I haven’t actually stayed in this hotel because I live in T-town, but I always put my guest examiners in this hotel every semester because the hotel has a great service. My guests have had a great experience staying in there. I visited one of the rooms one time before my guest came and was very happy with it. The room is large and comfortable. The bathroom is nice and clean. Right next to the hotel is the Wings restaurants, which has killer chicken wings! I always want to make my guests feel comfortable during their stay in Tuscaloosa; therefore I make sure that they are fed before heading to the airport. The Hampton offers continental breakfast.

Various shots of cherry blossom trees and a blimp in the sky.

Waysider Restaurant is located on Greensboro Ave. and 15th St., Tuscaloosa. A great breakfast/brunch place. The atmosphere is very homey, with Alabama football paintings and paraphernalia around the walls. The service is very friendly, and they are always ready to warm up your coffee. The restaurant serves killer hot cakes (pancakes) and coffee – a must-try morning combo. A more conventional American breakfast is also available, eggs, sausage, bacon, etc. You must try grits when you’re here ☺ My friend, who was visiting at the time, frowned at first because she didn’t know what the heck grits was and was a little hesitant to try. But she eventually looooove it so much that she grabbed a huge pack of grits at a supermarket to bring back to Canada.

Queen City Pool
Queen City and Jack Warner Parkway

I found something really interesting in my own neighborhood today. A place that I have never explored before, but traveled past many, many times. I mean, I knew it was there, but I had no idea that the place held such an interesting history.

From outside it looked like an abandoned building that did not resemble an apartment building or a big house. It just looked like a shabby, rundown oval building. Besides, it was sort of hidden by the shrubbery and trees so much that nobody seemed to care to notice. Even more, it was located on a very busy highway, Jack Warner Parkway, where vehicles passed around at minimum 50 mph. Any driver including me would not notice. I myself thought it was a neglected area.

But when I looked at a historic plate sign posted at the Tuscaloosa Public Library, it dawned on me that it must be a historic site. Eagerly I grabbed my camera and walked over to the premise.

On approaching the place, I took pictures of the front part of the building. I assumed it used to be the entrance to the field and a small landing for tickets. The area was surrounded by shrubbery and untended grass. The entrance was dilapidated, rusty, and just plain nasty looking.

Then I walked around to the left side and entered the supposedly “field.” Inside there was a long narrow field with bleacher stands on the opposite side of the field. There was nothing but grass and shabby wooden seating. The back of the building looking to the field had these small outlets which I could imagine that they might have been food or drink stands.

Then I found something that was just fascinating. On the left side of the field, there was a beautiful fountain structure. It was dry, though, but the structure and carvings were still visible. I just could imagine in the past children were playing around the fountain. How beautiful! What a find, too!!

***Out of my own curiosity I did some research about it -- it wasn't a softball field, it was a pool. That grassy field is a drained pool now covered with top soil. How amazing is that!

As quoted from "Historic Tuscaloosa": "Designed by architect Don Buel Schuler a student of Frank Lloyd Wright and built with WPA money, the pool was one of the finest in the state. The poured concrete bathhouse features a unique design of intersecting circles and arcs. The wading pool contains a delightful art deco fountain. Closed since the 1980s, the City of Tuscaloosa is developing plans for its restoration" (http://www.historictuscaloosa.org/endanger.html#e1).

Day 4 (continued in the list)

Dinner
Italian
-    Café Venice and De Palma’s, both in downtown Tuscaloosa on University Blvd. The restaurants actually stand almost opposite each other. Café Venice holds the Wednesday Night Half Price Pizza and Wine by the bottle, and De Palma’s has an awesome menu from antipasti down to its killer Tiramisu for dessert.  

