The leaves here in central Georgia are going to be at their peak colors in another week or so. Some of them are gorgeous already....the sweet gums and sugar maples.
Last Thursday, my BFF Judy, came down to visit for the day. We took a ride up to Dowdell's Knob where FDR would go to picnic and take in the awesome views. The colors will be much better the next time we go.

Bronze of FDR

FDR's view from Dowdell's Knob

We also drove over to the Group Camp that was destroyed by the tornado in April of this year. That place looks like a war zone....I can see it will be many, many years before it returns to the beautiful forested area it was before the tornado (25-30 years?). The State hired a logging company to come in and take away all the downed timber. Now they are bull dozing and burning one small area at a time. It will be a long time before this area is cleaned up and replanted. It's a real shame, too. The lake and boat docks seem untouched. There are still boats resting on the grass beside the lake. Most of the cabins and the two 'mess halls' are damaged beyond repair. They will have to be torn down and rebuilt. This area around the lake reminded me of the resort in the movie Dirty Dancing.

Tornado damage

Damaged mess hall

Looking across the lake at the docks and boats lying on the grass

Damaged cabins

Looks like this little guy is the last Hummingbird of the season


And of course, the necessary pic of Buddy.....

and some grand kids!

Just a note to keep ya'll updated....

Saturday, Kyle had his birthday party (8!). We didn't go because it was a sleep over for about 16 boys and wayyyyyyy to crowded! They played some carnival games in the yard, had a bonfire, roasted marshmallows, ate pizza, watched movies and spread their sleeping bags out all over the living room to sleep. Kyle said it was a big hit and they all had a blast!

Then on Sunday, Samantha brought the boys over to spend the night....they were out of school on Monday for Columbus Day. It was cool, windy and rainy but they brought their bikes and were able to ride quite a lot.

Their favorite thing is for PawPa to take them for a ride all over the campground in the Mule, which he did 3 or 4 times during the two days they were here. We had a nice fire going when they arrived on Sunday and kept it burning until after dark, to roast marshmallows.

On Monday, it rained a few showers off and on but they were able to ride bikes between the showers. We took the home about 5:30 Monday afternoon and stopped in Newnan at McDonald's for dinner.

We stayed over at their house Monday night and Sam took them to school Tuesday morning since he had to go into Douglasville to get a new battery for the truck. We had been having trouble with it not starting a few times this past week so needed to fix that problem!

We left Samantha's house about noon Tuesday and headed toward Newnan to meet BFF, Judy, for late lunch. On the way, we drove through the newest Georgia State Park, Chattahoochee Bend SP, off Highway 27 near Whitesburg. It's very remote.....11 miles and about 20 minutes from the main highway. Add another 30 minutes to Newnan and that's about 50 minutes to an hour to the nearest "stores". That's a little too far for us as far as hosting goes.....not too bad just to camp for a weekend or so. Being new, it's very nice and the sites are large and clear. There was only one camper there on Tuesday, with two hosts.....one in each loop. The visitor center is beautiful and the playground in Loop #1 is huge.

Visitor Center

I didn't take any pictures so check out their website for more. And I can't believe I didn't take any pictures while the boys were here.......I totally forgot!

We met Judy at Applebee's in Newnan, near I-85, about 2:00 and had a nice visit. We didn't leave the restaurant until 5:30! Buddy was able to get a nice nap in the truck. He needed to rest up from playing with Samantha's dogs! He got some leftover chicken for being such a good dog...lol!

We got back home to FDR and the camper about 6:30 and everything was fine....only 2 campers in our loop after being full over the weekend.

Pictures from F.D. Roosevelt SP

Here's a few pictures of our Host Site in Loop 5. The site is huge and nicely landscaped too!

We managed to bring a palm tree with us from Florida!

Our huge site at Loop 5


Another view

We got back to FDR last Tuesday (the 20th) and have been just taking it easy around the park this past week. One of the hosts (a single lady) has been gone all week so we have taken over the hosts duties including checking the bathrooms, raking some pine straw from the sites and cleaning out any fire pits as needed.

Today Sam went to the maintenance shop and split some wood to bundle and sell. The other host couple left this morning and the single lady is leaving tomorrow so we will be here by ourselves, as hosts, until the second host couple arrives on Friday. We are expecting a full campground every weekend in October and probably November also. Thanksgiving week is a sell out, too.

Tonight I drove about 45 minutes to Newnan, GA, to meet my BFF and have dinner at the Olive Garden. We met 40 years ago, in summer of 1971. Wowee.....time flies! Sam stayed behind this time in case anyone needed to buy firewood and we are the only ones in the campground for now. He said he sold 3 bundles!

Tomorrow or Thursday we will move into the host spot in the 500 circle. I'll get some pictures posted later this week.