star wars: the exhibit

Inspired by a good friend, the girls and I created an ever-evolving 101 things list to try to make sure that we are doing some interesting and new activities on a fairly regular basis (instead of falling into a boring routine).

Instead of staying home and washing the dining room windows and cleaning out the fridge, we headed to Alabama this weekend. I found a hotel near Birmingham that met various criteria, such as being on my parents’ Texas to Blue Ridge Route, having a pool and having suites available. I found the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Pelham to fit my criteria. The girls and I are usually very happy with the consistency and predictability of Fairfield and have stayed in many across the country. We’ve only had one bad experience — one in Rhode Island whose pool was OUTDOOR!

As usual, the staff was friendly and helpful, but this Fairfield exceeded our expectations. The breakfast room was very inviting, and there was a larger selection than usual. The rooms and public areas all were decorated in a pleasing, relaxing manner. I just wish they had better coffee!

Friday night, after we had driven to Alabama and checked in and Barbara had arrived, we used our internet and iPhone skills to find a good restaurant (Iguana Grill) and a movie theater, where we saw “Ramona and Beezus”.

Saturday, after breakfast and a dip in the pool, we hit the road for Huntsville. The drive from Birmingham to Huntsville was quite pleasant and the U.S Space & Rocket Center easy to find. It was hot; far too hot to be outside for very long, so we didn’t dilly-dally on our way through the “park” to the building where the Star Wars exhibit was located. We waited in line a short time for our entry time (I had purchased tickets online a few days previously), then went into a small auditorium for a short presentation a la Disney.

We finally were able to enter into the exhibit. It was a bit overwhelming, and we wandered around a bit before really doing anything. The girls found the activities to be interesting; they played some simulation games, built mag lev vehicles and tested out programming robots. When we were done, we were “out the door”, with no real information on how to return to the other exhibits. I found that quite strange! At that point, we were hot and tired, and instead of figuring out how to get back in, decided we’d return when it wasn’t 100 degrees out. Barbara and Camille used my phone to search for a geocache. We needed gas and ended up in a part of Huntsville that I’d rather not go back to.

To get to the cabin, we headed northeast towards Chattanooga, stopping at the Unclaimed Baggage Store. We were unimpressed with the selection and prices, but the cafe served a nice, fresh lunch. A lot more driving, and we had left Barbara at the cabin and returned home.

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