Huntsville

Huntsville is the fourth largest city in Alabama, and one of the centers of US aerospace and missile development technologies. It has the second largest research park in the US, which provides a good chunk of the local economy. You can't throw a brick around here without hitting an engineer, which is as good a reason as any to throw one.

The city has some modestly touristy stuff. It is home to the US Space & Rocket Center, and has the completely unironically named Wernher von Braun Center, which has gas chambers concert halls, conference facilities, a sports arena, etc. Huntsville was where the US govt eventually put von Braun and his merry band of "former" Nazis who would all have been boiled to death over low heat if I'd had my say. Which, not being born, I hadn't, so they weren't. You can have a look at Tom Lehrer's "Werner von Braun" here if you fancy a chuckle.

There are several quite nice houses in the downtown area, some of them dating back to the early 1800s. There are three historic districts; Five Points, Old Town and Twickenham.

All Huntsville pics here.

My friend Nakia violating state property by climbing the walls. Tsk, tsk.


Views from Monte Sano State Park.




A horribly misshaped statue placed in the dogs' playground in Huntsville. We figured someone was just feeling pity for the sculptor and placed it here, canines not being famous for their sensibilities to the finer arts.


Some nice houses.