It was quite the long week. I worked most of the day on Monday here in OKC, then hopped on a 4:30 flight. By 10:30 or so I was in my hotel room in Montgomery, Alabama. I wasn't sure how it would go for a number of reasons, but it turns out to have been a very productive trip work-wise. We're implementing a new enterprise-class solution, and had to bring together a couple dozen key players to engineer the implementation of that solution. I expected to just be sitting there watching the whole week, but I ended up getting very involved in the entire process to the effect that I authored the engineering concept document that the primary vendor will use to build-out their final implementation documentation.
While I do feel I worked hard this week, it wasn't all work and no play. I met A LOT of people at the Montgomery location and now have a couple regular hang-outs I can visit, when I return, with confidence people that I know will be there. Also, a friend recommended that I not eat at any national chains while in Alabama, but rather check out the local food options instead, which I think I was able to achieve.
Overall, I enjoyed my time in Montgomery. It didn't feel like that small of a town. The downtown area is steeped in history, which I like, and even though I was in the deep South, many aspects of the town had an "East coast" feel. Things I didn't like so much were the traffic lights (they all seemed to take forever, making even short trips chores), the street sign placement (had a tough time finding my way around at night), and the overall poor selection of radio stations. Instead of being able to find a consistently decent station, I had to have the radio on scan the majority of time, until I happened upon a tolerable song. Granted this could be as much a result of my taste in music as anything else.
Here's a rundown of my food selections in Montgomery...
Tuesday: For lunch, a bunch of us went to Lek's Taste of Thailand. While I stuck with the safe Chicken Pad Thai option, it was a nice place with good service, and I liked the spice choices that many Thai places don't have. For dinner, I took the recommendation of a new friend who insists he has tried every Mexican place in the area and has found no equal. We went to nearby Prattville, Alabama to visit Las Casitas. I have to say, it was VERY good. Their only weakness was their choice of chips and lack of queso by default.
Wednesday: I'm told BBQ in the South is unmatched. Though I feel our choices in OKC are quite good, I wasn't disappointed by my BBQ lunch at Five Brother's BBQ. I had some seriously good fall-off-the-fork brisket, and my plastic fork was perfectly sufficient. With Italian being my favorite food, I usually try to find a quality option in that regard, and I was lucky to have gotten a recommendation to try Mr. G's, a Greek and Italian place that was noticeably popular when I visited for dinner. While it's not among the fancier places I've been in the Italian genre of food, it was certainly tasty. And fast. From the time I sat down to the time I had my food was six minutes. Whoa.
Thursday: Wednesday night, while hanging with some new friends, it was recommended that I not leave Montgomery without trying true "meat and 3" style country cooking. So, I visited Peyton's Place and was not disappointed. Wouldn't have had a problem eating there every day of the trip. For dinner, I broke down and visited a chain, but not a national chain. Baumhower's is an Alabama-only chain, similar to a Buffalo Wild Wings (which I love). I had a craving for some boneless wings, but it turned out they didn't have boneless wings, so I got a steak instead, which I hadn't had all week, so I wasn't entirely disappointed. And where things really paid off was with the dessert. I had a "southern style" strawberry shortcake, which will definitely go down as the best I've had to date. It was no tiny dish, but rather a full-sized plate of yummy goodness.
Friday: My last meal in Alabama was at the renowned Wintzell's in downtown Montgomery. While I'm not a huge seafood fan, I enjoyed a very delicious po' boy sandwich, and got to check out some of downtown Montgomery while I was at it.
The places I found myself hanging out at the most while in Montgomery were Key Largo, or "The Keys", and The Breakroom. The Keys is just outside the gate at the base I was working at, so many of the folks hit it immediately after work for happy hour. While I met a lot of people at work, I met far more people at the bar, which is going to help long-term, as I do more projects involving this location. The Breakroom is a pool hall and bar, and I must say, it was awesome. There are a couple pool halls I frequent in OKC, and I wish they were like the Breakroom in their atmosphere. There are tons of pool tables and dart boards (which were in great shape), lots of TVs to watch the game (including a big screen projector), GREAT staff and management, and lots of fun incentives to stay, such as "Bikini Twister". I can't recommend it enough. I spent many hours at this place, and will definitely visit again when I next go back to Montgomery. I also look forward to catching the Montgomery Biscuits AA baseball team the next time I'm in town. Unfortunately, they were on the road this trip, so I wasn't able to catch a game in what looks like an awesome downtown ballpark.
The trip home was long and mostly uneventful. I worked until about three before heading out. I had an hour wait at Montgomery Regional, followed by a several hour layover in Atlanta, so I think in the future I'm going to fly direct to Atlanta, and make the two hour drive to Montgomery. I should be able to cut at least two hours off the trip that way. Plus, I'm going to have to work some Braves games into the equation. The most interesting thing that happened on the way home was the Cavs being on my plane. Yes, if you're from OKC, you heard that right, the Cavs. As in, the minor league basketball team that used to be based in OKC back in the day. They're now based in Lawton, OK, and they were headed home the same time that I was (though at first I thought they were a traveling high school team cause they seemed so young). It was an interesting sight seeing all those big guys trying to squeeze into the plane much less the seats. The plane landed at 11:15, and I was home in time to catch the bulk of Jimmy Fallon. It was a cool and rainy 53 degrees, but that was somewhat welcome after a week in the high eighties in the south.
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