September 9, 2024 • 22 mins
I don’t know about all of you, but this is my favorite time of year. It’s officially football season. Both the professional and collegiate seasons are underway and I’m addicted. My fantasy team could use some help, otherwise I’m a ver happy football fan. With that season underway, I thought it was a perfect time to talk about Alabama. No, not the school or its football team. The state.
On this week’s episode of Delightful Destinations I’m speaking with Brooklyn Lundy. She’s a PR manager for the Alabama Tourism Department. Brooklyn is a born and raised Alabamian. Is that what we call them? Alabamian? Or is it Alabamans? Either way. Brooklyn knows her stuff and she’s great at painting these beautiful pictures of the small southern towns, the white sand beaches and history that Alabama has to offer.
I went into this conversation known next to nothing about Alabama and I left with a whole new appreciation for the state’s beauty. Hopefully my travels will bring me down that way at some point in the near future. Please enjoy my conversation with Brooklyn Lundy.
On this week’s episode of Delightful Destinations I’m speaking with Brooklyn Lundy. She’s a PR manager for the Alabama Tourism Department. Brooklyn is a born and raised Alabamian. Is that what we call them? Alabamian? Or is it Alabamans? Either way. Brooklyn knows her stuff and she’s great at painting these beautiful pictures of the small southern towns, the white sand beaches and history that Alabama has to offer.
I went into this conversation known next to nothing about Alabama and I left with a whole new appreciation for the state’s beauty. Hopefully my travels will bring me down that way at some point in the near future. Please enjoy my conversation with Brooklyn Lundy.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, what's up everybody. Welcome to Delightful Destinations. My name
is Jeff Saint Pierre. I'll be the host of this show.
Delightful Destinations is a show that I designed to give
you an inside or a deeper look at some vacation
locations around Maryland, the mid Atlantic, and some other spots
places I think you might want to hit somewhere on
your travels. My hope is to speak with people who
know these areas best and inspire you for your next trip.
(00:25):
I don't know about all of you, but this really
is my favorite time of year. We're just entering into
kind of the fall season here and it's officially football season.
Both the professional and the collegiate seasons are underway, and
I am just addicted. There's essentially an imprint of my
butt on our couch because that's all I do is
watch football. Now my fantasy team could use some help otherwise,
(00:46):
I'm very happy to be a football fan right now.
With that season underway, I thought it was a perfect
time to talk about Alabama. No, not the school or
it's football team. We're talking about the state. So let's
make our way south. On this week's episode of De
lightful destinations. I'm speaking with Brooklyn Lundy. She's a PR
manager for the Alabama Tourism Department. Brooklyn is a born
(01:07):
and raised Alabamian. Is that what we call them Alabamian Alabama?
I don't know. Anyway, She's from Alabama. Brooklyn knows her stuff,
and she's great at painting these beautiful pictures of the
small southern towns, the white sand beaches, and history that
Alabama has to offer. I went into this conversation really
knowing next to nothing about Alabama, and I left with
(01:28):
a whole new appreciation for the state's beauty. Hopefully my
travels will bring me down that way at some point
in the near future. Please enjoy my conversation with Brooklyn Lundy.
So where am I talking to you at today? Where
are you?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
So? I'm currently in Montgomery. I am at the Alabama
Tourism Department headquarters.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I have to be honest with you, my geographical knowledge
of Alabama is very limited. So Montgomery. I know, I've
read about Montgomery because there's tons of history that's happened
in Montgomery, But tell me where in the state does
Montgomery fall.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
So essentially, Montgomery is really in the center of the state.
But I say it's in the center of the state,
but it's closer in the black Belt area. So in
twenty twenty three, Joe Biden, our President Joe Biden, put
out that the Alabama black Belt is now a National
Heritage Area, and so I like to say that we're
(02:21):
in a National Heritage area, but we are at the
capitol as well.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So my knowledge of Alabama comes down to a few things.
I'm familiar with the Flora Obama. I'm familiar with Troy
University because my brother went there. And of course I
know football from Alabama, whether it's Auburn, Alabama or any
other variety of schools that are in the Alabama. Yeah,
this is how I know the states.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
You're not the only one. There are a lot of
other people who know Alabama is solely on sports. But
that's okay because we do love our sports down in
the southeast.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Tell me little about yourself, like how did you end
up in this role?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
So I actually started out at University of Alabama, ended
up not liking the University of Alabama, went down to Disney,
worked for a bit. I realized once COVID hit that
I couldn't necessarily dance my whole life. I was like, Okay, well,
let's figure out something else. And I thought about representing
(03:24):
something in a way that I truly felt a passion for.
