BIRMINGHAM – Vacation season is upon us, with schools out for the summer and gas prices slowly creeping up. While hopping on a plane and visiting an exotic destination is on the agenda for some families, others of us are content with a budget-friendlier and closer to home staycation.
With its close proximity, Birmingham, with its newer attractions in the revitalized areas is worthy of attention. Yet, to take in all that the Magic City has to offer, spending a week just 50 miles south of home is highly recommended.
Places to stay vary from the modern luxury of Renaissance Birmingham Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa to the centrally-located and beautifully historic Tutwiler Hotel and Birmingham’s oldest hotel, The Redmont. Staying one or two nights in the amenity-loaded 3-4 star hotels in Birmingham might be ideal with a few more nights spent roughing it camping or in a lakeside cabin in Pelham.
That option would be to take advantage of Oak Mountain State Park’s cabins that sleep six, have a kitchenette furnished with utensils and cookware, air conditioning, satellite TV and are furnished with linens and light housekeeping. Oak Mountain’s list of things to do is lengthy and diverse. An 18-hole, par 72 golf course, horseback riding, BMX course, fishing, beaches and Alabama’s only cable watersports park are only a few of the activities available at the park located less than 20 miles south of downtown Birmingham via I-65.
Regardless of where a family stays, the availability of sites to see in Birmingham is extensive. While the usual draws since the 1950s and 60s of the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham Zoo and Birmingham Botanical Gardens are still going strong, the addition of the McWane Center and Birmingham Civil Rights Institute within the past 25 years has provided more diverse learning opportunities to visitors.
Featuring four floors of hands-on activities, the McWane Center, with its interactive adventures, will entertain and delight kids of all ages. Numerous highlights reside on each floor including room-sized aquariums, the ScienceQuest area which teaches physical science and math concepts and an Alabama Dinosaurs room that displays dinosaur fossils found in Alabama. Additionally, the IMAX Dome has showtimes available seven days a week with several featured movies from which to choose.
Opened in 1992, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute aims to show the area’s notorious past atrocities as lessons that can serve as an example of the half-century of progress that has occurred since that time. The self-guided, 58,000 sq. ft. exhibit tour shows the history of segregation and the determination and strength it took for the men and women such as Fred Shuttlesworth and Amelia Boynton Robinson to take action against their oppressors and inspire others to join in the movement.
Two of the newest trip-worthy spots on the map in Birmingham are Regions Field, the home of the Birmingham Barons, and the addition of Vulcan Materials Zip Trip to the Red Mountain Museum.
Catch a Friday night Barons home game at Regions Field and enjoy a free firework show after the game or a Thursday night game which feature a live concert before the game. Red Mountain has never looked as cool as it does when soaring over 40 feet above its mining areas and deep valleys. The zip lining tour was added in 2012 and has been a favorite for locals and visitors since.
Birmingham has been highlighted throughout the national media in the past several years for its renewal and rebranding. Alabama’s biggest city offers everything a family or couple needs for an affordable, escape-from-home staycation. Oh, and don’t forget to stop by Steel City Pops while you’re in Birmingham for a sweet, summertime treat. You’ll thank us!
