Top Five Reasons to You Need to Visit Huntsville, Alabama (Seriously)

5. Huntsvegas. That's Huntsville nickname given to it ironically by the city's disillusioned youth. However, recently Huntsville has gotten some glitz: neon palm trees outside of restaurants, animatronic Christmas villages in people's yards, and now gondola rides on a man-made lagoon at the new swanky mall. Look out real Vegas, we're coming for ya!

4. Bars. We used to be forced to go to the Thirsty Turtle or that sketchy bar on University Drive with all the SEC flags on the awning. No more! Downtown is abuzz with new bars: Lee Ann's (for older people), Humphries (for the slightly less old), and Mason's Pub (for twenty-somethings and old people). Go with a Huntsville native to find out which of the bar patrons have gotten married/pregnant/fat/arrested since high school.

3. Non-white people. You may think Alabama is just full of tobacco-chewing rednecks who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag stickers all over the bumpers. You would be wrong, and also kind of an assumption-making bigot. After World War II, Huntsville became home to one of NASA's space flight centers for the Apollo program. It's a city full of engineers and scientists from all over the world. My parents are Vietnamese and Australian. I grew up knowing people from China, the Netherlands, Germany, England, Sweden, India, Africa, and Russia.

2. Cultural and educational activities. U.S. Space and Rocket Center featuring the space camp the Olsen twins once went to, Big Spring Park with the gazebo and the bridge the Chinese gave us, Constitution Hall Village where your kids can churn butter, Huntsville Museum of Art, Montesano State Park, the symphony orchestra, botanical gardens, etc.

1. Good career opportunities and low, low property prices. Cummings Research Park is one of the largest research parks in the world. If you're smart, we want you. Buy a 3-bedroom home near a ridiculous amount of grocery stores, retailers, and movie theaters. Because after visiting, you're going to want to move here!