Rocketland to Bubbaland - A Trip to Huntsville

My boyfriend, Scott, called me on a Friday. The next week, he was leaving for a business trip to Huntsville, Alabama, and wanted to know if I could join him. We'd leave Saturday and I would travel back on Tuesday. Monday was a holiday so I'd only miss one day of work. The airfare was a weekend special--100 dollars round-trip from Washington Dulles to Huntsville, with a stop in Atlanta. I'd get to see the Space Center. It sounded great.

His coworker Mike would be going, too, and Mike's girlfriend, Margaret, would join us. Scott made the reservations. Everything was set.

On Saturday morning, Scott and I drove down to his office building and met up with Mike and Margaret. We headed to Dulles together. I was wondering from the very beginning why we were leaving at 11:00 when our flights weren't until 2:30. Scott said, "No, 12:30." Aah. The mistake. Mike and Scott were on a 12:30 flight, and Margaret and I were on a 2:30 flight. Oops.

We tried to change the flights, but everything was booked. Scott and Mike headed out without us, and Margaret and I stayed behind to drink Sam Adams beer and eat greasy hamburgers, just what we needed before a four-hour flight.

(Left, Lynne Loves Rockets. We felt that this picture captured our trip perfectly!)

The first leg of the flight was uneventful. We landed in Atlanta and found our departing gate, where there were about thirty kids on their way to Space Camp in Huntsville. Joy. They were remarkably well-behaved, though, and we found ourselves in Huntsville in no time.

Scott had fudge waiting for me.

Here, in the Atlanta airport, is Laptop Lane. I think Dulles needs one of these!

We found our hotel, checked in, and then went to separate dinners. It was the first of several beef-eating nights for me. By the end of the trip, I had an appreciation for beef that no former vegetarian should ever claim to have.

The next morning, Scott's friend, Eric, joined us for sight-seeing in Huntsville. Mike and Margaret had other plans, but we agreed to see them on Monday for dinner.

We soon learned that there wasn't a whole lot to do in Huntsville, especially on a Sunday. I picked up some brochures that suggested we try to see Historic Decatur, a town a few miles down the road. We got to Decatur, though, and couldn't find any of the historic parts. Scott found the Tourist Information building, but it was closed.

Figuring that we woulnd't find anything all too historic in Decatur, we made our way to the local Nature Preserve, which was open but which wasn't especially in season. We took a walk down the Nature Path to the observatory, and we saw a few ducks. The park workers at the Nature Preserve informed us that most of the birds had started back North, and that if we had come just a few weeks earlier, we would have had plenty to see. Oh well. They told us how to get to some historic places in Decatur, so we headed back there. (Below, Eric and Lynne watching ducks)

In Decatur, we found the Old State Bank, which was closed, but which had interesting Civil War data printed on plaques in front of it. On each of these plaques, we were informed that Decatur was "A Hard Nut to Crack." Aah. (Here, Lynne in front of the Old State Bank, and Scott shows us that Decatur was "A Hard Nut to Crack")

That was about it for Historic Decatur, so we packed it in and drove to Downtown Huntsville, where we learned that the Historic Depot Museum was closed. Fortunately, the Werner Von Braun Tourist Information Center was open, so we finally got some information on what we could actully do on a Sunday in Huntsville.

The answer was, not much. The woman at the Information Center informed us that if we had come a little later, like after March 1, much more would be open, but, oh, well, not on a Sunday of course. Of course. She pointed us toward the Jazz Factory, which was a restaurant with a Sunday Brunch, and to Bubbaland, which had barbeque. Now, we had heard of Bubbaland already, and were already excited about this establishment. It seems everyone who talks about Bubbaland adds a hurried "but it's good!" to the end of their sentence. "Oh and you should try Bubbaland...yeah, it's got a funny name but it's good!" We chose to try it.

It was closed.

