Yeah, I'm talking about my trip.

The Mensa Annual Gathering--the main point of our Birmingham trip--was fun. If you're in Mensa and haven't gone to an AG, go to one. If you're not, talk a Mensan into taking you to one or join and go on your own. They're addictive.

However, if you're in Birmingham at any time, I have two suggestions for attractions to visit. The first is the Aldrich Coal Mining Museum in Montevallo. The genteman who runs it was kind enough to open for my father and myself on Tuesday--usually, they're closed Tuesdays; though their website does say they'll open by appointment, we didn't give them much lead-time on the appointment, calling about 45 minutes before we arrived. The museum is in an old company store and office/workers' recreation hall/school building--the former housing a collection of town history artifacts and pictures and the latter housing some more of the collection, but being closer to a building restored to its period appearance. It's a small museum, and hard to find, but I think it's worth a look.

The other attraction is the Irondale Café. This restaurant--the inspiration for the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café and the movie based on it--offers some great trainwatching. And the food is good, too.