Today’s post is 1875 words, 50 photos, a 9 minute read. Enjoy!
Hi everyone,
This week I’ll take you to Birmingham, Alabama—“The Magic City,” named for its rapid rise from a small town to a major industrial center in the late 1800s.
Before I get into the details, thanks for your views on my long series of posts on Brazil. There were 13 in all! If you missed any of the articles click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Birmingham
Our wakeup call came at 2:30 AM. We had one hour to have a few sips of coffee, shower, zip up our suitcases before heading to the airport. It was a little after 4 AM when we checked into our 5:30 AM flight to Atlanta and on to Birmingham. The concessions on the concourse were still closed. The turbulence was rough on both our flights so there was no inflight service. Fortunately, we had enough time for a bagel and coffee in Atlanta before boarding our one-hour flight to Birmingham.
We were on our way to Birmingham for a domestic Friendship Force journey. There were 13 members of the Madison club participating. My Traveling Partner and I had been to Birmingham once before on business. Neither of us saw much of the city and area so this was an adventure to learn more about a major southern city, its people, and culture.
Our host, Arlene, met us outside baggage claim. It was about 10:30 AM. The sun was shining and temps mild as we made the drive to Arlene’s condo in a southern suburb of Birmingham. Arlene is a retired physician and moved to Birmingham about three years ago to be close to her son and family. We learned that she was born in the U.S. but spent most of her youth in Italy, returning for advanced medical training.
After unpacking and lunch, Arlene took us to an Italian bread making class at the Lakeshore Foundation in Homewood, another suburb of Birmingham. Lakeshore is a sports, fitness, and recreational center open to anyone with a physical disability. It is an Olympic and Paralympic Training Site and also provides space for community programs.
This Italian bread baking class was sponsored by the Italian American Heritage Society of Birmingham. Also attending were students from the University of Alabama-Birmingham Italian Club. Sina was our instructor. She’s been baking her mother’s and grandmother’s bread recipe for many years, one that wasn’t written down. After her mother passed, Sina spent time carefully experimenting to determine the measurement of the ingredients.
Sina gave us tips to ensure the product would turn out. One of them was to make the temperature of the water be between 110-115°F when the yeast and sugar is added to the water. Sina claimed she’d never demonstrated before a group before, she was interesting and fun. We learned a lot. We tasted two breads, one the regular Italian bread she made ahead of time and second a focaccia bread made from the same recipe but with added spices and olives. Both delicious. It was a fun afternoon, the people were super nice and friendly, and wondered how a couple Wisconsinites made it to this class.
That evening, we enjoyed the southern style welcome dinner prepared by the Friendship Force Club of Birmingham. After the dinner and socializing, we hit the hay after our early morning start.
Vulcan Park and Museum
After a good nights sleep, we enjoyed our leisurely morning with Arlene. While we were eating breakfast, a buck with a nice rack of antlers appeared in the natural area behind Arlene’s house. During the remainder of our stay, we kept looking hoping to see it again. We didn’t.
Soon our day host, TJ (Terry), arrived to take us to the days activities. Arlene was looking after her grandchildren.
Our first stop of the day was at Vulcan Park and Museum on top of Red Mountain that overlooks Birmingham and the surrounding area.
Our group gathered at this statue near the parking lot. Sponsored by the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama, this replica of the Vulcan is designed for people with low vision or blindness to “see” the Vulcan up close. There is a braille interpretive piece so all can enjoy.
We also greeted by this vocal Northern Mockingbird on the clear sunny day. We took it as a sign for a great journey.
This is the Vulcan, the Roman god of the forge, that overlooks the city of Birmingham. It was commissioned by the city commercial club as a symbol of the industrial might of Birmingham. It was first exhibited at the St. Louis Worlds Fair in 1904. The statue is made of cast iron from Red Mountain, stands 56 feet tall (17 meters), sits on a pedestal 124 feet high (38 meters), and weighs over 50 tons (907 kg).
After the fair, it lay dormant until 1939 when the Birmingham Junior Chamber of Commerce and other groups raised funds to build a park on Red Mountain, giving Vulcan permanent home. Since then the statue, park, and museum have become a tourist attraction. My Traveling Partner and I climbed the 159 steps to the observation platform for the panoramic views.
The museum was well done. We learned a lot about the mining and smelting of the iron ore by using limestone (used as a flux to remove impurities and improve quality) and coke (baked coal, used as primary fuel source) to create pig iron (raw material for making steel). 
The fourth “ingredient” in steel-making were the workers. At the heyday of the steel industry in Birmingham, over 45,000 workers were employed in the 19 blast furnaces operating in the area.
This display featured some of the products made from the steel produced by Birmingham companies.
