Check out what's happening in Alabama from celebrating the Bicentennial of the State, 50th anniversary of moon landing to new openings.

Alabama Bicentennial Celebration

For the next two years Alabama will commemorate the 200th anniversary of its statehood. Created from the Mississippi Territory in 1817, the Alabama Territory became the nation's 22nd state on December 14, 1819. ALABAMA 200, the state's official bicentennial commemoration, invites visitors from all over to help celebrate our state's rich history with three years of special events. The bicentennial will feature traveling exhibitions, community festivals, genealogy workshops, cemetery surveys, historical gardens, reunions and other special celebrations.

The Alabama Pastport project will let visitors mark off historic, cultural, natural history and entertainment sites they visit across the state. The “Alabama Pastport” will be available in book form and as a smart phone app. Each year of the bicentennial celebration will have its own theme, 2018: Honoring our People and 2019: Sharing our Stories. www.Alabama200.org

National Memorial for Peace and Justice and Legacy Museum opens

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened in April 2018 in Montgomery. It acknowledges an era of racial terror in the United States when thousands of African Americans were lynched and publicly tortured, sometimes in the presence of thousands of people.  Designed with hundreds of six-foot, corten steel monuments aligned in a structure that sits above the city of Montgomery, the Equal Justice Initiative memorial features new sculptures from African and African American artists that explore slavery, segregation, and contemporary issues of racial inequality.  The spacious park holding the memorial includes a monument for every county in America where a racial terror lynching took place that can be claimed by community groups and installed locally.

A few blocks away from the memorial, EJI opened The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, which explores slavery, lynching, segregation, and mass incarceration in America on a site where enslaved people were once warehoused.  Located a few steps away from what was once one of the most prominent slave markets in America, and from a port and rail station that trafficked thousands of enslaved black people in the mid-19th century, the new narrative museum offers ground-breaking, interactive content that takes visitors on a journey through our nation's difficult past.  Sculpture, fine art, and technology are combined with original research and multi-media presentations to create a unique cultural experience.  www.museumandmemorial.eji.org

Civil Rights Trail Links Scores of Landmarks

Visitors can literally walk in the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, John Lewis and other African American activists, thanks to the U.S. Civil Rights Trail that launched on January 15, 2018.

Southern tourism departments worked together to link the country's most important civil rights sites - more than 100 landmarks, including museums, churches, courthouses, bus stations and memorials that were pivotal to the advancement of social equality during the volatile 1950s and 1960s.

Notable sites such as the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, the Greensboro, N.C., Woolworth's, where sit-ins began, the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., and King's birthplace in Atlanta, Ga., are anchors.

Heritage tourists can learn about Dr. King at numerous locations in Alabama including King's first church, Dexter Avenue Baptist, where the bus boycott was organized in 1955, and its parsonage in Montgomery to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, which houses the door to King's former jail cell. www.civilrightstrail.com 

Apollo 11 50th Anniversary

With little more than 400 days until July 20, 2019, a team of Huntsville's community leaders, helmed by Rocket Center CEO Dr. Deborah Barnhart, is hard at work planning a weeklong celebration of humanity greatest technological achievement - the lunar landing of Apollo 11.

Working with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, the Rocket City is assembling an unprecedented array of media, objects, events and educational opportunities to mark the occasion.

Stay at Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald's former home

High atop the native magnolia trees sits a quaint two-bedroom apartment housed in the former home of Jazz Age celebrities F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald in Montgomery. The home is the last of four still standing that the couple resided in through the years; the rest are private residences and this is the only dedicated museum to F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald in the world. The family lived here from 1931 until 1932, writing portions of their respective novels, Save Me The Waltz and Tender Is The Night during their time in Montgomery. After the family moved, the home was subsidized into four apartments. Over the past year, the Fitzgerald Museum has been actively furnishing and preparing the vacant two-bedroom apartment located on the second floor of the home for a new writer's residency and a lodging space open to the public.

The two-bedroom apartment features modern amenities, a full kitchen and half bath.  The master bedroom includes a Queen-sized bed; the secondary bedroom includes two Twin sized beds. There is a separate living room, dining room and sun porch- all with views of the sprawling magnolia tree on the front lawn. Guests have access to a complimentary tour of the museum, located in the downstairs portion of the historic Craftsman style home. www.thefitzgeraldmuseum.org

Elyton Hotel in Birmingham opens

The Elyton Hotel in Birmingham recently opened after a $45 million redevelopment of the iconic Empire building at 1928 1st Ave. as a luxury Marriott hotel with a restaurant, 117 bedrooms, a gym, lounge, meeting space and rooftop bar called Moonshine. The adjoining former Alagasco headquarters at 1918 1st Ave. N. will also become a limited service Marriott hotel with 120 rooms. The 16-story Empire was built in 1909 and is part of the "Heaviest Corner on Earth." In the early 1900s, four of the South's tallest buildings were constructed at 20th Street and First Avenue in downtown Birmingham. A magazine proclaimed it "The Heaviest Corner on Earth." www.elytonhotel.com

The Lodge at Gulf State Park opens in November

The Lodge at Gulf State Park, a Hilton Hotel opens in November and is located on the white sands of Gulf Shores inside the naturally beautiful 6,150-acre Gulf State Park.

The Lodge will offer guests access to 28 miles of educational hiking and biking trails, nature center, outdoor classrooms, interpretive center, tennis, kayaking, guided nature walks, butterfly garden, forest and beach pavilions. Two on-site restaurants will offer locally sourced, freshly prepared cuisine and feature gulf views from indoor and outdoor seating or a private dining room option. The Lodge will offer 40,000 sq. ft. of indoor and outdoor event space including the largest ballroom on the Gulf Coast with a beach view.

Montgomery serves up memorable culinary experiences

Montgomery offers a rich culinary scene that continues to grow in quality and variety. Known for its Southern hospitality and revitalized downtown, the riverfront capital city was the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement and has established itself as a landmark Deep South destination with much to offer for diners in search of authentic cuisine. From fine dining at upscale eateries to award-winning coffee shops and craft breweries, Montgomery offers up food and drink experiences to please every palate.

The fourth annual Montgomery Restaurant Week will take place this year from August 10 – 19 with restaurants participating throughout the city. Restaurant Week will feature great deals at participating eateries and dining meetups, along with chances to win prizes through social media contests. www.eatmgm.com

World Food Championships

The World Food Championships is the largest competition in Food Sport, where grand champions of previous events convene for a chance at winning the ultimate food crown and a share of hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money. The World Food Championships is also the springboard for many up and coming culinary stars and home cooks as they seek TV fame through many well-known food shows and acting opportunities.

World Food Championships will return to Orange Beach for the second year and will take place from November 7 - 11, 2018. www.worldfoodchampionships.com

Highlands Bar and Grill in Birmingham voted best restaurant in America

Highlands Bar and Grill in Birmingham won the 2018 James Beard Foundation Award as the most outstanding restaurant in America. Executive chef Frank Stitt and his wife and co-owner Pardis Stitt opened Highlands Bar and Grill in 1982 and it became one of the pioneers in the farm to table movement. Highlands pastry chef Dolester Miles was also named best in the county, making the restaurant the runaway winner at this year's awards. Located in the historic Five Points South District, Highlands Bar and Grill combines the simple elegance of country French cooking with rich Southern tradition. An Alabama native, Stitt once worked at legendary restaurant Chez Panisse in San Francisco, as well as in kitchens throughout Paris. He has previously received the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in the Southeast and was inducted into Esquire magazine's Restaurant Hall of Fame. www.highlandsbarandgrill.com.