Tuscaloosa (2005-11-17)
Time to do the hardest thing again: we said goodbye to our gracious hosts. It is difficult to part with beautiful people and warm hospitality, not to mention our luxurious living quarter!
KL drove about two hours to Tuscaloosa, our university town, and we
wanted to have some good ol' southern food for lunch. We got
hopelessly lost trying to find the restaurant and KL went into an
insurance company to ask direction from the receptionist. The
lady with the southern accent couldn't be more helpful. She took
the time to draw us a map and the most detailed instruction we ever got
from a stranger. Southern folks are friendly and nice, they
haven't changed a bit since we left Alabama over a decade ago.
The detailed direction given by that lady landed us smoothly to City
Cafe. After a filling lunch, we set off again to raid a
Target Superstore. We bought lots of cajun spices, snacks and
medicine to take back to Tokyo.
Then it was time to look for a place to spend the night. We decided on Holiday Inn because of its central location and clean-looking interior. After checking in, we drove to the University of Alabama to take pictures and let the vast campus remind us of our past. KL found an old teacher for whom I took pictures and we also went to all the places we used to go while we were students there. It was the most amazing feeling seeing the buildings again. It's like seeing an old friend, only he has gotten bigger.
When dinner time rolled around, we went to Dreamland to have their famous BBQ ribs. All my years in Tuscaloosa I had never eaten there. KL had raved about it before we left Tokyo, so I was very excited to try their ribs. He had no trouble finding his way to the restaurant. There were a bunch of high school students all dressed in the same orange T-shirt taking pictures of each other inside the place. Looked like they had a special event that night. I also spotted a few tourists and they were taking pictures of the place too.Our order came smelling delicious. The ribs were very tasty,
full of smoky flavor in a tangy and spicy sauce. But it was a bit
tough, if
the meat had been more tender, it would have been perfect.
Nevertheless we enjoyed our dinner. The waitress kindly offered
to refill our large cups with tea to take with us when KL paid the
bill, it was nice of her.
For dessert we bought three donuts at Krispy Kreme. It was the
only disappointment of the entire trip. They weren't light and
fluffy as we remembered them. My cinnamon twist was heavy, doughy
and oily with barely a hint of cinnamon taste. KL's weren't
better either.
While I was taking pictures of the store, a pregnant lady in a truck
who was waiting for her driver friend (or family) getting donuts got
out and offered to take our picture. And so KL and I had our
photo taken in front of a donut shop! What a couple of weird
Asian tourists we must have looked to her. After we waved goodbye
to the nice lady, we headed back to the hotel.
Our day in Tuscaloosa began with the help of a friendly lady and ended with another. What more could we ask for in a little foreign town?
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