Huntsville Alabama

[Xand]

Greetings Huntsville residents,
    I'm going to be down here for a few months for contract work.
    Do you have any suggestions for interesting things to do/see?

    Thanks

[Karlos]

Is that tumbleweed?

[Tigger]

1) Space and Rocket Center
2) Ava Maria Grotto (though thats a ways away)
3) Historic Downtown
4) If you are going to still be here in September, Big Spring Jam will be fun

There is lots to do here Xand, I just dont know what you are interested in, etc.   Lots of parks and hiking trails, lots of civil war stuff if thats your thing.  A museum or three, some sport team is playing pretty much every night.   Atlanta, Birmingham and Nashville are only day trips away.   Several spectacular caves if you are a spelunker, (in fact Huntsville is the home of the National Spelunkers Association).  
    -Tig

[ltstanfo]

Aside from Tigger's great suggestions, may I add the following:

1. Huntsville Botanical Garden
2. Railroad Museum and (occasional) Steam Locomotive Train ride
3. Lake Guntersville (1 hour away) fishing and boating
4. Spelunking (sp?). Much of Huntsville sits atop a vast cave network.
5. SCUBA Diving (Madison Water Park)
6. Huntsville Symphony Orchestra (HSO)
7. Concerts in the Park (Spring - Fall) by HSO
8. Jack Daniels Distillery (just under 2 hours away in Nashville)

There are more if you want to hear them. :-D

Regards,
Ltstanfo

8. Jack Daniels Distillery (just under 2 hours away in Nashville)

Now that, is something worth getting on a plane for! :pint:

[PMC]

First thing I think of whenever anyone mentions Huntsville, Alabama is "Rockets"...

[ltstanfo]

PMC wrote:
First thing I think of whenever anyone mentions Huntsville, Alabama is "Rockets"...

And that is a good association to think!  In many ways, Huntsville is the birthplace of America's space program.  When Von Braun and his team were brought to the US after WW2 they needed a place to work and ultimately, it was Huntsville Alabama.  The Redstone (later Mercury Redstone), Saturn 1 and Saturn V were designed and tested here.  The Redstone was actually manufactured here.  Huntsville is home to both the Army Aviation and Missile Command and the Marshall Space Flight Center which are co-located on Redstone Arsenal.  If rockets, missiles, spacecraft and "hi-tech" interest you, Huntsville is a good place to be. :-)

Regards,
Ltstanfo

Yeah, there are a few places, but it all depends on what you want to do.  PM me when you get here and we'll make plans to meet (with a few of the Huntsville mafia) and do the dinner thing.  Heck, we could even call it a user group meeting and  search out a few of those slackers

[odin]

Is it just me or do towns with a '#?ville' name template have this ring to it as if nothing ever happens there.. :-?

I don't know.  Huntsville is kind of an enigma in that it's a moderately small city, but it's really, really high tech.  It's equally possible to run into someone you know in the grocery store, or to go weeks without seeing someone else you know.

There's plenty to do here, just not when you get the craving for a burger at 3am.  Most of Huntsville, outside of the club scene shuts down at about 10 pm.

Wayne

[Xand]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've been so busy working and finding a place to live the last week I hadn't had time to check back.
I'm already on a soccer team in Birmingham and have met some horse people.

Xand wrote:
Thanks for all the suggestions. I've been so busy working and finding a place to live the last week I hadn't had time to check back.
I'm already on a soccer team in Birmingham and have met some horse people.

A little tip for anyone who wants to get far in the world of football.

Call it football, not soccer! :-)

"Football" is American.  What you chaps play is "fútbol", which is better known as Rugby.

Wayne wrote:
"Football" is American.  What you chaps play is "fútbol", which is better known as Rugby.

Incorrect.

Football is played with eleven men and a round ball that you kick.
Rugby football is played by (15?) psychopathic men and an egg shaped ball than you run about with and occasionally kick.
American football is played by a bunch of steroid freak poofs and an egg shaped ball that you throw about.

Here endeth the lesson. ;-)

[blobrana]

Hum,
strangly,  when i type `football` into google.com i just get European football...

BTW link to Huntsville info...

(in Canada...tnx for correction Wayne...its a bit like filming the Xfiles)