Driving to Tuscaloosa

Hertz gave us a new Nissan Rogue, and as our luck would have it, a rock shot up off the road and left a large crack in the windshield, which dampered our excitement for the drive to Tuscaloosa.

Tuscaloosa Downtown

We went first to downtown Tuscaloosa itself and walked around for a few minutes but didn't see anything that jumped out to us for lunch.

Lunch

After driving back to campus, our GPS led us astray towards a bank instead of the restaurant we had picked. So instead we found a Publix parking lot just off campus and walked around the area. We ended up at "Buffalo Phil's" for lunch. The place was packed but we didn't have to wait too long for a seat. The wait for food was much longer but the wings and burger were quite good.

Shopping

Following lunch, we checked in at our hotel and then drove to the Ferguson Student Center where Becca found a t-shirt she liked at the Supestore. She also found a few items that would make good Christmas presents for her Bama-hating relatives if she decided to come to school here.

Capstone Scholars

Becca had originally scheduled a private dorm tour of the Blount dorm but they asked that it be changed to a group visit. That left J. R. and Becca with some time to kill so they wandered around the quad with Becca counting squirrels and joggers. J. R. pointed out she had no way of counting 'unique' squirrels but she was able to identify two 'unique' joggers (even though one guy passed us four times).

The decision to change the Blount tour was a bad idea as the setup was very disorganized. We arrived as they were finishing interviews and no one seemed to know where we should go. We finally found an ambassador who just told us to join one of the groups. We joined the first group but the tour guide was disinterested and the other student thought the whole thing was a joke. Not a great impression of Blount and had Becca reconsidering if she wanted to join that program.

There was a 'reception' at the Student Center but it was also lackluster -- some cheese straws and pretzel bags and water, lemonade and ice tea. Becca did score a stress ball and plastic cups from Student Services. We decided to go find dinner and ended up at Baumgartner's. They were also pretty crowded so we sat on the patio for awhile then had dinner. The food and service were both excellent.

The next day was the main Scholars Day. We had a morning session with the school president and Honors College dean and then a series of seminars. Becca walked away impressed and decided Alabama would be her safety school.

Birmingham and Cowfish

It rained most of our way back to Birmingham and GPS sent us way out of our way on our trip to Cowfish. Becca had demanded Cowfish, one of her favorite restaurants, so we had to stop there before turning in for the night in Birmingham.