And that's how I stumbled along pr and I fell
in love with it. Whenever I was at Auburn University. Yes,
I went to the other side of the state as well.
I went to the two rivals War Eagle. And then
I actually was just presented this job right out of
(03:48):
college because one of my professors told me that this
seems like a great fit for you, because you always
said you wanted to travel, you want to stay in Alabama,
you want to represent this state, which is what I've
always done. And I said, yeah, let's go for it.
And I was lucky enough to be given a shot here.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I think it's really interesting because whenever I hear the
word travel, the first thing that I think of is
getting away from where I live right like going somewhere new. Now,
Alabama as a state is much larger than Maryland is.
I live in Baltimore, Maryland right now, but you can
travel pretty far in Alabama and it could almost feel
like you're going to a whole new place.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
For sure. Yeah. A funny thing I like to say
to a lot of my international travelers that come a
visit that we host here sometimes is Alabama. Alabamian's vacation
in Alabama, and because it's so diverse, it's so easy
to travel throughout their own state. Because it's, like I said, diverse.
(04:51):
We have the mountains in North Alabama, we have the
history in the center, and we have the beaches in
the south. We have something that not a whole a
lot of other people have, and it's the terrains of
all the different places that a lot of people may
have to travel a few states over to get to.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Now you do have a pretty wide variety of experiences
available to people there.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
For sure. Yeah. I love Alabama if you can't tell.
And like you said, some people, when they think of travel,
they think of getting out of their home state. And
that's something that I've never really wanted to do because
I've always had the idea that I'm so lucky to
live where I'm at, because a lot of people don't
have such a beautiful state.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I love that. Well, I think you've found the right
job for yourself, then for sure I have. I have.
I'm very Lucky, Hi, Brooklyn. So I know Alabama has
a different sort of campaign each year, the year of campaigns,
the Times, what's going on right now.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Essentially the year of campaigns is showcasing something that is
special about Alabama. Everything is special about Alabama, first of all,
but we like to highlight one particular pillar that year.
So this year is going to be our year of
Alabama trails. Okay, but it's not necessarily outdoor trails. It
(06:08):
can be the most broad trail you can think of,
like the Alabama Civil Rights Trail, or the most niche
thing you can think of, which is the Alabama Gas
Station Barbecue Trail. Like it's something that can be related
to anybody. Anybody can go and find a trail on
(06:31):
our website, which will be up at the beginning of
the year, and they will be able to choose a trail,
go throughout their time, go throughout this full state of
Alabama and visit these different stops along that trail, and heck,
you can hit two or three different trails in one city.
It's great. That's what I'm so excited about it because
(06:54):
I've worked really hard on it and it's something that
I've been talking about about a year and we're finally
doing it.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I love it, and I think it's kind of interesting
because I've spoken with some other folks from different tourism
areas and they've talked about their different trails, whether it's
a brewery trail or a winery trail, and I guess
I never really thought of the term trail being used
in that way. I grew up in the Boston area.
They have the Freedom Trail, which you know, does chronicle
a bit of the Revolutionary War and how that all
(07:25):
got started, the big events that happened there. But I
guess I never really put the word trail together with that.
But I love that you have all these different options
for folks to try out and for folks to really
get a feel for what Alabama is all about.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, some of my favorite trails that I'm just gonna
hit once. We have our music trail, which a lot
of people don't associate music with Alabama, but we do
have the Muscle Shoals area, and we have you know,
Hank Williams was here and W. C. Handy was here.
We do have our outdoor trail, but you know, that's
(08:01):
not the only thing We're going to Highlight. We have
our Science Trail, which hits on like our US face
of Rocket Center, our mcwaine Science Center, the Explorium. Then
we have our Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, which a
lot of the especially my dad, he loves to hit
(08:22):
on those. We have our Civil War Trail as well.
And something that our year of campaign in twenty twenty
three was actually birding, and we went through upgraded and
updated all of our birding trails because essentially after twenty
twenty everyone wanted to get outside, and so that's why
(08:45):
we took a few grants and we went and updated
all of our outdoor trails, made it nicer, cleaner, accessible
for anyone to go and visit. So that's something that
we also pride ourselves on because we're always keeping in
mind of what's going on in the world and what
(09:07):
people need in that moment. And so now with people
feeling more comfortable, especially our international travelers, because we have
more international travelers than you think, they're more comfortable coming
over here now and visiting and staying two or three
weeks and wanting to just visit all parts of Alabama,
(09:28):
So we might as well give them something to do.
