This year I took James to his first Alabama Football game, a tradition that I hope continues for many years. We flew into Atlanta late Thursday night and headed down for Tuscaloosa on Friday morning. The first stop in Tuscaloosa was for BBQ at Archibald's - a little smoke shack in Northport, AL James enjoyed the ribs much more than this look shows in the picture! One of many "hole-in-the walls" that we visited.
After putting down a couple rib plates, we went over to the Paul W. Bryant Museum. James had a great time and learned a lot about Alabama football history from the Videos and displays. We bought a couple of souvenirs (see Big Al pillow) for James, Natalie and Luke in the Museum gift shop.
After the museum, James and I went to play Football in the Quad on Campus and to see Denny Chimes, my Fraternity house and the rest of the campus.
That night, James and I went to a legendary Alabama restaurant - "Nick's in the Sticks." As the name implies, it is quite a little bit of a drive from Campus, but well worth it. At Nick's they do not take reservations, so you put your name on a list and wait outside among what seems like hundreds of people waiting on a table (think of a poor man's Yocona Inn for those familiar w/ Oxford). One cool thing for James was that he colored a dollar bill to be put on the ceiling of Nick's, so that he can come back in years to come and search for his dollar on the ceiling. I had the Ribeye and James had Chicken Tenders.
That night was Alabama's opening basketball game against Coastal Carolina. We had a great seats and the team won. We were both pretty tired after all of the activity so we retired to the Hotel.
The next morning was Game Day. We woke up early and headed to Campus. First stop was Rama Jama's, a Tuscaloosa staple. It is another hole-in-the wall type place with years and years of Alabama memorabilia and memories adorned on the walls and hanging from the ceiling..... it also has the best egg sandwich I've ever had. I frequented this place in college, as I lived right around the corner.
From there, we walked up to the Quad and Bryant Denny Stadium. We did a lot of football throwing and also watched the Band play before the game on the steps of Gorgas library.
Next stop was the game. The Tide were playing Mississippi State, and I had one excited 7 year old boy with me. We bought a foam finger and some shakers (not pom-poms) and headed over to Bryant Denny Stadium. First stop for us once in the stadium was to walk down to the field level and watch the warm-ups.
James loved being down by the field, but after a while, he was ready to go sit in the seats. Before sitting in the seats, we of course had to load up on Concessions. Game Day dogs, BBQ Nachos and M&Ms to start with. The weather was perfect for football and the crowd was at a fever pitch. The Tide started out strong and did not let up, ending with a 51-3 victory. James demanded that we stay until the last snap.... my kind of fan.
After the game, we threw the football in front of the stadium for a while. We made plans to stay with a childhood friend of mine. Paul Yeck, who is a chef in Birmingham and has a boy around James age, so we hit the road for Birmingham shortly after the game.
The next morning, we hit the road for Atlanta. On our Thursday night stay in Atlanta, James saw a LegoLand Atlanta flyer, and so now had his heart set for another trip to LegoLand. On the road, we made an important stop - Cracker Barrel. This was especially great for me, as this is a Nix tradition on road trips; however, Sarah refuses to step foot inside one..... so it'll just have to be a Dad tradition. We ordered well ....
Once in Atlanta, we headed to Lego Land. This Lego Land was much smaller than the one in Florida and was on the top floor of a big shopping mall. James loved it. We spent 4-5 hours here, riding rides over and over again and watching 3D movies over and over.
It was now time to head to the Airport and Houston. We had an amazing trip and are both looking forward to next year. These pics with the Big Al hanging out of his backpack at the Airport may be my favorite of the trip. Roll Tide.
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