Well, it looks like I have gotten a few blogs up and running. Of course, there’s this blog: Getting to Know Joe (I’ve been putting things out on this blog since I think around Thanksgiving 2007). Then, there’s the Your Town Alabama blog: mostly, that blog’s about grant opportunities around Alabama, information for the planning community, news about tourism and byways and the like. I really enjoy doing that blog–it gets pretty decent readership, too. And the newest blog is all about rural southwest Alabama called Alabama’s Front Porches (where I grew up). It is particularly targeted towards attracting tourists to the area, so I’ll be highlighting festivals, fun, food and all those types of things along the way. There will, hopefully, be a mix between personal writings about the things to do while in my neck of the woods along with the more standard press release type information. There’s not a lot of information on the blog right now, but I plan to update it regularly, so keep an eye on it!
tourism
Scenic Byways Workshop in Birmingham
It has been a busy week. Monday was filled with the usual Monday busywork, along with catching up on several projects that are ongoing. Plus, I spent some of Monday on last minute details for the workshop we held at the Barber Motorsports Museum. Yesterday was taken up with a full day of a somewhat participatory workshop on Tourism-oriented wayshowing (helping travelers find their way to the places that they are looking for). It was a good workshop and we brought down a couple of people from the America’s Byways Resource Center in Duluth, Minnesota. 40 people attended the workshop from around the state. We hope to have more.
A Busy Week Last Week
Wow! Last week was about the most hectic I’ve had in a while. Monday and Tuesday started off normally, I guess. Finished up a newsletter for the Sierra Club and got a good bit done on a website for a new client, Aztec Construction. Oh, and I finished a postcard for the Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama’s summer fundraiser, Hot Diamonds in the Summer.
Then, Wednesday, I headed to Gadsden, Alabama for a final meeting with the Lookout Mountain Parkway Association on a corridor management plan we’ve been developing over the past 12 months or so. Got some good press on this one–including a nice long article in the Gadsden Times and some coverage–thankfully not including me–on local Jacksonville, Alabama channel 24. Channel 24 TV video: http://www.tv24.tv/news/?newsID=4959#. Looks like the Gadsden Times really believes in the project, as they ran a Sunday editorial on the Lookout Mountain Parkway.
On the way back from Gadsden, we had a flat tire–I didn’t know if I’d remember how to change a tire. I doubt I’ve done it since I was forced to learn how in high school–a teacher thought that everyone should know how. I was successful, however.
We made it back to Birmingham around 3 p.m. I hurried home, packed a bag and hustled away to Camp McDowell for the 2.5 day Your Town Alabama workshop (see the photos below). As luck would have it, I left all my hanging clothes hanging in our guest bedroom, so I stopped in Jasper to buy new shirts–at the tractor supply store because they had a sign for Carhartt clothes. Good deals on 4 shirts. I took about 450 photos over the course of 2 days.
To cap off a busy week of being in front of people, I got a copy of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System’s quarterly newsletter, ACTION, that has an article I wrote on scenic byways. I’ve copied the article and added it to my Your Town Alabama blog.
A Trip to the Lookout Mountain Parkway
What a beautiful day yesterday was. I had a meeting just outside of Fort Payne, Alabama about the Lookout Mountain Parkway corridor management plan I’m working on with the Alabama Association of Regional Councils. Left early so I’d have a little time to explore downtown Fort Payne before the meeting.
After the meeting, we all drove the 5 miles on to the Little River Canyon National Preserve to see the 23,000 square foot JSU Canyon Center building that is currently under construction. I was very impressed (it isn’t slated to open until early next year). The construction is really impressive–they are using geo-thermal heating and cooling and will have some really nice features. The construction really reminds me of some of the great National Park Service structures out west. One of the nicest things is that it was designed to really blend in with the environment around it. After that, I drove along a short section of the Little River Canyon rim. If you haven’t been, you really should.
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Those Cows
Another photo from my trip back from Thomasville, Alabama. This was taken along Highway 25 between Faunsdale and Greensboro. There were about 30 cows all gathered in a corner. I liked this shot. Not sure where I can use it, but it provides a bit of that pastoral feel.
Rural Heritage Center in Thomaston, Alabama
Yesterday, I spent most of the day in the Black Belt of rural Southwest Alabama. The morning involved working with the Ala-Tom RC&D Council on, primarily, the Southwest Alabama Tourism website followed by lunch at one of 3 Chinese restaurants in Thomasville, Alabama–okay, I can’t imagine how a town the size of Thomasville can support 3 Chinese restaurants, but it was a tasty lunch buffet. (I’ve got a rough draft of the front page only developed so far on my server: joewatts.com/southwestal)
After lunch, I struck out, first taking Highway 5 north to the intersection of Highway 25. I turned north on 25 and passed through Vineland then on to Thomaston, Alabama and the Rural Heritage Center. What a neat place. It has been there for years, but somehow I’ve managed to avoid going. I really was surprised that it had as much stuff as it does. If you ever make it to Marengo County, Alabama, it is well worth a stop. From there it was the typical route to Birmingham: through Faundsdale, Greensboro and Moundville and on to Tuscaloosa. From there, the boring but expedient interstate took me home.
Below is a shot from the drive down early in the morning taken along scenic Highway 5.