Give them a trail or two to complete.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I love that so international travelers. I don't want to
shift gears too far, but I'm just kind of curious
when you have people coming internationally, what is it that
they're coming to look for? Is there's something in specific
that's really driving them to Alabama?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Not really, to be honest, but they've heard about all
these great things about it, and they've heard that, you know,
especially the United States as a whole. Why do Americans
not travel all over the world. It's because week in
each state it's like a different country. And Alabama itself
can encompass so many different things, like we've talked about earlier,
(10:10):
but I will say the number one thing are our beaches.
So and a lot of people don't realize that Alabama
have beaches, has beaches.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So that is funny. We're gonna talk about the beaches
in a second. We were emailing back and forth and
you mentioned in the email that you wanted to highlight
beaches because you were like, I don't think people know
that we have beaches, Like I, Alabama's got beautiful beaches
down there.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Oh yeah, thirty six miles of white sandy beaches.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
All right, don't go to in detail because I want
to come back to that, but I want to go
back to trails for a second. So Brooklyn, tell me,
it's a weekend and you're looking for somebody to do,
You've got nothing on the calendar. You're like, I'm going
to go hit one of our trails. What is your trail?
What is the one that you would be most jazzed about.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Oh, that's such a good question. Okay, so I have
a weekend, I would really want to hit our bed
and breakfast trail.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Now the B and B trail, Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, because they're depending on where where I'm at in
the state. There are beautiful bed and breakfasts everywhere throughout
the state, but depending where I'm at, I've always wanted
to stay at one in particular. Okay, it's in Mentone, Alabama.
It's one of the smallest towns, but it's the most
(11:18):
beautiful area. It's right, I believe it's right above Fort Payne.
It is called be on the Brow Bed and Breakfast,
and it's somewhere I've sent a lot of journalists to before,
and I've always recommended because it comes so highly regarded
and just the pictures are beautiful, and that area itself
(11:42):
will feel like you're in a completely different world. It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I'm not surprised to hear that you've got great bed
and breakfast because I think too of like a state
like Vermont, where you've got so many small towns that
are sort of tucked away. Bed and breakfast are perfect
in these places. And I think Alabama's got that same vibe. Yeah,
you've got your cities, you've got your college areas where
there's a lot going on, but you've also got a
lot of those small southern towns and I can just
(12:10):
picture some of these classic old buildings being turned into
B and b's. I have this incredible mental picture right now.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Absolutely. And you said old towns turn into bed and breakfast.
Is in downtown Florence, which is close to Muscle Shoals,
there's the Strickland Hotel. They actually took it old, I
think the thirties building and made it into a bed
and breakfast area. So that's also on the trail too.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
You guys have like a brewery winery trail kind of thing.
I know, breweries are hot right now. People love visiting breweries,
so you know.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
We have a brewery and winery trail. This is Alabama,
of course.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Of course. Well I also know too, like Alabama's got
some interesting laws about alcohol, so I want to make
sure I brought it up. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, we do have lulls about alcohol. Depending on where
you're at, you can't buy it on Sundays after twelve
or some towns you can't buy it on Sunday at all.
You given you take a little bit, if it's if
it's a good brewery, then you're gonna wait till Monday.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
So you can survive the wait. Yeah, all right, Brooklyn,
we brought up beaches. Let's dive into beaches again, because
I do I do think Alabama's beaches. I've not been
to one, but I've only heard amazing things, and I
do think they don't get the love they deserve.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
That's true, that's true. Yeah, Like I said earlier, we
have thirty six miles of white, sandy beaches. And whenever
you think of Alabama, a lot of people don't think
about our beaches. They think about Oh, it's just oh
that's how you get to New Orleans, or that's how
you get to Florida, or just different areas like that.
You know, people will drive on our beaches and think
(13:54):
they're already in Florida, and that's something that you know,
we pride ourselves on, but we all to tell them
we're more affordable than Florida. That's the first thing people
think about when they're planning a trip. Okay, how much
is it going to cost? Is it going to be relaxing,
is it going to be you know, is there activities
for the whole family if you're on a girls trip.
