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Birmingham is watched over by Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and the forge
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Vulcan is the largest cast iron statue in the world, at 56ft
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The notorious buns of iron. Vulcan isn't wearing pants
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A full-scale fiiberglass replica of the 6-ton actual foot. Vulcan's a big dude
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The view of Birmingham, looking north from Vulcan's observation deck
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Vulcan's park is landscaped with pretty flowers like these
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A magnolia bloom - just gorgeous
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Birmingham was an iron town, and the Sloss Furnaces have been preserved as a city park
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A bit of whimsey on the iron gates
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Now that's a big wrench!
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Much of the furnace area is overgrown with weeds and honeysuckle
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These air handlers provided the "blast" for the blast furnaces
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There were two furnaces; it took 10 boilers to provide the steam necessary to keep them running
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These things were used to move the raw materials about . . .
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In downtown Birmingham, the very impressive Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Museum
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This is the 16th St Baptist Church, where a bomb blast killed six young girls in 1963
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In Kelly Ingrahm Park, many statues help understand the experiences of those working for integration
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The statues are very powerful
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It doesn't take much imagination to feel the experience
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You kind of cringe as you walk through
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Today the park is one of peace and beauty, and is enjoyed by many
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This is Arlington, described as Birmingham's finest antebellum mansion
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While the house is period-furnished, almost none of it is authentic to the house
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The two of us were the whole tour group, so our guide let Judy play the 150yr old pump organ
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Now in Huntsville, our chance discovery was the wonderful Botanical Garden
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It's a very kid-friendly place, as evidenced by the "potted" tree
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People smaller than we could climb into the pot and get closer to the ladybugs
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There was a well-populated bonsai exhibit
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Peonies were everywhere - it was the perfect time for them
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The gardens were built on donated land that used to be part of the Redstone Arsenal, an Army munitions base
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If you don't take your time and look, you'll miss things
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There's lots of art work among the blooms
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Inside the butterfly habitat, lots of things to see
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3 real turtles bask near the sculpture of a dog investigating a bronze turtle
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Despite all the butterflies, it was the turtles that got most of the attention
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It was a very nice butterfly habitat, even if the butterflies were kind of scarce
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More sculpture
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Back outside, flower beds (of course)
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It just brings out the kid in everybody
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We liked the dog at the end of the rope . . .
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Some areas of the garden were more formal than others
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The water was dyed blue in this pond. The carp in the water didn't seem to mind
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Lots of very nice views
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Spring flowers are very nice
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Foxglove comes in a nice range of colors
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There were about a dozen "treehouses" in the garden, some of them actually connected to trees
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More sculpture
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A most delightful garden gate
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A profusion of pansies
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It's always fun to have a model train in the garden
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This is the real reason we came to Hunstville
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It's hard to miss this full-size model of a Saturn 5 Rocket
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The Rocket Center comemmorates the development of the US space program at bases in the Huntsville area
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Seems like we see the SR-71 Blackbird almost everywhere we go
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Space Camp gives kids a chance to immerse in things space, including the Imax concession stand
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Dr Wernher Von Braun was the leader of the rocket program at Huntsville
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There are lots of space souvenirs
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Lots of full-scale rocket models
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It's a bit overwhelming at times - so much to see
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For the kids, it seems everyplace has a climbing wall these days
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So much to see
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A model of the Russian space station
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That's the largest piece of Skylab recovered after it burned up in the atmosphere. It's a piece of a fuel tank
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Atop those rockets and fuel tank sits "Pathfinder", the first space shuttle prototype built
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Don't ever want to be standing here at launch
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Pathfinder was actually a wooden model built to test roadway and building clearances. Judy's down there somewhere
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That's a German V1 rocket-bomb from WW2
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That's the hot end of an Atlas-1 ICBM. Awesome!
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A very early concept for a lunar rover
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Rocket Park is pretty impressive
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There's even a fake lunar landscpe to show off a lunar lander trainer
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Lots of Army munitions - this all started as an Army base, after all
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A full-size model of Skylab, assembled from prototypes and spare parts
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W L Quick of Alabama invented this airplane around 1900, but was still testing propellers when the Wright brothers flew in 1903
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The Saturn 5 is a huge machine
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It even makes Al look petite
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The Lunar Rover flew on the last three moon flights
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A full-scale model of a lunar lander
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That's the actual Apollo 16 capsule, next-to-last US moon landing in 1972
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That's a full-scale mockup of the capsule NASA would have used for the lunar program that was recently canceled
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We'll end on this shot of the space shuttle. Awesome beast