Mexican
-    Pepito’s on the University Blvd Strip area. Try its nachos locos ☺ -- that’s my favorite.
-    el Rincon just a couple of doors down from Pepito’s. I like its enchilada and they make mean margaritas, Curacao or Mango margaritas are among of my favorites.
-    Cancun Mexican Restaurant is at 2200 Mcfarland Blvd E. They have 2 menus: the menu or the ‘other’ menu. The menu is the pretty much the same menu as with the other Mexican restaurant where you can get Carne Asada while the OTHER menu lists the real Mexican food with the stuff you would never find in other Mexican restaurant. Like the owner once said to me: ‘would like the American menu or the Mexican menu?’   

Asian
-    Benkei Japanese is located on McFarland Blvd NE just off Rice Mine Rd. NE. The teppanyaki-style restaurant is the best among the sleuth of other Japanese restaurants in town. It is the best Japanese food you get for the money.
-    Buffet City Chinese is located on Skyland Blvd E. past a Pier 1 Imports and a WalMart. Love the Mongolian barbecue there. Great selection for a buffet. Very affordable and always open during the days no other food establishments, except for the fast food, are open. Last year I didn’t get the flight out till the day after Christmas so I went there to get some food. I was surprised I was not alone ☺  
-    Swen Chinese restaurant on McFarland Blvd in Northport on the  last strip mall before  US 43N. Delicious, very different from other Chinese restaurants I have dined in. I love their Buddhist Delight (vegetarian dish with tofu).
-    Ruan Thai Restaurant is located on the strip of University Blvd next to a BP station. It is a white house built on an elevated ground so you cannot miss it from the road. My favorite is the chicken and cashew dish, thai seafood soup, tofu, and many others that don’t have bamboo shoots in it ☺
-    Maharaja India is located on 15th St and Hackberry Rd in the corner strip mall that has a bowling center. Great Indian food. Love the mango lassi. Reasonable price.
-    Little Tokyo Vietnamese/Japanese is located just next door from the Indian restaurant. Its sushi and pho are delicious and in big portion.

Hamburger
- Mugshots Grill & Bar serves big bad hamburgers and fries. It is located on Greensboro Ave. in the restaurant/bar row just next to Epiphany restaurant (will be explained later in ‘fine dining’ and the Irish pub Innisfree (also in ‘bars’). My favorite is Stu’s Magic Mushroom that stacks the freshly grilled burger patty topped with sautéed mushroom and provolone cheese and veggies. With a side of fries, the burger gives an empty stomach a satisfactory feeling. I also love the fried mushrooms as appetizer.

Mediterranean
-    Tut’s is located snugly on the University Blvd strip and Grace St. next to Houndstooth Bar. Even though the place is small, it serves mean gyro (my favorite) and other Mediterranean foods.
-    Another Mediterranean restaurant Hooligan’s, located a little further down University Blvd toward downtown, is much bigger and has a courtyard eating place. It is also very good. I love the baklava.

Fine Dining
-    the Globe restaurant is located in downtown Northport on the corner of Main Ave. and 5th St. The restaurant’s entire walls are decorated with Shakespearean-themed paintings and knick-knacks. The menu is a collection of French and Italian food.
-    Cypress Inn and Epiphany. Cypress Inn is reasonably priced and located on the bank of Black Warrior River on Rice Mine Rd., but the Globe and Epiphany are ridiculously expensive -- so just save them for special occasion. I went to the Globe a few times because somebody paid for my meal and to Epiphany with a bunch of friends to celebrate a graduation. In any case, these three would be the best fine dining places I would always choose to go.

Some shots taken from the Alabama Museum of Natural History. 

Day 5 (continued in the list)

Coffee Shops and Bars

Coffee Shops
- Capture Studio Café is my favorite coffee place in town. It is not located in the strip where everything else is, but the extra distance trades off with great hangout place, a much spacious area, a large TV monitor, live music, arts exhibit, and a very trendy restroom! Capture not only serves coffee and the standard muffins or cookies, it also serves lunch cold and toast sandwiches and salad. 

