Wheeeeee! Lotsa recommendations for the Heart of Dixie. Looks like I need

about a month down there. The following list is still growing:

—The AL-AR football game in Tuscaloosa on the 27th. (Multiple

recommendations for this.)

—Huntsville space center. (“That neighborhood has the best German food in

the USA,” says a reader. Now, why would that be?…..)

—Music Hall of Fame at Shoals.

—Dreamland BBQ in B’ham–”best ribs on the planet” (which planet?).

—The forts in Mobile & Pensacola.

—The AL Shakespeare Festival & nearby Fine Arts Museum.

—The Paul “Bear” Bryant museum in Tuscaloosa. Bryant, who I never heard

of until this morning, is, several readers assure me, “the greatest hero

America has yet produced.” Apparently Alabamians pay large sums of money to

funeral directors to get a gravesite close to Bryant’s.

—The USS Alabama in Mobile Bay.

—Oakleigh, a fine antebellum house.

—Helen Keller’s childhood home in Ivy Green.

—The Ave Maria grotto at Cullman. (Hey!–I’m a Protestant!)

—Bellingrath Gardens, Mobile.

—The “Redneck Riviera”–great for kids, I am told.

—The W.C. Handy home & museum in Florence.

—The George Washington Carver home & nearby museum for the Tuskegee

airmen.

Other things to do in Alabama during September, I am advised:

—Watch kudzu grow.

—Count how many minutes after stepping outside before the last dry spot of

your clothing is swallowed up by sweat.

Well, at least I know to pack extra deodorant.