I can’t say we’ve seen ‘em all, but we are beginning to get opinionated about campgrounds in general. Too big usually means too impersonal. We don’t like to be nickel and dimed to death (one campground charged $4.00 for incoming faxes and $10.00 for a bundle of wood). Pay showers are another turn off. And of course, dirty rest rooms and laundry rooms just send shivers down my spine. So, imagine our complete delight when we stumbled upon Creekwood Resort outside of Helen, Georgia. I know I mentioned them earlier, but it was just such a pleasant experience that I wanted to add a little more detail. There are only 18 sites, all nestled in the trees around just one loop. On the road above are three lovely cottages (3 bedrooms, Jacuzzi, the works). A clean bathroom and laundry room where you pay for the wash, but the drier is included. Our friendly hosts, Melissa and Robert, helped us park, delivered firewood, and gave great suggestions for sights to see and places to eat. Our neighbors were all friendly and I’m sure if we had stayed a couple of more days, we’d all be good friends! Tonight we’re at an “OK†campground outside of Chattanooga. Rest rooms are clean and it’s pretty quiet. But it certainly doesn’t have the friendly feel of our delightful discovery in the mountains of Northern Georgia – Creekwood Resort.
After a quiet weekend in Unadilla enjoying a free weekend camping (in exchange for listening to a “pitchâ€), we began our trek north. Well, not too far north! We stopped at the Aviation Museum in Warner Robins (if you love military airplanes, this is a must!), found a Costco outside of Atlanta so we could stock up on “stuffâ€, and headed up to a Super Walmart outside of Gainesville. Early today we headed to Helen, GA – a little town in northern Georgia that about 35 years ago decided that they would become a little Alpine village. And it really seemed to have worked! Right now they are having their Octoberfest – from October 1 through November 6th! It is a very quaint town – everyone seems to have “bought into†the Alpine Village theme – and it is working very nicely. Helen is located just where the Appalachian Mountains begin. After a month amongst the cotton field and pecan orchards, it was delightful to see mountains and FALL!!! We are staying at a lovely small campground, Creekwood Resort, that is just outside of town, and are enjoying the views, the cable TV, the friendly folks, and the beautiful setting. There’s even a farm stand across the street where we got some great tomatoes (sometimes it is the little things!). Today we went to Brasstown Bald, the highest peak in Georgia. Although it was a beautiful day, and they say you can see four states from the observation deck (and we were there), the camera was back in the car so you’ll have to take our word on that! I’ll work on getting some pictures posted that I did take. Right now Gary is sitting outside enjoying the campfire and watching the Red Sox beat St. Louis. I don’t think he thinks it gets any better than this! =)
Ok, so these are more “staying in one place” pictures than Travel Pictures, but I wanted to share with you some of the great folks we’ve been working with these last three weeks. Here we are with the Dick and Sharon Brittell (our SOWER co-workers) after we did Chapel for the school. We talked about how we are all different parts (tools) of the Body of Christ. We had a great time doing it! And here we are at the TerriLynn Pecan shelling factory – hair and beard nets and all!
And then there are our friends at Faith Christian School – Here are the little guys …. Here’s the middle size gang- And then there’s the big guys….
Here are all the teachers in their “new” resource room – it was a project that Sharon and I worked on. Considering that you could barely walk in the room, we think it’s a great improvement (cracks on walls notwithstanding!)
Now that we are packing up to leave our “home between the tracksâ€, I just wanted to say again how much we’ve enjoyed our time here! We’ve gotten to experience southern Georgia in a way that we never would have been able to if we had just passed through and stayed at campgrounds. Yes, we might have seen the same points of interest, but we never would have been able to get to know and love the caring teachers here at Faith Christian School, or the students (and their families) or our new friends, the Brittells. Check out our photos page so you can see some of the faces we’ve come to love!
While we were here in Vienna, we got to experience some pretty “fun stuffâ€. Along with the all the activities I mentioned in earlier posts, we were able to visit a pecan cracking facility, TerriLynn Pecans and a cotton gin, Nobel Gin and Cotton warehouse. Both were very interesting (and very noisy!). We took in the Cotton Museum here in Vienna (did you know that a bale of cotton (about 500#) can produce 7,800 men’s hankerchiefs or 1200 men’s T-shirts or 300 pairs of jeans!) and the Georgia Rural Telephone Museum in Leslie. Today we also did Andersonville – the site of the famous Civil War prisoner of war camp and the home of the Prisoner of War Museum. A very sobering afternoon. But before we went there we stopped in Americus and visited the Habitat for Humanity International Discovery Center. That was a stop that, while graphically illustrating the desperate situations many people live in (world-wide), was also filled with hope as it spoke about homes being built and lives being changed. I don’t think we’re done with Georgia yet – heading north in a couple of days. We’ll keep you posted, I promise!
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