(14:15):
Are their adventurous things to do? Yes? Yes, yes, and
yes it's affordable. There are plenty of things for the
whole family to do that They've really taken pride in
and put the money back into the communities and the
cities of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, and they've made
it their beaches as a whole will stand out among
(14:38):
all the others. And they've actually and their trails as
well that they have for the state parks. They've actually
been voted two years in a row. I think it's
the HUGHS. Branyon Trail that they have in the state
park was voted twice as the best recreational trail in
the country by USA Today, and it is something that
(15:02):
is breathtaking because not a lot of people think, oh,
this is such a beautiful place in Florida. Nope, you're
in Alabama. So it's just something that we always try
to showcase and always like pounded in people's heads. Hey,
we have beaches too.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
I've said for a long time to my wife, I
want to go to the beaches in Alabama. And she's like,
Alabama doesn't have beaches. I'm like, no, she does. I
mean Alabama as is she Alabama does have beaches, and
I think they're fantastic. Yeah, it's on my list beautiful.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
She's great.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
I will say, Brooklyn, you're in the right job because
you are definitely doing a great job at selling your
state right now. I know we touched on this earlier,
and I think anybody that's ever taken any sort of
American history class knows how much of the civil rights
movement went through Alabama as well. And you've got like
civil rights sites all throughout the state that I'm sure
drawing tourists as well.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
A lot of people like to think, oh, well, most
it's only just field trips and stuff like that. No,
there are tons of people that will come over from
all over the country and internationally all over the globe
to come and visit Alabama Civil Rights Trail and the
US Civil Rights Trail, which was actually created by my boss,
(16:18):
Lisa Tell And Yeah, so we've partnered with a lot
of the southern Southeastern states and he's been working on
it for about twenty years, I think, trying to get
trying to get sites on the US Civil Rights Trail
(16:39):
as a UNESCO site, which is huge to your international travelers,
but a lot of people in the United States don't
really understand what it is quite yet, but they will.
And there are thirteen sites currently on the tentative list
for the UNESCO sites, which is a big deal. It's
(17:01):
an even bigger deal than five of them are in Alabama. Yeah,
and that's something that a lot of countries only have one.
So it's huge that Alabama could have five.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah, it's important. It's an important place from that time
in history for sure.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Oh yeah. And because that's something that we can't we
can't push it under the rug. We have to commemorate it.
We have to put it on the front row and
really say this is what happened, and this is how
we're going to show it, show exactly what happened. We're
(17:38):
not going to ride anything, and we're going to commemorate
it in the best possible way.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
I love when I'm talking to somebody from a place
that I've never been. I love to find out about
sort of the quirky things that the state has to
offer or the place has to offer. And there's a
couple things that I want to touch on with Alabama
because I think these are fascinating. One of them is
the only unclaimed baggage center in the country. Tell me
more about this.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, So the Unclaim Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama, which
is probably our northeast Alabama. It is the only center
in the United States that gets unclaim baggage from all
over the United States. So they have partners with different
(18:23):
airlines and everything like that that they will try to
find its owner for two or three weeks, and I
think after ninety days it is considered unclaimed, and so
they will send it to Unclaim Baggage and they will
go through it and they will put it out there
(18:44):
and they will start selling everything.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
So fascinating.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Yeah, it's crazy some of the quirky things that you'll
find in there. Some one of the weirdest things that
I've heard someone find was a rattlesnake.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
An actual rattlesnake.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Like a rattlesnake. And then there have been some nice
luxury items like a sixty thousand dollars rolex.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
There has been you know, app apple products and like laptops,
all that kind of stuff that you can find.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Wow. Well, since we're talking about that, I think this
kind of ties right in. But you've got the start
of the world's longest yard sale in Alabama, so I
got to learn more about this too.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Yeah. So the world's longest yard sale, it's actually the
one hundred and twenty yard sale. Okay, it's going to
be held. It's held every year. I think this past
year was thirty seven years, so next year will be
thirty eight that it's been running. And it goes for
(19:54):
four days through six states for six hundred and ninety
miles of shopping.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, So I believe I'm not sure what all the
states because I don't want to say incorrectly or another
state that's not on the list of it, but I
know it starts in Alabama and it will end I
believe in Illinois. Or maybe Kentucky one of the two.
(20:22):
And it's going to be hell next year August seventh
through the tenth, So get your shopping bags ready.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Well, Brooklyn, I'm going to give you a loaded question
here because earlier in our chat we talked about how
you are an Alabama native. You're born there, you've stayed there,
and you want to stay there. But you're young, you're
in your early twenties, Like, tell me, what is it
about Alabama that's holding you there or what do you
love so much about it that you're just like, this
is my this is where I'm going to be. This
(20:50):
is it.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
You know, if you were have asked me in high school,
because I grew up about forty five minutes from the beach,
I would have said the beach, you know that that
was the only thing keeping me there because that's my
happy place. But now I would say the people because
every time I have a group visit or you know,
(21:13):
my New York family, because I have family in New York,
they'll come to visit. They always rave about how hospitable
everyone is. And the people of Alabama that they sell
the stake for me and they're the reason that I'm
i would never want to leave.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
All right, Brooklyn, before I wrap things up, If people
are listening right now, I want to find out some
more information, or if they want to start planning their trip,
where's the best place for them to go?
