Dogs, Astro Turf and a Goddess

A leisure trailer morning, including homemade fajitas for lunch, begins my second day in Montgomery. The first stop is something I uniquely enjoy, which is visiting old cemeteries. On the outskirts of town, I find the Oakwood Cemetery where there are over 200,000 graves since the first being Amy Tuttle (age 19) in 1822. I am here to visit one particular gravesite. The site is easy to find as it is outlined with artificial grass (the reason being fans kept plucking the live grass to keep as a souvenir). It is the gravesite of the icon country artist Hank Williams and his wife. In the Montgomery city limits one can find a bronze statue across from the Hank Williams Museum. On the street corner, further up, is the Steiner-Lobman building. It is easy to spot if you are looking up as there is a huge stone statue of goddess Athena. What makes this spot even more unique is near Athena you will see a coffin balancing on top of a roof. Yep, a coffin! Stories, since the 1800's, speculate a man named Louis Steiner resides inside. It is said he wanted to have a great view of the city through eternity. I did not want to further research to see if it is true or not, as I enjoy this story so much.

Within a couple of blocks, I park my car at a nonoperating metered parking stall on the street. I know as I plugged in several coins and the red blinking 'expired' indication continued to blink. Grabbing my camera bag, I head up the street with excitement. On one of the corner blocks of the capital stands a church where Martin Luther King began sharing his pastoral messages. Services are still offered on Sundays, which I will be attending. Throughout the city I find many murals, quotes on various building walls and art displaying the impact of MLK and his courageous life he led. As I travel around the city looking for more, I find myself craving something to eat. I was told I absolutely need to make a brief stop at Chris' Hot Dogs. ​

Since 1917, Chris' Hot Dogs continue serving their world-famous chili sauce hot dog. How famous you ask? Well, Elvis, Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Stewart and Hank Williams are just a few who frequented there. Many presidents including Roosevelt, Truman and Bush also made a stop. The largest order served was 2,600 hot dogs for the commissioning of the USS Motgomery on Sept 10, 2016. That is a lot of dogs. By the way, they are super delicious! A great day of variety brings a satisfied smile to my face as I head back to rest for the evening as there is so much more tomorrow.