Road Trip to the University Of Alabama

We are well into our very first cross country road trip tonight, currently staying in Amarillo.

“Amarillo by Morning” is now stuck in my head.

It’s 12 am central time, and we are pretty sleepy. Unfortunately, we put clothes in the hotel washing machine downstairs. That means we have another hour and fifteen minutes, at best, before we can go to bed. Now I wish we’d packed ourselves more clothing. Drat.

It was a long day of driving, driving, and more driving. Not that much stuff happened. We did eat at Cracker Barrel. That was awesome. We didn’t have a Cracker Barrel in D.C., and I bet there won’t be one where we’re going either. Such a bummer.

So let’s talk about something that WASN’T a bummer.

On Thursday, we drove through Tuscaloosa and visited our Alma Mater: the University of Alabama.

Naturally, I took pictures. These might only be fun to other Alabama fans like myself…..

This is the President’s Mansion. I’ll never forget this one night when Jennings, Ryan, and I climbed those trees in the President’s Mansion yard.

Bryant Denny Stadium!! Roll Tide!

Toumey Hall. It’s one of the historical buildings. It was being renovated when I was a junior, and I can remember climbing up into the rafters, like they were balance beams, with Ryan and Jennings.  I know. It was a weird and stupid thing to do. Fun, though.

College of Arts and Sciences

Paty Hall:  Alan’s old dorm. I can’t believe they haven’t torn it down yet.

There were tons and tons of buildings that were not there when we were students.

I guess 12 years gave them plenty of time to build. There were whole areas of campus that I did not recognize.  Alan liked this one because it’s the “National Water Center,” and Alan loves studying water.

The old Bryce Mental Hospital building. This was an abandoned eye sore even 12 years ago, so I was surprised to see it still standing.

There were really only a few buildings that held a ton of memories for me. This Biology building is one of them.

I was pre-physical therapy, so I spent a lot of time there, doing fun things like listening to lectures and dissecting cats.

My degree is in Psychology, so I also spent a whole lot of time in Gordon Palmer: the Psychology and Math building.

I hated Calculus so much. Bleh. Jennings, do you remember how we studied for our Calculus final–watching The Nanny and Golden Girls, and studying during commercial breaks. We are lucky we passed!

I was also happy to find Tutwiler Hall still standing. My old residence hall!!  Oh, the memories!!

It felt sort of surreal to be back on campus.

Alan thought it felt great. I was so happy there, as a student, but I remember being nervous a lot too!!  There was always so many tests and so many boys. I know it sounds silly, but I was pretty stressed most of the time. Alan has this theory that I’m not really happy unless I’m stressed. I’m not sure, but in college it just seemed like there was always a cute boy that I was talking to, or walking with, or avoiding, or dating, so I had that butterfly stomach feeling an awful lot–fun–but exhausting!

It sure is nice to be married and done with that phase of life.

It was a fun time to look back on, but the past is best left as the past. Raising kids–that’s where it’s at!! 🙂