Speaker 2 (21:41):
I would definitely tell them to follow us on all
our social media at Alabama Travel on our Instagram, Facebook,
or you can visit our website which is also Alabama
dot Travel. But yeah, those are our main things. And
you can always email call me because I'll love to
(22:02):
talk to you about Alabama. Well.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
You are lovely and this has been a fantastic conversation.
Thank you so much for telling us more about your
state and hopefully it inspires some folks to come down.
Brooklyn Lundy is your name, the PR director for Alabama
Tourism Department. Such a pleasure to meet you. Thank you
so much, and I hope our paths cross again soon.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
I hope so too. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Thank you again to Brooklyn Lundy for her time. You
can find more information at Alabama dot Travel and make
sure you follow Alabama Travel on Instagram as well, and
thank you for checking out delightful destinations. I appreciate your
support and I hope that you've been inspired. Until next time,
be well,
Hey, what's up everybody. Welcome to Delightful Destinations. My name
is Jeff Saint Pierre. I'll be the host of this show.
Delightful Destinations is a show that I designed to give
you an inside or a deeper look at some vacation
locations around Maryland, the mid Atlantic, and some other spots
places I think you might want to hit somewhere on
your travels. My hope is to speak with people who
know these areas best and inspire you for your next trip.
(00:25):
I don't know about all of you, but this really
is my favorite time of year. We're just entering into
kind of the fall season here and it's officially football season.
Both the professional and the collegiate seasons are underway, and
I am just addicted. There's essentially an imprint of my
butt on our couch because that's all I do is
watch football. Now my fantasy team could use some help otherwise,
(00:46):
I'm very happy to be a football fan right now.
With that season underway, I thought it was a perfect
time to talk about Alabama. No, not the school or
it's football team. We're talking about the state. So let's
make our way south. On this week's episode of De
lightful destinations. I'm speaking with Brooklyn Lundy. She's a PR
manager for the Alabama Tourism Department. Brooklyn is a born
(01:07):
and raised Alabamian. Is that what we call them Alabamian Alabama?
I don't know. Anyway, She's from Alabama. Brooklyn knows her stuff,
and she's great at painting these beautiful pictures of the
small southern towns, the white sand beaches, and history that
Alabama has to offer. I went into this conversation really
knowing next to nothing about Alabama, and I left with
(01:28):
a whole new appreciation for the state's beauty. Hopefully my
travels will bring me down that way at some point
in the near future. Please enjoy my conversation with Brooklyn Lundy.
So where am I talking to you at today? Where
are you?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
So? I'm currently in Montgomery. I am at the Alabama
Tourism Department headquarters.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I have to be honest with you, my geographical knowledge
of Alabama is very limited. So Montgomery. I know, I've
read about Montgomery because there's tons of history that's happened
in Montgomery, But tell me where in the state does
Montgomery fall.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
So essentially, Montgomery is really in the center of the state.
But I say it's in the center of the state,
but it's closer in the black Belt area. So in
twenty twenty three, Joe Biden, our President Joe Biden, put
out that the Alabama black Belt is now a National
Heritage Area, and so I like to say that we're
(02:21):
in a National Heritage area, but we are at the
capitol as well.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So my knowledge of Alabama comes down to a few things.
I'm familiar with the Flora Obama. I'm familiar with Troy
University because my brother went there. And of course I
know football from Alabama, whether it's Auburn, Alabama or any
other variety of schools that are in the Alabama. Yeah,
this is how I know the states.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
You're not the only one. There are a lot of
other people who know Alabama is solely on sports. But
that's okay because we do love our sports down in
the southeast.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Tell me little about yourself, like how did you end
up in this role?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
So I actually started out at University of Alabama, ended
up not liking the University of Alabama, went down to Disney,
worked for a bit. I realized once COVID hit that
I couldn't necessarily dance my whole life. I was like, Okay, well,
let's figure out something else. And I thought about representing
(03:24):
something in a way that I truly felt a passion for.
And that's how I stumbled along pr and I fell
in love with it. Whenever I was at Auburn University. Yes,
I went to the other side of the state as well.
I went to the two rivals War Eagle. And then
I actually was just presented this job right out of
(03:48):
college because one of my professors told me that this
seems like a great fit for you, because you always
said you wanted to travel, you want to stay in Alabama,
you want to represent this state, which is what I've
always done. And I said, yeah, let's go for it.
And I was lucky enough to be given a shot here.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I think it's really interesting because whenever I hear the
word travel, the first thing that I think of is
getting away from where I live right like going somewhere new. Now,
Alabama as a state is much larger than Maryland is.
