• Enjoy heart-pounding action at Talladega Superspeedway (website: www.talladegasuperspeedway.com), site of Nascar records for speed and competition. The International Motorsports Hall of Fame and Museum is adjacent to the track.

• Launch into a space exploration experience at Huntsville's US Space and Rocket Center. Sign kjds on for Space Camp (website: www.spacecamp.com), visit the IMAX theatre, or tour the museum showcasing rockets and space hardware from the US space programme.

• Explore Birmingham, Alabama's largest city, nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Attractions include the Alabama Adventure theme park (website: www.alabamaadventure.com); McWane Science Center and IMAX theatre: (website: www.mcwane.org); the Birmingham Museum of Art (website: www.artsbma.org); and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

• Follow the history trail of the Civil Rights Movement that started in Alabama with Dr Martin Luther King Jr (website: www.800alabama.com/things-to-do/tours-trails/civil-rights-trail.pdf). Visit actual sites in Birmingham, Montgomery, Selma and Tuskegee.

• Visit Montgomery, Alabama's state capital and the first White House of the confederacy. The Hank Williams Memorial in Oakwood Cemetery Annex is a mecca for country music fans. Attend the sixth-largest Shakespeare Festival in the world held year-round at the Carolyn Blount Theatre (website: www.asf.net).
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• Head south to Mobile, a major seaport, and touch living military history at USS Alabama Battleship Park (website: www.ussalabama.com). It includes the battleship, submarines, and aircraft from every war since WWII, even the Lockheed A-12 Blackbird.

• Celebrate Mardi Gras in Mobile, birthplace of the Gulf Coast Mardi Gras in 1703 (website: www.mobilemardigras.com).

• Play golf at the Robert Trent Golf Trail in Mobile (website: www.rtjgolf.com), while the kids are entertained at the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center (website: www.exploreum.com).

• Walk the white, sugar-sand beaches of Gulf Shores (website: www.gulfshores.com) or indulge in some serious beach resort rest and recuperation.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.