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!

Change of plans.........we're at F.D. Roosevelt SP. Arrived Thursday evening. We didn't like the looks of the site at Sprewell Bluff.........and the DNR, not park rangers, are in charge of the facility. The site was just a pile of gravel spread on a red dirt road, in full sun, leading to the maintenance shop. Not what we expected. There was already a 'host' there who was supposed to have left but had not. She didn't really act like she wanted to leave and we sure didn't want to stay, so we said adios and came on over to FDR.

Our site at FDR State Park. It's the "Maintenance Host" site.

We knew there was a maintenance host position available and we opted to take it for 30 days until we move into the campground and take one of the campground hosts positions on 10/1.


We really like this site and don't mind being 'outside' the campground at all!

No one had used this maintenance host site since 2008, but with a little weeding and raking, it looks very nice. The full time maintenance guys, Steve and Barry, checked out the electric, water, and sewer and got it all going for us and we moved over from the campground to this site yesterday, and got all set up. We are just outside the back gate on a circular drive that turns off the highway. It's not numbered on my map but runs between Ga190 & US27. We are just 3 miles from Pine Mountain.


View looking toward the highway (our entrance).


View looking down our road toward the curve that goes to the highway from the other end (our exit).

Last night we had dinner at San Marcos Mexican Restaurant in Pine Mountain. It was excellent and the place was packed. We got there just in time (about 6:00) because they were waiting everywhere, including outside, by the time we left. Today for lunch, Sam picked us up barbeque sandwiches at Whistling Pig Cafe. The barbeque was also excellent along with the slaw and fries!

The area where we are located is very level so we can ride bikes all around and over to the campground section across the street. The lower part of the campground is very hilly and not suited for our bikes (or bodies!) ;-)

Today we drove out I-20 towards the Alabama line to check out a park we had seen once before, to get some more info and have a better look around. Yogi Bear's Jellystone is a franchise park and the owners live on site. It's an option for us if we want to stay in the area several months, near family. This park is very 'kid friendly', especially in the summer. Today was dark and overcast but I got a few pictures with the cell phone.

Yogi welcomes everyone!

Main office and activities area

Campers on the lower loop

More campers around the circle

And a few more

Friendly pet pig. He came running to the fence looking for a 'snack'. :-) See one of several playgrounds in the background.

While we were out that way we visited John Tanner Park to see our buddies that work there. It is such a beautiful park, we just wanted to sit on the front porch of the office in the rocking chairs all afternoon. We feel like this is our 'home' park.....it always feels like home when we return.

John Tanner Park.....

and ice on the lake last winter.