Alabama Retirement Communities

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Alabama. What does that word conjure in your mind?

Bear Bryant and Alabama football? George Wallace, Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement? NASA operations in Huntsville? Well, if you haven’t looked at Alabama lately, you may be surprised that it is an up-and-coming relocation spot for the baby boomers and beyond crowd. Why? Because there is so much more than meets the eye at first glance.

Play golf? No serious golfer could sniff at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail (www.rtjgolf.com), Imagine 378 holes – that’s right – 378 scenic and challenging holes of public golf woven throughout the natural topography of the state.

Built as one project, the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail was created by the Retirement System of Alabama to spur tourism and retirement attraction. Not only is there an incredible collection of Alabama golf adventures awaiting you, the Trail also features eight luxury resort hotels to enhance your stay along the way. The signature resort is the imposing, Frenchgothic Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa (www.rossbridgeresort.com), with its 259 elegant rooms and sunset bagpipe interludes.

Suffice it to say, when you think of Alabama, you also need to think of two words: Golf Heaven. Enjoy other outdoor sports and activities? For retirees, it would be a full-time job to engage in all Alabama has to offer. From the Alabama mountain region down to its Gulf Coast, the opportunities seem to be endless.

For instance, Alabama offers myriad choices when it comes to sailing, boating and water sports, hiking trails, and garden, birding and walking trails. Find out about adventures in Alabama’s State Parks and National Forests at www.outdooralabama.com. Don’t miss the lakes in the North Alabama mountain region at www.alabamamountainlakes.com.

If you like coastal living, you can get great value on the Alabama Gulf Coast. Mobile (pop. 200,000) is the largest coastal metro city and Mobile Bay (www.mobilebay.org) stretches to the lovely and scenic coastal communities of Dauphin Island (www.dauphinisland.cc), Fort Morgan, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach (www.gulfshores.com).

There is great fishing and wildlife, as well as hometown friendliness, in the “River Heritage” or
“Wiregrass” towns of Dothan, Enterprise, Eufaula and Troy. Dothan (pop. 60,000) (www.visitdothanal.com) is the home of Fort Rucker, where most Air Force helicopter pilots train. Troy (pop. 14,000) is the home of Troy University. Enterprise (pop. 27,000) resembles Mayberry, USA with an interesting downtown and friendly folks. The legendary George Jones, nicknamed, “The Possum” and considered the Greatest Living Country Singer, is building a home in Enterprise.

Enjoy spectator sports? You don’t want to miss the races at Talladega (pop. 15,000) Super speedway (remember Ricky Bobby?). And, of course, the football Saturdays at Auburn (pop. 45,000) University and the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa (pop. 78,000) are among the best in the South.

Or, are you a music lover? Did you know Hank Williams (father of Monday Night Football’s
“Bocephus”) was born in Alabama? Check out important sites in the country music star’s life on the Hank Williams Trail (www.hankwilliamstrail.com). Or, did you know that Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter Lionel Richie is a native Alabamian? The former Commodore’s member was belting out songs like “Brick House” and “Sweet Love” decades before the tabloids discovered his daughter, Nicole. Other diverse musical artists and groups with an Alabama connection are the group, Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd, W.C.Handy, American Idol Taylor Hicks, Nat King Cole, Tammy Wynette and Emmylou Harris.

If you are a fan of the arts, Alabama would be a great relocation choice. The 35-year-old Alabama Shakespeare Theater hosts the sixth largest Shakespeare festival in the world. The state is full of talented artists, musicians, artesans and craftsmen, opera and theatrical troupes and actors and actresses. In fact, Alabama Governor Bob Riley has named 2007 as the Year of Alabama Arts. The venues, events, performances, gallery showings and festivals are too numerous to list. To find out more, go to www.800alabama.com.

If you move to Alabama, you’ll be happy to know that good medical care can be found at a number of hospitals around the state. The hospital that has ranked the highest in the U.S. News & World Report magazine rankings is the University of Alabama Hospital at Birmingham (pop. 250,000). For instance, the hospital ranked 20th in geriatrics and 18th in cancer treatment and 32nd in orthopedics among all U.S. hospitals.

You can’t talk about Alabama without mentioning its civil rights history. In 1955, Rosa Parks, “the mother of the civil rights,” started the Montgomery Bus Boycott when she would not give up her seat and move to the back of a bus in favor of white passengers. The Boycott launched a local Montgomery preacher to prominence: Martin Luther King. Ironically, the boycott in Montgomery came about 100 years after Jefferson Davis had been inaugurated as the president of the Confederate States of America there.

Today, Montgomery (pop. 200,000), the state capital of Alabama, is considered a progressive city with a number of museums and historical sites memorializing the civil rights struggle.

So, in a nutshell, Alabama is a vibrant, creative, engaging state with friendly people and lots to see. Investigate the state and you’ll quickly find out that your cost of living and cost of housing will generally be a fraction of what you are now paying.

The things you will generally NOT find in Alabama: high prices, congestion, hustle and bustle, extreme cold weather and mean people. What you will find: Open spaces and open-minded people. Old fashioned values. Lower prices and lots of opportunities. Solid medical care and great recreational and cultural attractions.

There is no way to fit all there is to say about Alabama in one short article, so you’ll have to come visit and see for yourself. There is something for everybody in Alabama!

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