HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA - Four City Tour #2
 

After touring Nashville, I headed south on I-65 to Huntsville, AL. I was excited to be going there since I'd heard and seen of such a clean and neat place to live or visit. Well, I must say that I was quite disappointed. First of all, there was Goose crap EVERYWHERE!!! And I mean you couldn't get anywhere close to the lake at the park downtown w/out stepping in it or squashing it on your bike tires! Plus, for a Friday at 5pm, it was bare (hardly any people). And I had a hell of a time finding good shots to take. Kept looking for a parking garage on the outside of the core to get a good overview of things and the only parking garages were in the core of downtown and they were ony 4-6 levels high. I don't know, I just had much higher expectations of it, that's all. I wish I'd gone west on I-40 from Nashville or kept going south on I-65.
Anyway, here's Huntsville, AL.

The only good shot of downtown I saw was coming into it off the interstate.
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...tsville001.jpg

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Goose crap central!
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...tsville004.jpg

Vacant Highrise???
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...tsville005.jpg

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...tsville006.jpg

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View from Monte Sano State Park (the Lodge there was even closed for good!)
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...untains001.jpg

Hope you like Huntsville better than me.
City #3 coming soon!

Not as bad as you think. I guess I'd have to be there to make that call. Thanks for the tour!! :cool:

Yeah, Huntsville has a lot to be proud of, especially when compared to other similarly sized southern cities. It has good education and healthcare, nice parks, and of course, NASA. But downtown Huntsville is incredibly dull. I understand that it is built over an underground cave, so to reduce weight they put a height restriction on the buildings. So that explains the short skyline, but it doesn't explain the bland, almost office park feel to the downtown area.

Perfectly said! Was wondering why such a short skyline for the size city it is.
Felt kinda creepy cycling around downtown at 5pm and barely anyone around.

The actual reason that the city has a short skyline is because there are historic districts that sit right next to the downtown area. So, to reduce the shadows that could have been cast onto the districts the city enacted an ordinance that didn't allow buildings to be built taller than a certain height. This happened a few decades ago. However, now the core of the downtown area doesn't have any height restrictions, though, there are buffer zones that abut the historic areas.

Yes, downtown is very dull, but I do believe the main reason is because the city hasn't taken full advantage of the amenities that it has. Big Spring Park is BEAUTIFUL, but they don't take advantage of the events they could use it for at night or anything.

The reason why no one was there at five PM is because everyone was driving home from work at that moment. And when I say everyone, I do mean EVERYONE.

Either way, you captured some good stuff. A lot of nice things are located outside of downtown, which has really not helped the CBD. It is a typical new growth, fast growing city. Most of the fun things are on the fringe of town, and not inside it.

Some nice pictures of my hometown, but downtown is just about the dullest part of the city.

Looks alright.

ugh... I hate goose crap