We went to the Jazz Factory, which had no Jazz. This was also where we learned that if it isn't Bud or Miller Lite, it's not considered beer. Scott asked the server, "what's on tap?" and the server replied "oh we have Bud and Miller Lite," then looked at us for an answer and added "um, and Amber Bock and ...um, Guinness?" Yikes. What kind of a place puts Guinness *last?*

From the Jazz Factory, we headed off to Monte Sano State Park, which was open but which the woman at the Information Center wasn't about to tell us about until we straight-out asked. We hiked for a bit, and on our way saw pretty Japanese gardens, a ruin of an old tavern, and an ampitheatre.
Here, Scott and Eric stand under the torii at the entrance to the gardens.
This is the teahouse at the center of the gardens
This is me on the inside.
Here are the ampitheatre (yes, that's me on the stage. I'm such a ham!) and the ruins of the tavern. (Along with Eric, I'm in this one, too. Can you see me?)

Dinner was beef.

Monday came, and with it our trip to the Space Center! Now I was excited. I've been to Kennedy Space Center and Johnson Space Center, and, well, I used to work at NASA Headquarters, and, after all, my boyfriend designes spacecraft for a living. This was our place. There was a Saturn V and Saturn I rockets. There was a space shuttle prototype, and a model of a Lunar Module (of course, I had already seen one at the Smithsonian, but it was still cool!). We got to climb into an Apollo capsule to feel what it was like, and they even had a model of Mir! We got to go on a hypergravity ride, and on a virtual rollercoaster (OK, that was silly but fun), and we got to try our hands at landing a simulated space shuttle (I crashed mine).

The best part was when they took us into the actual Marshall Space Flight Center and let us watch the International Space Station being built. I had seen the living quarters prototype at Johnson, so it was amazing to see the real thing!

(Left, the Saturn V. This is the same spacecraft as in the first picture, but here it looks more like its actual (incredible) size)

The next several pictures are from the Space Center. Left, Contemplating the Meaning of "Big." Center, Lynne Poses with the Saturn I. Right, Scott Poses with the Saturn I.
Below, the Space Shuttle prototype seen through the trees (can you figure out what's wrong with this picture?) and Scott, Eric, and Lynne play in the Apollo command module. (You should have seen the woman taking our picture!
When we got back from Marshall, we were exhausted. We headed to the Botanic Gardens, just down the road, to unwind and look at flowers. It was a relaxing end to an exciting day.

Below are pictures from the gardens. I hope you enjoy them!

Scott, Eric, and I met up with Mike and Margaret for dinner at the Long Horn (you guessed it.. beef!) and then crashed for the night.

The next day, the guys had their meeting at Marshall, and Margaret and I were heading home. We had a few hours, though, so we went back to Downtown Huntsville to try to see some of the things we missed. The Depot Museum was cool--it was a train station that had been used as a prison during the Civil War, and there was still graffiti on the walls. We were the only ones there, so we got a private tour. We also got to see Constitution Village, which is a very small restored area (a block long) that recreates part of the city of Huntsville at the time when Alabama entered the Union. We hopped onto the end of a tour of second-graders. Some of what we were told seemed a little off, but we smiled and listened and tried not to look too Yankee.

We had lunch at Bubbaland. It wasn't bad. For beer they only had Bud and Miller Lite, but the barbeque was out of this world.

We made our flight and got home safely. It wasn't until I got back to Washington DC that I realized that everyone I had encountered for the last few days had been so polite! The minute I got back to Dulles, I was back in push-shove-and-don't-say-sorry land. It's OK. I'm used to it.

In the end, I have this to say for visiting small towns. There might not be a lot to do, but if you try to do everything, you suddenly notice that there's more than you thought. People visit New York and DC and Chicago all the time, and they never have the time to do everything. Try visiting someplace small, and you'll see more of what there is to see. Just make sure that you go when things are open.

This article, without the pictures, appeared on the RedheadLines on 19 March 2000. Look for it under the name of Chite.