JoDo Chasing Rainbows
Exploring the US and Canada from our RV
Dethroned World’s Largest Chair
Anniston, AL once held the title to world’s largest chair starting in 1981. This chair was dethroned in 1997 by a chair built in Paris. It is still impressive. It is 31 feet tall and supposedly can sustain winds of 85 mph. Another day, another roadside attraction that I had to go see. I am so grateful that Donna indulges my passion for all things that have the title ‘largest’ in it.
American Jazz Museum and Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
We visited these museums in July 2022. These museums are housed in the same building. You can purchase entrance to both museums with one ticket. Donna and I wanted to visit the historic 18th and Vine where so much Black history has taken place. This is an old school Black neighborhood where all parts of Black life intersected. Our doctors, dentists, lawyers, athletes, porters and more all lived, worked, shopped in this part of the city. Segregation made it so.
Jazz musicians honed their craft in this city. It is where the American Jazz Museum resides. This is a super high touch museum. I spent hours listening to different styles of jazz. I marveled at how changing the drums or horns could completely change the tenor of the music. There is also a section dedicated to Elliz Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie and other giants of jazz music.
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was very busy. Buck O’Neill was being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame so there was lots of interest in this museum the weekend we attended. There is a movie that I highly recommend at the beginning of museum that you view before you walk through the museum. There is so much information that it felt like a fire hose of information. I felt thoroughly educated when I walked out of that museum.
