Georgia Veterans State Park GA

It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature's gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever. ~~former President Jimmy Carter

We stayed at Georgia Veterans State Park in Cordele, GA, this past weekend. It was our first visit to this state park. This state park is bordered by Lake Blackshear. This state park was established as a memorial to U.S. veterans and it features a museum with aircraft, armored vehicles, uniforms, weapons, medals and other items from the Revolutionary War through the Gulf War. We did not tour the museum as our schedule was busy with other activities.

We spent most of our day on Saturday on the Sam Shortline train tour. The train embarks from Cordele but you can get on at any of the stopping points. One of the stopping points is at Veterans State Park so we joined the tour at that point. Our next stop was Americus, GA. Unfortunately, they only gave us 1.5 hours at this stop and since it was lunch time, we spent most of that time walking to and from town to get lunch. We ate at Monroe's for lunch because we thought the girls would like hotdogs. Well, these were the pink style of hotdogs and Rachel and Anna noticed and decided they didn't like them. Jeff and I got the loaded variety with chili, cheese, onions, cole slaw.....the works. It was delicious but I think we would've preferred a meal instead of fast food. However, if you want a loaded hotdog, this place is priced reasonably and the food is good. We stopped for some icecream next and then walked to the Windsor Hotel for a very brief peek inside before walking back to the train. The Windsor closed its doors in the early 1970s, but recently underwent a $5.8 million restoration which returned the historic structure to its original grandeur with a grand opening on on September 20, 1991. Fellow passengers on the train told us the lunch buffet at the hotel was awesome. We wished we had gone there instead.

We wanted to tour the Habitat for Humanity Global Village Discovery Center but we had to get back on the train at that point. I think it would've been interesting to tour and the girls would've learned a lot. The purpose of the center is to educate people about the devastating effects of poverty everywhere and to see life-size Habitat houses from countries around the world.

Our next stop was Plains, GA. Plains is home to our former President Jimmy Carter and his wife. His boyhood home is in Archer, GA, which was the final stop of the train tour before back tracking to Cordele. You could walk in front of the property where his current home is but you can't see it. And, there is a guard shack out front with Secret Service agents. In a nutshell, don't bother wasting your time walking to it in the hopes of seeing anything as even the fences have a mesh covering limiting your view of anything on the property. If you're a Jimmy Carter fan, there is plenty of history to see regarding his election, etc. in Plains, GA. I think what surprised me most while touring his boyhood home was that I had thought that President Carter grew up poor but for the time period that he lived there, I would've considered his family middle to upper middle class.

Picture of Jeff and Anna trying out the outhouse at Jimmy Carter's boyhood farm.

It was around 5 pm before we were back at Veterans State Park and by that time we were ready for dinner. After a quick dinner we returned to the park and the girls participated in two of the park ranger programs. One program was to learn about squirrels in the park. The other activity was to learn how to make a picture frame with popsicle sticks. They had a great time participating in these activities and they learned a lot about squirrels.

We awakened early enough on Sunday to bring Rachel & Anna to the beach area inside the park. The beach area was clean and the facilities were very nice. Our only complaint about the park was the knats. Unfortunately, it's just that time of the year in Georgia and it's not unique to this park. As long as we were in the water or very near to it, they didn't bother us much. But, if you moved more than 3 feet away from the water, they would swarm us.

Some lessons learned from this trip.

1. If you plan to take the Sam Shortline train, you may want to get on in Cordele so that you get a good seat. The seat you get when you get on is your seat the entire trip. You can pack a small cooler and there is room in between seats to store it easily as well as room for strollers for those who have toddlers. The coolers would be good for cold bottles of water, etc. They do sell snacks and drinks on the train as well. Oh, pack cash. Many of the stores in the small towns won't take a credit or debit card.

2. Veterans State Park has great campsites. They are large with plenty of space between campers but they only have partial hookups. You can make a reservation but the sites themselves are first come first serve. So, if you want a site by the lake, you need to arrive very early before the weekend crowd gets in. If you're a fisherman or love activities on the water, this park is a must visit. For those who don't enjoy camping, you could always stay at the Lake Blackshear Resort.

We would definitely like to visit this area again. There were more things that we wanted to do but just didn't have the time to do over a short weekend. We have visited Andersonville previously but would like to visit again some time. And, we've never been to Chehaw Wild Animal Park in Albany, GA. But, I think we'll wait and visit again when the weather cools a bit and the knats have moved on.