Montgomery, AL - part one of the southern states tour

Our dog, Bodie, at the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald House

A few months ago my husband, Ben, our Jack Russell-mix, Bodie, and I went on a road trip. Our original plan was to drive through Alabama and Mississippi to Memphis, stopping along the way at famous blues and country music sites. We made it through Mobile and were in Vicksburg, MS when our trip got detoured to New Orleans instead because of intense storms and flooding in the Mississippi Delta region. Read all about our trip in this series! 

Part 1 - Montgomery, AL

Part 2 - Vicksburg, MS

Part 3 - New Orleans, LA

Hank Williams Statue

It took us about 8 hours to drive from Kissimmee, FL to Montgomery, AL. We were pleasantly surprised by how nice Alabama is. There's lots of pretty countryside and the roads were uncrowded. The strangest thing wasn't how many confederate flags we saw (we saw some, but not as many as I had expected) but how many helicopters were on the sides of the roads! They were everywhere!

I had researched different hotel options for Montgomery and had them in mind when we arrived as I hate having to go from hotel to hotel to find which ones accept pets. I've done that in the past and its frustrating. We ended up staying at the La Quinta Inn and Sutes on Carmichael Road. It's a 5-10 minute drive to downtown Montgomery but close to lots of shops and restaurants.

The La Quinta Inn and Suites Montgomery was really nice - rooms were brand new and clean. Breakfast and wireless internet are included and small pets are free! The main problem we had with the hotel is their policy that pets can not be left unattended in the rooms. This spoiled our plans to visit the Hank Williams Museum as we had no where to leave our dog.

Downtown Montgomery, Alabama

We did stop by the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum located at 919 Felder Avenue. It was a Tuesday so the museum was closed (which we couldn't have gone into anyway as we had Bodie with us but we did manage to walk around the outside of it and read the historic markers on the front lawn. Of course, Bodie had no idea what we were doing. He was more concerned about some dogs barking across the street from the house, than the house itself.

Our next stop was to see the Hank Williams Statue in downtown Montgomery. The statue is located on North Perry Street at Lister Hill Plaza, across the street from the auditorium where his funeral was held. The statue is in a small park with a fountain and some benches. We all had turns getting our photo taken with this larger-than-life statue. Even though we had to skip the museum, it was still fun to see the statue paying homage to him. He is buried in a cemetery not far from downtown Montgomery in case anyone is interested in paying their respects. His memorial and grave are located in the Oakwood Cemetery Annex on Upper Wetumpka Road.

We then did the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail trail backwards on our way to Mississippi. There are a lot of interesting historic plaques enroute and a large interpretive center. The drive itself is really pretty, with lots of rolling countryside and small roadside stores.

To continue reading about our trip, continue to Vicksburg, MS or to New Orleans, LA. 

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