Welcome to Alabama - Martin Luther King Jr Historic Site - WindCreek Casino and Hotel

Great Internet connection at a hotel that really tries to please you so you'll gamble your money away.

Can you see that my room phone welcomes Ruth Deming?

This hotel and casino are owned by the Creek native-Americans.

They get a large percentage of the gambling and hotel revenues. Instead of calling it gambling, they refer to it as "gaming."

One of the signs I saw from the the bus said Tuskegee. I asked our guide Doug to discourse a bit on the
various info about Tuskegee.

He mentioned the Airmen and also the dreadful Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment by the US government.

When we first got on the bus Doug correctly chided the group about their complaints about our bus. It's not as roomy as the newer bus and people were still complaining about it.

He advised us not to complain. People in the back of the bus applauded. I did so in my head.

We also saw a sign for Warm Springs, GA. Doug told us this is where Franklin Roosevelt died at age 63. He was on a brief vacation, went to sleep and never woke up. His house is now a historic site. 

Our bus is made in Belgium.

I believe this is Joe - of Joe and Edwina. We sat next to them at dinner tonite and I mentioned what a b'ful name Edwina is.

I haven't listened to music since I got on the bus last Friday, so I'm listening to Mozart Concerto for Two Pianos on YouTube.

On the bus, Doug always puts in a couple movies for us. Today we watched the Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 voyage on the raft the Kontiki, proving that 5,000 yrs ago men sailed from Polynesia to Peru.







I had to crane my neck to see the screen and was also reading the exciting Executive Privilege. My seatmate kept commenting out loud what she thot was gonna happen. Remember, I'm getting a divorce from her in Vegas.

Today we actually DID something. Please, Doug, I'm not complaining. We had to work really hard - drive hundreds of miles - before we saw anything noteworthy.

Terri, a knowledgeable escort who carried a Red Parasol, gave us a fabulous guided tour of the MLK Historic site.

This mural was installed a couple of years ago. It's the journey of MLK - a portrait of his family - and many famous Civil Rights events, such as a pic of Rosa Parks.

 

 Rose Garden designed by Coretta Scott King after Martin's death.

 A German woman photographs her friends.

 Altho these look like flowers, it's FLAMES shooting in the air.... This is called The Eternal Flame.

 This is a gorgeous reflecting pool with fountains.

Turns out both Martin and Coretta King are both buried here.

Here's guide Terri with the parasol. She had skin cancer on her face so uses the parasol as well as sunscreen. People wanted to know where she was from originally b/c of the way she said - eh - many thot she was from Canada.

NYC. She referred to the Civil War as that nasty disagreement and other euphemisms. Talked about General Sherman's response many years after he burned Atlanta. He said he had to, but that the things that made Atlanta great would prevail and it would become great again.

It certainly is today. You pass a population sign on the highway and every few minutes it gets larger. At 6 million people, it's the ninth largest in the country.

Make a LEFT into the museum, which is quite good.....

 March on Washington.

 Funeral caisson for MLK, who died in 1968.

 The wagon was pulled by horses Belle and Ada (Moss Fleischer)?

 Jail door. I touched the cold metal bars. That was one of the most moving things I saw.

 Shoes worn by various men in the southern Civil Rights Movement. Click twice and you can read whose shoes they were. You also might return home, as Glenda, the Good Witch told Dorothy.

 Now we're heading across the street to ......

 Footprints indicate many of the high-profile donors to the historic site. Sidney Poitier was among them.

What a thrill it was to visit Ebenezer Baptist Church. Not only MLK preached here, but so did his father and grandfather.

Stained glass windows given by donors.

The clock is stopped at the time of his assassination.Wiki said it's 7:05 pm Central Time. To me, Wiki is the closest thing to God I know of. Shall I pray to Wiki?

Most of Alabama is on Central Time.

Photos from the bus include Ruth's finger which might also be Scott's bald head.

See Scott! I do think of you when I'm gone. Sorry I didn't call tonite. Did you watch Masterpiece Mystery?

 Downtown Atlanta has truly spectacular bldgs.

 Peachtree is a prestigious address. Apparently, the native Americans would cut down peach trees and use the inner resin to seal their canoes. They called it 'pitch. The Europeans misnamed it PEACH, which stuck.

Many inter-connecting highways.

 I liked this guy's pink tie over his protruding belly.

 Our guide Terri took us thru Buckshead, the most prestigious neighborhood in Atlanta. Bucks-head, name after a bar with the head of a buck on the wall.

And, yes, blacks live here too. Atlanta is the home of the birth of rap music, so famous rappers like somebody Terry live here, as do athletes from the various sports teams.

Terri mentioned the great passion for sports in the South, which was evident the further south we got. Whenever we stopped at a rest stop, people were discussing games that were on over the weekend.

 The Governor's Mansion. A security car was in the long driveway. The Mansion has housed Lester Maddox

Young rich people buy these mansions when they go up for sale and then build modern homes on them, many designed by famous architects.

Where do the riches come from?  Atlanta is headquarters to Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, WebMD (I saw the sign from the bus), Home Despot and many other Fortune 500 companies. 

Ready to have lunch?

Absolutely. Riding on the bus doing absolutely nothing you work up a huge appetite.

This is the huge CNN Building. The food court is in the middle of the many-storeyed bldg. This is a view upwards.

I sat with Donna and had a Burrito Supreme. Taco Bell went outa biz at the Willow Grove mall. I always loved their food. 

 What a beautiful tree, I thought. Mhy motto: any time you think something's beautiful, take the pic.

Asian tourists, snap snap.

 Went upstairs to my room at the hotel, set up my laptop, took my evening meds, and then went downstairs to eat. And what a meal I had!

 Roast beef was too tough to eat, field peas and beans, cabbage sauteed possibly in bacon, friend catfish !!! a hush puppy like we used to eat in TX

and a Peanut Butter Tart was was so rich and delicious I could not finish it.

 Donna's very nice. I had a cuppa decaf with my pie.

 Hey this is serious business.

Donna knew how to gamble. I do not. She was gonna help me, but I didn't bring my ID down from my room and we were too exhausted to go running around.

I was not too tired to exercise though.

 Twenty minutes on the Treadmill for you, lung lady!

Here's their outdoor pool which opens at 8 am.

Will I?