I live in Baltimore, Maryland right now, but you can
travel pretty far in Alabama and it could almost feel
like you're going to a whole new place.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
For sure. Yeah. A funny thing I like to say
to a lot of my international travelers that come a
visit that we host here sometimes is Alabama. Alabamian's vacation
in Alabama, and because it's so diverse, it's so easy
to travel throughout their own state. Because it's, like I said, diverse.
(04:51):
We have the mountains in North Alabama, we have the
history in the center, and we have the beaches in
the south. We have something that not a whole a
lot of other people have, and it's the terrains of
all the different places that a lot of people may
have to travel a few states over to get to.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Now you do have a pretty wide variety of experiences
available to people there.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
For sure. Yeah. I love Alabama if you can't tell.
And like you said, some people, when they think of travel,
they think of getting out of their home state. And
that's something that I've never really wanted to do because
I've always had the idea that I'm so lucky to
live where I'm at, because a lot of people don't
have such a beautiful state.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I love that. Well, I think you've found the right
job for yourself, then for sure I have. I have.
I'm very Lucky, Hi, Brooklyn. So I know Alabama has
a different sort of campaign each year, the year of campaigns,
the Times, what's going on right now.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Essentially the year of campaigns is showcasing something that is
special about Alabama. Everything is special about Alabama, first of all,
but we like to highlight one particular pillar that year.
So this year is going to be our year of
Alabama trails. Okay, but it's not necessarily outdoor trails. It
(06:08):
can be the most broad trail you can think of,
like the Alabama Civil Rights Trail, or the most niche
thing you can think of, which is the Alabama Gas
Station Barbecue Trail. Like it's something that can be related
to anybody. Anybody can go and find a trail on
(06:31):
our website, which will be up at the beginning of
the year, and they will be able to choose a trail,
go throughout their time, go throughout this full state of
Alabama and visit these different stops along that trail, and heck,
you can hit two or three different trails in one city.
It's great. That's what I'm so excited about it because
(06:54):
I've worked really hard on it and it's something that
I've been talking about about a year and we're finally
doing it.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I love it, and I think it's kind of interesting
because I've spoken with some other folks from different tourism
areas and they've talked about their different trails, whether it's
a brewery trail or a winery trail, and I guess
I never really thought of the term trail being used
in that way. I grew up in the Boston area.
They have the Freedom Trail, which you know, does chronicle
a bit of the Revolutionary War and how that all
(07:25):
got started, the big events that happened there. But I
guess I never really put the word trail together with that.
But I love that you have all these different options
for folks to try out and for folks to really
get a feel for what Alabama is all about.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, some of my favorite trails that I'm just gonna
hit once. We have our music trail, which a lot
of people don't associate music with Alabama, but we do
have the Muscle Shoals area, and we have you know,
Hank Williams was here and W. C. Handy was here.
We do have our outdoor trail, but you know, that's
(08:01):
not the only thing We're going to Highlight. We have
our Science Trail, which hits on like our US face
of Rocket Center, our mcwaine Science Center, the Explorium. Then
we have our Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, which a
lot of the especially my dad, he loves to hit
(08:22):
on those. We have our Civil War Trail as well.
And something that our year of campaign in twenty twenty
three was actually birding, and we went through upgraded and
updated all of our birding trails because essentially after twenty
twenty everyone wanted to get outside, and so that's why
(08:45):
we took a few grants and we went and updated
all of our outdoor trails, made it nicer, cleaner, accessible
for anyone to go and visit. So that's something that
we also pride ourselves on because we're always keeping in
mind of what's going on in the world and what
(09:07):
people need in that moment. And so now with people
feeling more comfortable, especially our international travelers, because we have
more international travelers than you think, they're more comfortable coming
over here now and visiting and staying two or three
weeks and wanting to just visit all parts of Alabama,
(09:28):
So we might as well give them something to do.
Give them a trail or two to complete.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I love that so international travelers. I don't want to
shift gears too far, but I'm just kind of curious
when you have people coming internationally, what is it that
they're coming to look for? Is there's something in specific
that's really driving them to Alabama?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Not really, to be honest, but they've heard about all
these great things about it, and they've heard that, you know,
especially the United States as a whole. Why do Americans
not travel all over the world. It's because week in
each state it's like a different country. And Alabama itself
can encompass so many different things, like we've talked about earlier,
(10:10):
but I will say the number one thing are our beaches.
So and a lot of people don't realize that Alabama
have beaches, has beaches.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So that is funny. We're gonna talk about the beaches
in a second. We were emailing back and forth and
you mentioned in the email that you wanted to highlight
beaches because you were like, I don't think people know
that we have beaches, Like I, Alabama's got beautiful beaches
down there.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Oh yeah, thirty six miles of white sandy beaches.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
All right, don't go to in detail because I want
to come back to that, but I want to go
back to trails for a second. So Brooklyn, tell me,
it's a weekend and you're looking for somebody to do,
You've got nothing on the calendar. You're like, I'm going
to go hit one of our trails. What is your trail?
