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October 18, 2006
Montgomery
Although I’ve spent the last 5 weeks in the city of Montgomery, in all honesty, I didn’t get to explore it in as much detail as I would have liked. However, here are a few of the images I made, that I thought you may enjoy.
Of course, Montgomery is the state capital of Alabama. This is the capital building is lit up very well.
This is a similar view, this time with a little “character.” :-)
I thought this building was fitting, since I am such a fan of history. This is the state department of archives and history.
The 1960’s (as you may recall) brought a lot of national attention to Montgomery. It was the site of Rosa Parks famously defiant bus ride, and here you can see the church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. first preached to a congregation.
Now, switching from the historic to the personal, these are our friends Tom and Kat.
Here we all are together.
This is our friend Sam whom we first met back in Guam, but now lives in Louisiana. She drove the several hours east to see spend a couple days with us in Alabama. We enjoyed spending time with her. :-)
If you are a golfer, you have probably heard of a man named Robert Trent Jones. If you’re not, he’s a very famous golf course designer. Supposedly, he designed my favorite course at the Air Force Academy. More importantly, he also has several courses in the region. I was able to experience two while I was in Alabama. The first was with up in Birmingham at a course named Oxmoor Valley with our friends Eric and Sangreal. Here are a couple of images of our round.
The second was with a friend from SOS, Eddie. Eddie and I had already played the base course, which was nice, but no comparison to a RTJ course. This particular one was called Capital Hill and the 18 we played has the intimidating name of “The Judge.” Our golf cart warned us to “be prepared to be judged.” While it wasn’t the toughest course I’ve ever played, it was certainly a challenge and for a mere $40, well worth it.
Here are some of the images from our round there. As you will see, it wasn’t just about the golf. There was plenty of fauna around to entertain us while we waited to take our shots.
This is the first hole that overlooked the Alabama River.
Eddie and I taking our tee shots.
Here is some of that fauna I mentioned. The squirrels were much larger with very unique coloring.
Yes, Eddie did drain this putt. He was playing well. :-)
However, this tee shot wasn’t “successful,” but at least he could laugh about it. If you recall the final Guam entry, this island green reminded me of hole 12 on Mangilao. Perhaps this one wasn’t quite as tough though. I actually managed to land my ball on the green, relatively close to the flag (although I didn’t make the birdie putt).
There were lots of cranes out on the course. They are very majestic creatures and very good fisher-animals. I watched them snag numerous small fish from the water.
One last image of a green on the course. It was a very enjoyable way to spend the last full day in Montgomery. The next day, we headed down to Florida to spend a couple days with our friend Tom.
Even though we didn’t get to explore Montgomery as much as we’d have liked, we did enjoy our time there.
Until the next adventure...
--Jim
Posted by jim at October 18, 2006 11:10 AM
Comments
Jim,
HI! I am Tom's mother. Tom just gave me the url to your blog. I was delighted to be able to see the photographs that you have posted.
You were fortunate to be on the Gulf Coast last weekend and not this one. The thunderboomers that have rolled through in the last 24 hours have been awesome but not the sort of weather for a beach weekend.
Do hope that you will both enjoy your experience in Germany. The raw land is so stunning. Tom said that you are quite the photographer (as he is not), so you should have a ton of pictures before you return to the states.
Best of luck to the two of you.
Lynda McCaleb
Posted by: Lynda McCaleb at October 22, 2006 09:58 PM
Jim,
What you couldn't find a pic of me smiling? JK! I had a great time with you both on my visit. Next trip...Germany? I'm going to miss you guys.
Sam
Posted by: Samantha Koeppen at November 2, 2006 12:13 AM