Sometimes you just can’t see yourselves as others do. And often the hardest thing to do is to accept a compliment. That’s why we decided to take a moment to recap some great stories that have brought positive attention to our community from the regional and national perspective.

As we think about 50 Ways to Love Our Community, it’s nice to see that writers and editors across the United States appreciate the same things that we do.  Consider the following features published during 2009 in Smithsonian Magazine, Garden & Gun and the New York TimesTravel section.

New York Times Travel section, April 19, 2009
As part of the regular "36 hours" feature inthe New York Times Travel section, writer Jim Noles highlighted metropolitan Birmingham as a great place to spend a weekend. He started his tour with a great view from Vulcan Park on Red Mountain. He ate his evening meal Highlands Bar & Grill, then one of five finalists for the best restaurant of the year award from the James Beard Foundation, and closed out the night with entertainment at WorkPlay.

He continued his foodie journey with breakfast at Continental Bakery in English Village, lunch at Miss Myra’s Pit Bar-B-Q in Cahaba Heights, Saturday night dinner at Hot and Hot Fish Club and Sunday brunch at Little Savannah on the edge of the historic Forest Park neighborhood.

Other visits during this quick trip included Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum and Barber Motorsports Park, where bikers from the Northeast Sportbike Association were on the track. (Photo at left from NYT website.)

Garden & Gun, June-July 2009
Birmingham’s own Charles Gaines joined Jeff Book in painting a “City Portrait” for readers of the Southern lifestyle magazine Garden & Gun. The title of the piece, “The Big Heart of Birmingham: Why Alabama’s biggest city is loaded with small-town charm,” says it all, as Gaines praised what he called the enjoyable mix of “good living, past and present, town and country.”

Co-author Book listed influential residents whose efforts made the New York Times weekend list, including Chris and Idie Hastings of Hot and Hot Fish Club and Alan Hunter of WorkPlay, as well as Edwin Marty of Jones Valley Urban Farm and developer Cathy Crenshaw.

His list of restaurants to sample makes your mouth water, including Bottega, Bettola and Café Dupont.  Follow the link to learn more about other special places listed, including Sloss Furnaces, Birmingham Botanical Gardens and the Birmingham Museum of Art.

All in all, as Gaines says, Birmingham has become a destination that more than holds its own with others in the South – and you don’t have to fly anywhere else to get to heaven.

Smithsonian, August 2009
Smithsonian magazine also has found its way to our community, with an article in the August issue highlighting the Cahaba as a “river of riches” and one of the most biologically diverse places in the nation.  Photos by our own Beth Maynor Young highlight the beauty of the rare Cahaba lily and provide a taste of images from her newest book, “Headwaters:A Journey on Alabama Rivers.”

Randy Haddock, field director for the Cahaba River Society and a member of the Advisory Board of the Alabama Rivers Alliance, serves as the author’s guide on a canoe trip through what Haddock calls “one of the grandest places in North America.” The journey samples the diversity of plant and animal life on this free-flowing waterway that starts in Springville and travels through suburban Birmingham southward to its juncture with the Alabama River.

Keep your eyes and your mind open and you’re sure to see more national news of the great things our community has to offer its visitors. We can do our part by accepting the compliment -- and spreading the news to others..