What is the one that you would be most jazzed about.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Oh, that's such a good question. Okay, so I have
a weekend, I would really want to hit our bed
and breakfast trail.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Now the B and B trail, Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, because they're depending on where where I'm at in
the state. There are beautiful bed and breakfasts everywhere throughout
the state, but depending where I'm at, I've always wanted
to stay at one in particular. Okay, it's in Mentone, Alabama.
It's one of the smallest towns, but it's the most
(11:18):
beautiful area. It's right, I believe it's right above Fort Payne.
It is called be on the Brow Bed and Breakfast,
and it's somewhere I've sent a lot of journalists to before,
and I've always recommended because it comes so highly regarded
and just the pictures are beautiful, and that area itself
(11:42):
will feel like you're in a completely different world. It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I'm not surprised to hear that you've got great bed
and breakfast because I think too of like a state
like Vermont, where you've got so many small towns that
are sort of tucked away. Bed and breakfast are perfect
in these places. And I think Alabama's got that same vibe. Yeah,
you've got your cities, you've got your college areas where
there's a lot going on, but you've also got a
lot of those small southern towns and I can just
(12:10):
picture some of these classic old buildings being turned into
B and b's. I have this incredible mental picture right now.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Absolutely. And you said old towns turn into bed and breakfast.
Is in downtown Florence, which is close to Muscle Shoals,
there's the Strickland Hotel. They actually took it old, I
think the thirties building and made it into a bed
and breakfast area. So that's also on the trail too.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
You guys have like a brewery winery trail kind of thing.
I know, breweries are hot right now. People love visiting breweries,
so you know.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
We have a brewery and winery trail. This is Alabama,
of course.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Of course. Well I also know too, like Alabama's got
some interesting laws about alcohol, so I want to make
sure I brought it up. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, we do have lulls about alcohol. Depending on where
you're at, you can't buy it on Sundays after twelve
or some towns you can't buy it on Sunday at all.
You given you take a little bit, if it's if
it's a good brewery, then you're gonna wait till Monday.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
So you can survive the wait. Yeah, all right, Brooklyn,
we brought up beaches. Let's dive into beaches again, because
I do I do think Alabama's beaches. I've not been
to one, but I've only heard amazing things, and I
do think they don't get the love they deserve.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
That's true, that's true. Yeah, Like I said earlier, we
have thirty six miles of white, sandy beaches. And whenever
you think of Alabama, a lot of people don't think
about our beaches. They think about Oh, it's just oh
that's how you get to New Orleans, or that's how
you get to Florida, or just different areas like that.
You know, people will drive on our beaches and think
(13:54):
they're already in Florida, and that's something that you know,
we pride ourselves on, but we all to tell them
we're more affordable than Florida. That's the first thing people
think about when they're planning a trip. Okay, how much
is it going to cost? Is it going to be relaxing,
is it going to be you know, is there activities
for the whole family if you're on a girls trip.
(14:15):
Are their adventurous things to do? Yes? Yes, yes, and
yes it's affordable. There are plenty of things for the
whole family to do that They've really taken pride in
and put the money back into the communities and the
cities of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, and they've made
it their beaches as a whole will stand out among
(14:38):
all the others. And they've actually and their trails as
well that they have for the state parks. They've actually
been voted two years in a row. I think it's
the HUGHS. Branyon Trail that they have in the state
park was voted twice as the best recreational trail in
the country by USA Today, and it is something that
(15:02):
is breathtaking because not a lot of people think, oh,
this is such a beautiful place in Florida. Nope, you're
in Alabama. So it's just something that we always try
to showcase and always like pounded in people's heads. Hey,
we have beaches too.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
I've said for a long time to my wife, I
want to go to the beaches in Alabama. And she's like,
Alabama doesn't have beaches. I'm like, no, she does. I
mean Alabama as is she Alabama does have beaches, and
I think they're fantastic. Yeah, it's on my list beautiful.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
She's great.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
I will say, Brooklyn, you're in the right job because
you are definitely doing a great job at selling your
state right now. I know we touched on this earlier,
and I think anybody that's ever taken any sort of
American history class knows how much of the civil rights
movement went through Alabama as well. And you've got like
civil rights sites all throughout the state that I'm sure
drawing tourists as well.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
A lot of people like to think, oh, well, most
it's only just field trips and stuff like that. No,
there are tons of people that will come over from
all over the country and internationally all over the globe
to come and visit Alabama Civil Rights Trail and the
US Civil Rights Trail, which was actually created by my boss,
(16:18):
Lisa Tell And Yeah, so we've partnered with a lot
of the southern Southeastern states and he's been working on
it for about twenty years, I think, trying to get
trying to get sites on the US Civil Rights Trail
(16:39):
as a UNESCO site, which is huge to your international travelers,
but a lot of people in the United States don't
really understand what it is quite yet, but they will.