- Crimson Café is a popular coffee place on the strip. It is usually packed with students having their coffee, or sandwich, or chat with other students. However, the place serves delicious giant cake slices, which is always an attraction to me. The place is not that bad if you have only few minutes to run get some coffee because it is just right there on the strip.
- Wicked Beans is another coffee place where I would go if I don’t have enough time, don’t want to drive all the way downtown, or if Crimson café is too packed. Wicked Beans used to be ‘Bad Ass Coffee.’ The backside of the premise is arranged with seats and rocking chairs overlooking the strip at an angle.

Bars
Tuscaloosa is a dry county, so no alcohol purchase on Sunday. And these bars are closed accordingly on Sundays (starting at 3 AM).

- Houndstooth, currently under construction, will reopen in summer. It is a great place to hang out because it has the only outdoor drinking patio in the strip. I should warn you, though, avoid the place during the Alabama football home games. The place is packed like a frozen coffee packet. You cannot possibly shuffle your way into the bar in the patio, let alone getting a pitcher.
- Egan’s is a cool vintage place right in front of Houndstooth on the strip. It is tiny, though.
- Cheap Shots is also another tiny bar on the strip, but it has a booth seating row at the back so it is very nice.
- 4th & 23rd is located in the downtown bar and restaurant areas. It charges for cover, but it showcase live music. I like this place, as well.
- Wil Hagan’s is located behind the block downtown on 4th Ave. I used to go there with a bunch of friends to play pool. They have about 10 tables there.
- Innisfree Irish Pub is located on the other side of the downtown bars on Greensboro, next to Epiphany restaurant. It is a small place but cozy. It has a mezzanine where a small group of people can kick back and have some cold one.
- Catch 22 is located just around the corner from Innisfree on Greensboro and 6th St. It has a small fenced outdoor patio with chairs and tables for people to drink outside. It is a nice place �" a more grown up, I think because the other bars on the strip are just full of students. If you sit down outside in the patio you looking straight at the historic downtown Bama Theater.

Wine Tasting
- Carpe vino is located on Greensboro and 4th St downtown. The place is fairly new. It has great interior. You can taste, and buy, wine from all over the world. I personally think it is a great atmosphere and a great break among the rows of sports bars.

Day 3

I decided to make a list of places to eat or drink in my town that I have visited and had great experience with. The list actually helps me choose which place to go to whenever I feel like going out to eat or drink. It happens most of the time when a group of friends and I planned to eat out or go for a drink, we would avoid making decision about where to go and say to each other: “you decide”, “no, you decide”, or “I chose a place last time”… over and over again. Therefore the list can preview the local restaurants or bars that finally would help us make a decision.

The list is divided into three parts: (1) Breakfast/Brunch & Lunch, (2) Dinner & Fine Dining, and (3) Coffee Shops and Bars. Almost all the places on the list are local business premises. Only about 4 places are chain. ’Dinner’ section featured the restaurants based on the type of food. For example, Italian, Mediterranean, and so on. I try to provide a description of the location for the places to give an idea how far or close by the places relative to the town of Tuscaloosa. Some of the places have also been separately featured in my travels reviews.

I love to go to local-owned places because I think the quality of food is better, the service is much nicer, and hence the customer is happier because she gets her money worth. I also hope that by creating the list, I will not only remember which places that make me come back, but also let anybody who will pass by or visit Tuscaloosa know where to go to the great places to eat or hang out.

Breakfast, Brunch, and Lunch

Breakfast
- The Waysider on Greensboro Ave. and 15th St. Their signature hot cakes and coffee breakfast is heaven. Other top choices: the classic eggs and sausages and hashbrown and grits. It is a small, locally-owned breakfast place whose service is very friendly and price is very reasonable.

- IHOP on Skyland Blvd and Greensboro Ave. across from Cobb Movie theater �" pretty self expalanatory ☺ , but I like the crepes.

