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I went to Alabama once to see my Dad for 10 days. It was a very beautiful area, with lots of trees and hills. The people were friendly and I thought their accents were fun. However there were 2 things that bothered me:
1) I was in Birmingham, and the center of the city was essentially all hospitals and university buildings. It really lacked an entertainment district. Maybe I was in the wrong part, but my sister and I drove all over to find places to hang out. We found a few cool second hand record stores near 5 Points, went to the Barking Kudu for NYE and found some cute shops in a suburb with the botanical gardens, but all in all it was pretty sparse.
2) There was a racial divide that made me very uncomfortable. It was just odd for me to walk into a store where ALL the patrons were white and ALL of people who worked there were African American. Not only that, the nicer stores and restaurants tended to hire all white employees. I think the only place I went with a mixed staff was the Cheesecake Factory. I know in CA you are more likely to see people of certain ethnicities doing specific kinds of work too, but I felt like it was more stark there than it was even in Chicago or Wisconsin. It made me happy I lived in California
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