Margaritaville Resort Casino

Margaritaville is the only casino in Sheveport that is not on a riverboat. It opened after the Louisiana law requiring casinos to be able to cruise or at least be water based was changed. It's located on the edge of an outlet shopping center that never recovered from the shutdown during the coronavirus epidemic. There are a few stores, including a large Bass Pro store, that are still open but from all accounts most of it's empty. We didn't explore because the weather was cold and wet. 

The casino is accessible.

There aren't any signs for oversize vehicle parking so we parked in the fairly empty area of the lot with several trucks and another RV. We stayed two night and were not visited by security. Casino  32.52246, -93.74335

 

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

 Birmingham Baptist minister, Fred Shuttlesworth, founded the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights after the NAACP was banned in Alabama. His decades of involvement in civil rights activities resulted in beatings, jail time, and bombs planted under his house and church. His tactics were more radical than those used by Martin Luther King and other leaders but they brought attention to the atrocities occurring in southern cities as the images of children being attacked by police dogs and rolled down the streets by high pressure water were broadcasted into suburban living rooms. This helped lead to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

The museum tells these stories with life-size dioramas. The Birmingham jail cell where Martin Luther King wrote his famous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and part of a armored police car that Bull Connor used to intimidate protesters are included in the exhibits. Common examples of racism that were considered acceptable and important events in the civil rights movement are highlighted. The human rights movement in countries around the world fills one of the galleries. 

The 16th Street Baptist Church, where four young girls were killed on September 15, 1963 by a bomb planted by members of the KKK under the church steps, is located across 6th Avenue. Kelly Ingram Park, across 16th Street, has paved paths and sculptures. 

 

The museum and park are accessible. We did not visit the church.

We parked in an accessible space in the lot located at the rear of the museum. The lot is wide so we could pull straight in without blocking anything. Large RVs can be parked across the spaces or on the street. Institute  33.51585, -86.81546

 

Bass Pro Birmingham, Alabama

Some Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's have posted "No Overnight Parking" signs so they're not always a good place to stay but this one is great. There are three tiers of little used parking lots above the main lots. It's almost a park like setting because many of the existing trees were saved when the store was built. There are no signs indicating a limit on length of stay and we did not see any security staff. Hopefully nobody will take advantage of the store's hospitality and overstay.  Bass Pro  33.54174, -86.59056

Berman Museum of World History

The founding of this museum is as interesting as the artifacts. During WWII Farley Berman was an American spy and Germaine Louise Kinne was a member of the French Resistance. Both were assigned to North Africa with a mission to spy on the other as each was suspected of being a double agent. When this was proven to be false they became friends, fell in love and married in 1945 then moved to Anniston, Alabama, Farley's hometown. Even though they remained there for the rest of their lives they continued to travel the world and collect thousands of historical artifacts, weapons, and pieces of art. 

Their collection was donated to the museum after they died and has grown as more items were added. The collection is eclectic and diverse, and includes unusual historic weapons, concealed weapons such as a pipe gun, Native American artifacts, western art, artifacts from Napoleon Bonaparte and Catherine the Great, Asian art, and WWII history and artifacts. 

We're not fans of mounted animals so we skipped the natural history museum located a short walk/roll away. The Longleaf Botanical Gardens surrounds the museums. Due to a lack of time and rainy weather we did not explore the gardens. 

The museum is accessible.

RVs will fit in the lot on the opposite side of museum drive. Museum  33.69704, -85.8191

 

West Georgia Museum of Tallapoosa

This typical small town museum has nicely organized and curated exhibits that cover dinosaurs, Native Americans, pioneers, farmers, and natural history. A series of rooms have windows and doors to peek in and view business such as a grocery store, dentist, doctor's office, telephone office, and repair shop. 

The museum is accessible.

RVs will fit in the lot but may need to be parked across the spaces. Museum  33.75164, -85.2931

 

Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center

It's all about the water! An interactive exhibit gallery allows visitors to follow the path of the water they use from its source to their house, to the wastewater treatment plant, and then back to nature. The Waterways gallery uses full size dioramas to interpret how water in Gwinnett County, Georgia has been used by different groups of people over the years.

The building itself is environmentally friendly, featuring a roof covered with native plants and windows designed to let in natural light. The structural supports are recycled iron and aluminum. Cork and southern pine which grow fast and are considered easily renewable are used wherever possible. Ponds and waterfalls filter water runoff before it flows into Ivy Creek. 

A steep paved trail leads down to the 1850s Chesser-Williams House which is open for special events. Follow the closed road to the left to access the Ivy Creek Greenway. 

A big draw is Treetop Quest, an above ground obstacle course with ropes, ladders, zip lines, and bridges. Staff is on hand to help but participants are largely on their own. A special harness that can not be unhooked from the safety lines while on the course makes this possible. Treetop Quest is the only fee area. 

The center is accessible. Wheelchair users may need assistance on the paved paths due to the grades. We followed the Ivy Creek Greenway for a short distance and turned around when it started steeply downhill. Treetop Quest is not accessible. 

The parking lot is large enough for any vehicle if parked across the spaces. It may fill on weekends.