Friday, April 22, 2011

The Alabama Book Fest & The Clockwork Carnival

Last week, we made our way back to Montgomery Alabama for the second year in a row of The Alabama Book Fest. We drove through a massive storm the entire way from Nashville to Montgomery. Imagine five hours of driving in 10 foot visibility with crazy winds trying to push the car off the road. Upon arrival on Friday night Montgomery wasn't was what I remember. The streets were empty, a lot of downtown was closed and the local brewery was gone! Yes, we were looking forward to that the entire drive. Last year, prom was going on and the streets were absolutely packed with people. We immediately figured the zombie apocalypse had happened. This is the second time in our journeys that we've come across this kind of thing. First, we discovered a very empty Frankfort, KY (The Capitol of Kentucky) Now the Capitol of Alabama has fallen. We're being surrounded!!!


So, after driving all around trying to find a suitable place for diner, we ended up back downtown to Joe DiMaggio Jr.'s Italian place called ZaSa's. Again, last year there was a line out of the door for this place. It was pretty good but nothing super amazing. Also, word to the wise, if you happen to visit Montgomery, do not stay at the downtown Clarion for any reason. I've stayed in a lot of hotels but this one took the cake in terrible. Don't worry Montgomery people, I really still love your city. We just had some bad experiences this time.



The Book fest was awesome as usual. It was so amazing seeing repeat readers and it was great to get a chance to sell Liz's brand spanking new book "Love Like Clockwork" which just came out in print last week. Oh here is a pic of this crazy guy trying to make sky writing in the insane wind. He tried but it didn't work out so well.



After the Book Fest we hauled everything to the car and darted to Atlanta, GA for the Clockwork Carnival, put on by the amazing Doctor Q and the steampunk crew in Atlanta. Ok, this blew me away. The location, The Goat Farm, was huge and full of activities everywhere. It was like a whole con that took place in one night! We had amazing food at the food truck (Poodle Hotdogs rule!) There was music all night, a coffee shop, ice cream truck, an entire room of vendors, home brewed beers and entertainers having a blast all night. I have nothing but awesome things to say about this event. Seriously these events are awesome and I encourage everyone to go. Big big kudos to everyone that helped with the Clockwork Carnival.