One of the exhibits described the downfall of the steel industry in Birmingham beginning with the Great Depression. Jobs dried up overnight, many people moved on where there were jobs available. There was a bit of revival during WWII but that didn’t last. Then came the Civil Rights Movement that painted Birmingham as an unsafe and unhealthy place to live. 
We enjoyed our visit to Vulcan Park and recommend it if you find yourself in the area.
Irondale Café
For lunch, we went to the Irondale Café in the suburb of Irondale. This cafe was the inspiration for Fannie Flagg’s book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. Flagg’s aunt ran the Irondale Café. It’s a very popular place to eat. I tried the fried green tomatoes, fried okra, cornbread, a shrimp dish, and the peach cobbler. It was good, I was stuffed.
We had a few minutes before our next stop so we wandered over to the train platform across the street. While we were enjoying the weather and realizing how much the railroads contributed to the success of the steel industry, a freight train came down the tracks. CSX is a major supplier of rail transportation in the eastern half of the United States. There were a lot of cars behind Engine 4382, some empty, some full. It was mesmerizing to watch them go by.
Barber Motorsports Park and Museum
Less than 15 minutes after leaving Irondale, we pulled into the parking lot of Barber Motorsports. I’d never heard of it before and didn’t know what to expect. I don’t watch auto racing although I do enjoy looking at cars especially those from the era when I was growing up, the 1950-70s. If it wouldn’t have been on the Friendship Force agenda, I don’t think I would have went there on my own. The few hours we spent at the museum were very enjoyable.
Before entering the museum, we had a look at the sculpture titled The Chase. It reflects the founders passion for art as well as anything with a motor.
Inside there was another art installation made of car horns.
A little information before I take you into the museum. The Barber Motorsports Park was founded by George Barber. He made his money in real estate and as the owner of Barber Dairies that at one time was the largest dairy company in Alabama. In his early years, he was a race car driver and began collecting motorcycles in the 1970s. Today Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum has the largest collection of motorcycles in the world. There are more than 1800 motorcycles in the collection with about 1000 on display at any one time. Over 200 manufacturers of motorcycles are represented in the collection. The current museum attracts over a quarter of a million visitors each year.
Our Friendship Force hosts arranged for a guided tour of the museum. We needed it because there is a lot to see. It would take all day to see everything. Our guides were Tom, Dennis, and Mary. They are volunteers as the museum is a tax exempt foundation that benefits the Birmingham community. Without further a do, here are a few photos from the motorcycles, cars, and even boat motors we saw during our tour. The museum is huge covering five floors of exhibits.
There were motorcycles from the very early years up to recent models. You might be wondering how many Harley-Davidson cycles are in the collection. The answer is nearly 100. 
Here’s a replica (not the original) of the Harley chopper Peter Fonda rode in the movie Easy Rider.
Then there were the cars with about 50 on display out of a collection of 200 cars. There are 70 Lotus in the collection, the largest in the world.
This psychedelic looking car is a 1956 Bentley known as the “Beatles Bentley.” It comes complete with shag carpeting, drapes, and whitewall tires. It became a party car for the Beatles record label, Apple Records.
Tom, one of our guides, asked if we wanted to see the shop on the lower level. I was game. He showed us where teams of mechanics work on cars and motorcycles. They also have a lab where they can make hard to find parts on a 3-D printer. 
As promised, here is a photo of the boat motors.
Barber Motorsports also includes a 2.38 mile (3.8 km), 17 turn road course in a park like setting. We could see the track from the large windows of the museum. In the photo below, Tom, one of our guides, describes the layout of the park.
Buc-ee’s
Wow, it was a fun afternoon but it wasn’t over yet. When we left Barber Motorsports, our driver asked we had ever been to a Buc-ee’s. My Traveling Partner said we think we stopped at one sometime during our travels around the US. Others said no. So we pulled in. It’s huge! Lots of food, snacks, gifts, very nice restrooms, and everything Buc-ee’s.
Can you believe there are 100 gas pumps at this Buc-ee’s? And it was busy.
Back at Arlene’s we enjoyed an excellent meal of pasta and a homemade meat sauce. Then we went to play bunko with the rest of the crowd. What a great day.
Now for the five senses plus one.
Saw – view of Birmingham hills, lots of motorcycles, a long train
Heard – wind blowing on the mountain, train whistle, people talking, the song of a mockingbird
Touch – railings
Smell – food cooking, the fragrance of Italian meat sauce, the musty smell in the stairway of the Vulcan
Taste –fried green tomatoes, pasta and meat sauce
Learned – some of the history of Birmingham, a lot about motorcycles
Until next week, happy travels!
Tom
PS: Click here for a link to the post about my book “Farm Boy.” Contact me if you are interested in purchasing a copy. Thanks to all have plunked down your hard earned dollars and read the book. TM