How many of you have actually spent a significant period of time in Alabama? I have and I will say that the beauty of beaches on the coast rival the FL panhandle. Mobile has a nice downtown with pretty live oak trees. I met 2 nice and helpful ladies when I toured the capitol in Montgomery. Birmingham's suburbs are extremely upscale and have not lost their southern charm. Also, there is surprisingly nice mountain scenery in the NE part of the state. The only negative is that parts of the "Black belt" are very poor and depressing but the rest of the state is great. I saw lots of positive interaction between blacks and whites and would say that race relations are now as good as anywhere else if not better.