Brunch and Lunch
- City Café on Main Ave. and 5th St. in Northport off the Greensboro bridge (US 69). Southern food specialty from beef stew, cube steak, corn bread, fried green tomatoes, fried chicken, steamed cabbage, and many other delicious dishes. Top with chocolate cake or keylime pie for desserts and sweet tea. It is a local favorite, long lines during lunch time, closed on weekends and school holidays.

- Newk’s on University Blvd and 2nd Ave. Great selection on sandwiches and pizza.
- Schlotzsky on 15th St. E and 4th Ave. E. The Santa Fe Turkey sandwich is my favorite.
- Panera Bread on McFarland Blvd in Midtown Plaza Shopping Center just next to Barnes & Noble. Love the Chipotle Chicken sandwich and the variety of cookies and muffins.

The Paul W. Bryant Museum archives the University of Alabama sports. Visitors who are interested in the history of the Crimson Tide team will find images, videos, stories, and sports equipment exhibited to honor the achievement of the team. The museum is located on 300 Paul W. Bryant Drive, Tuscaloosa, AL next to the Sheraton Campus Hotel. It is open to public. The museum charge is $1 for students and $2 for adults. During the football season the museum is especially busy with people to want to know more about the history and achievement of the football team and their legendary coach, and other coaches. In the morning of the game day, people would mix their activities among tailgating, cookout, check out the museum, and have some more beer before heading to the stadium. The museum also honors the achievements in other sports, for example, people can view the track team’s success. There is an exhibit with an antique sofa facing an old television set. When you sit down, the TV will play a video from a football game from a long time ago. You feel like you go back to the time where the uniform and helmet were different. To check out what is in the collection, check out http://bryantmuseum.ua.edu/

-- Bama Theater -- The theater is not a regular movie theater like the Regal and the like because it has its own history of the preservation of theatrical entertainment. Bama Theater is located on the corner of Greensboro Ave. and 6th St. The address is 600 Greensboro Ave, Tuscaloosa, AL. Tel (205) 758-5195. Inside, the stage is designed with the orchestra and balcony seating section. The ceiling is painted with an enormous mural. The theme of the mural is the sky, with twinkling stars and clouds. Bama Theater is a community theater, rather than a commercial one. Students are usually free to enter. Other visitors are charged for a very small fee. I saw many great independent and foreign movies here in this theater. The feel of the theater give an extra sense of mystery and excitement when seeing these types of films. Sometimes I feel like I’m watching the film in Italy.

The house is gorgeous – it’s a typical Antebellum house with great pillars at the entrance leading to the front door, two staircases leading up to the second floor on both side of the outside of the house, and the room division inside the house. Gorgas House is one of the few buildings that survived the destruction of the town of Tuscaloosa, the campus of the University of Alabama in particular, during the Civil War. The house belongs to the Gorgas family who lived there for some time in the late 1800s. The house has been a place for boarders to stay, a dining hall, and a faculty residence. The front yard of the house is decorated with nature’s best plantation. Huge magnolia trees surrounded the house. The entrance gates, which are on the left and the right side of the house are arched with a pergola-like construction climbed by a mass of flowers. In the spring time, they give a mean red bloom around the gate. At the back of the house, there is a small outdoor place to sit down – a good place to read a book or take a break from walking the dog. The back door and the back gate complete the 360 tour of the house. Today the house is one of the Tuscaloosa’s great attractions.

-- Bama Theater --

My regular visits to Bama Theater must have something to do with independent and foreign movie viewing and/or guest faculty speaking.

The theater is located in downtown Tuscaloosa on Greenboro Ave. It is very close to the great restaurants and bars downtown. Right across the theater, on the corner, you can find Catch 22 bar, Innisfree Irish bar, Mugshots Restaurant, and Epiphany Restaurant.

Bama Theater is not a regular movie theater like the Regal and the like because it has its own history of the preservation of theatrical entertainment.

Inside, the stage is designed with the orchestra and balcony seating section. The ceiling is painted with an enormous mural. The theme of the mural is the sky, with twinkling stars and clouds.

