Ask at your hotel for favorite restaurant picks or visit www.Birminghamrestaurants.com.

• You can take your pick of mountains or beaches in Alabama. Check out Gulf shores, Orange Beach or Fort Morgan or try Oak Mountain State Park near Birmingham or another where you can camp or rent a cabin. Got your fishing pole? Visit www.800Alabama.com.

What Other Kids Say You Should Do While In Birmingham . . .

Meet: Jonathan (age 9). He is the son of Southwest Airlines Birmingham Operations Supervisor, Doug. He says: “Birmingham is a cool place to live.” Don’t Miss: The McWane Center The iMAX Dome The Vulcan Quarry Don't go home without “Having some fun at Alabama Adventure.” Best Places to Eat are Dreamland BBQ, Jubilee Joe's, and Iguana Grill. Best Places to Visit Outside of Birmingham are Huntsville Space and Rocket Center, DeSoto Caverns, and Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum. Feeling a little adventurous? Go on a Scavenger Hunt!

Kids, Tell Your Parents . . .

Alabama is a great place t o mix a little history—about the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement—with a lot of fun swimming at the beaches, canoeing at state parks, playing golf and eating. There’s even a barbeque trail through the state! Visit www.southernfoodways.com. Check out Alabama’s official tourism site, www.800Alabama.com.

Here are some other good bets for fun and games:

• The McWante Center in Birmingham, an interactive science museum complete with IMAX and a 10-foot-tall tornado (www.McWane.org).
• The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, which includes eight courses across the state—each course within two hours of the next one (www.rtjgolf.com).
• The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in Birmingham, which honors great jazz artists with ties to Alabama including Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, and Lionel Hampton (www.jazzhall.com).
• Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham with Wright Brothers memorabilia and old biplanes to modern day jets (www.southernmuseumofflight.org).
• Ruffner Mountain Nature Center near downtown Birmingham with more than 500 acres of woodlands to explore (www.bham.net/ruffner).
• Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in Birmingham that pays tribute to Alabama sports legends including Olympic Medalist Jesse Owns and form Alabama Coach Bear Bryant and Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays (www.alasports.org)
• Coming in October to the Birmingham Museum of Art Pompei -- Tales from an Eruption. Birmingham is only one of three American cities to host the exhibit (www.artsbma.org).
• The Birmingham Flea Market on the grounds of the Alabama State Fairgrounds (www.fleamarketguide.com).
• Tannehill Iron Works Historical State Park, a refection of Alabama life in the 1800s (www.tannehill.org).
• Sloss Furnaces, which once produced pig iron and is now open to the public as a museum of industry (www.slossfurnaces.com).
• Mercedes Benz U.S. International Visitors Center and Plant Tour, the only one of its kind outside Germany (www.mbusi.com).

See Past Editions of Kids Korner.

By: Eileen Ogintz, Author of Taking the Kids™