And there are thirteen sites currently on the tentative list
for the UNESCO sites, which is a big deal. It's
(17:01):
an even bigger deal than five of them are in Alabama. Yeah,
and that's something that a lot of countries only have one.
So it's huge that Alabama could have five.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah, it's important. It's an important place from that time
in history for sure.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Oh yeah. And because that's something that we can't we
can't push it under the rug. We have to commemorate it.
We have to put it on the front row and
really say this is what happened, and this is how
we're going to show it, show exactly what happened. We're
(17:38):
not going to ride anything, and we're going to commemorate
it in the best possible way.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
I love when I'm talking to somebody from a place
that I've never been. I love to find out about
sort of the quirky things that the state has to
offer or the place has to offer. And there's a
couple things that I want to touch on with Alabama
because I think these are fascinating. One of them is
the only unclaimed baggage center in the country. Tell me
more about this.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, So the Unclaim Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama, which
is probably our northeast Alabama. It is the only center
in the United States that gets unclaim baggage from all
over the United States. So they have partners with different
(18:23):
airlines and everything like that that they will try to
find its owner for two or three weeks, and I
think after ninety days it is considered unclaimed, and so
they will send it to Unclaim Baggage and they will
go through it and they will put it out there
(18:44):
and they will start selling everything.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
So fascinating.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Yeah, it's crazy some of the quirky things that you'll
find in there. Some one of the weirdest things that
I've heard someone find was a rattlesnake.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
An actual rattlesnake.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Like a rattlesnake. And then there have been some nice
luxury items like a sixty thousand dollars rolex.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
There has been you know, app apple products and like laptops,
all that kind of stuff that you can find.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Wow. Well, since we're talking about that, I think this
kind of ties right in. But you've got the start
of the world's longest yard sale in Alabama, so I
got to learn more about this too.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Yeah. So the world's longest yard sale, it's actually the
one hundred and twenty yard sale. Okay, it's going to
be held. It's held every year. I think this past
year was thirty seven years, so next year will be
thirty eight that it's been running. And it goes for
(19:54):
four days through six states for six hundred and ninety
miles of shopping.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, So I believe I'm not sure what all the
states because I don't want to say incorrectly or another
state that's not on the list of it, but I
know it starts in Alabama and it will end I
believe in Illinois. Or maybe Kentucky one of the two.
(20:22):
And it's going to be hell next year August seventh
through the tenth, So get your shopping bags ready.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Well, Brooklyn, I'm going to give you a loaded question
here because earlier in our chat we talked about how
you are an Alabama native. You're born there, you've stayed there,
and you want to stay there. But you're young, you're
in your early twenties, Like, tell me, what is it
about Alabama that's holding you there or what do you
love so much about it that you're just like, this
is my this is where I'm going to be. This
(20:50):
is it.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
You know, if you were have asked me in high school,
because I grew up about forty five minutes from the beach,
I would have said the beach, you know that that
was the only thing keeping me there because that's my
happy place. But now I would say the people because
every time I have a group visit or you know,
(21:13):
my New York family, because I have family in New York,
they'll come to visit. They always rave about how hospitable
everyone is. And the people of Alabama that they sell
the stake for me and they're the reason that I'm
i would never want to leave.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
All right, Brooklyn, before I wrap things up, If people
are listening right now, I want to find out some
more information, or if they want to start planning their trip,
where's the best place for them to go?
Speaker 2 (21:41):
I would definitely tell them to follow us on all
our social media at Alabama Travel on our Instagram, Facebook,
or you can visit our website which is also Alabama
dot Travel. But yeah, those are our main things. And
you can always email call me because I'll love to
(22:02):
talk to you about Alabama. Well.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
You are lovely and this has been a fantastic conversation.
Thank you so much for telling us more about your
state and hopefully it inspires some folks to come down.
Brooklyn Lundy is your name, the PR director for Alabama
Tourism Department. Such a pleasure to meet you. Thank you
so much, and I hope our paths cross again soon.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
I hope so too. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Thank you again to Brooklyn Lundy for her time. You
can find more information at Alabama dot Travel and make
sure you follow Alabama Travel on Instagram as well, and
thank you for checking out delightful destinations. I appreciate your
support and I hope that you've been inspired. Until next time,
be well,
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