I saw many great independent and foreign movies here in this theater. The feel of the theater give an extra sense of mystery and excitement when seeing these types of films. Sometimes I feel like I’m watching the film in Italy.

-- Gorgas House --

I have been here a few times for luncheon events. The house is gorgeous �" it’s a typical Antebellum house with great pillars at the entrance leading to the front door, two staircases leading up to the second floor on both side of the outside of the house, and the room division inside the house.

I heard this many times �" the house is one of the few buildings that survived the destruction of the town of Tuscaloosa, the campus of the University of Alabama in particular, during the Civil War. The house belongs to the Gorgas family who lived there for some time in the late 1800s.

I don’t know exactly how many rooms there are in the house, but it has been a hotel, dining hall, and faculty residence. Today the house is one of the Tuscaloosa’s great attractions. 

During the occasions that I have been there, I always stayed on the first floor. There were one living room, a dining room, and an adjoining kitchen.

The front yard of the house is decorated with nature’s best plantation. Huge magnolia trees surrounded the house. The entrance gates, which are on the left and the right side of the house are arched with a pergola-like construction climbed by a mass of flowers. In the spring time, they give a mean red bloom around the gate.

At the back of the house, there is a small outdoor place to sit down �" a good place to read a book or take a break from walking the dog. The back door and the back gate complete the 360  tour of the house.

Day 2

So much for a spring-like week �" today was overcast and the wind was fierce ☺ …

I had lunch at Panera Bread with my housemate, Audrey, and had this enormous cup of Colombian coffee (which I drank all of it). We first sat down outside, thinking that it was nice to just be out breathing the fresh air. However, the wind was not cooperating. It blew like the ocean breeze, only the beach was not right in front us. The wind barely knocked down our trays. So we decided to move inside. We were just talking about coffee, job, and life in general.

After lunch I decided to collect some more pictures from the town. I hesitated, though, because there wasn’t enough light outside. But as I went on, the lack of light and somewhat fierce wind that-would-puff-me-away-like-a-balloon didn’t really get in the way of capturing all these beautiful sceneries.

First I went to the Moody Building where the Theater and Music Department hosts most of their performances. Around the corner was Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant Museum that commemorate the legendary coach of the Crimson Tide Football team.

Then I went on to Smith Hall, a building that hosts the Alabama Museum of Natural Science, where some of their exhibits were placed outside around the building. Then, on to Gorgas House, a famous house inside the campus of the University of Alabama used to belong to a famous family.

After doing some experiment with taking pictures of moving squirrels, I decided to visit an abandoned softball field just across from the Tuscaloosa Public Library.

Finally on the way back, I drove past Bama Theater downtown. All in all, I got an awesome collection of photos with stories, all of which will be featured in separate reviews.

Day 1

Well, it’s that time of the year when the town suddenly empties itself out of its residents for they were gone to soak up some sun down the southern coastlines. Under certain circumstances, however, I decided not to follow the crowds and instead planned on doing something different this year. On the second thought, I don’t want to jinx anything by saying that, which could entail that I might not go on a trip at all. So, just leave it at the happenings surrounding the coming of spring….

Today was the St. Patrick’s day. Someone hung a giant beautiful green bow on the stair railing this morning. I spent most the day reading; then, I canceled some meetings and decided to take a brief tour around the town. I thought I liked to to find out whether I could spot some cherry blossoms.

So I went to my favorite place on the University Blvd and Stadium Dr where a row of cherry blossom trees had been planted and would bloom beautifully every year. Strangely though, they were still bare. I was a little disappointed. Then I thought, we have had an unusual winter this year. There was a possibility this might have affected the delay of the cherry blossom. Anyhow, this was absolutely my theory �" I’m not a meteorologist or botanist in that I would know what should happen to this matter.

I drove off, heading home. Surprised, I saw full-blown blossoms at different corners of the neighborhood. This will do for now, I thought to myself. The cherry blossoms were always a great sight to look at.