F. D. Roosevelt State Park, GA

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.~~Helen Keller

Originally, we thought we'd go to a location near the beach. In the end, we decided to pick something that was not a long drive. Jeff chose F. D. Roosevelt State Park. We also visited this Georgia State Park back in March.

Work has been especially busy for us as of late so we just wanted to relax for the most part. We arrived Friday evening in time for dinner. The children were eager to eat again at the Purple Cow Cafe which was enjoyable again on this trip. We enjoyed some sandwiches and ice cream before returning to the camper to enjoy a camp fire. They decided to give me my Mother's Day gift early for a reason; it was a new camera lense. Jeff knew I'd want to use it while we were there for the weekend. And, the girls were anxious to give me their personal gifts that they had made at school. I loved all of the gifts!

We decided to take a hike on Saturday morning and we chose the trail that started right behind our campsite. It was the trail to Liberty Bell Pool. Unfortunately, the pool was still not open yet. However, the trail hiking to Liberty Bell Pool was lovely and easy for the most part. It was approximately 1.2 miles (one way) from our camper. Anna is usually a great hiker. However, she was complaining during the entire walk to the pool. It made for a very long 1.2 miles going to the pool. We expected the hike back to be just as unpleasant but she surprised us and didn't hardly complain at all. We saw a few small animals on the trail like this frog below. They are camouflaged so well with their coloring that they are almost difficult to spot at times.

We spent some time at the camp ground play ground after we got back from our hike. I have to admit, it's been a while since I've attempted some things I once did as a child. So, I decided to take a stab at hanging upside down on the play set. Thankfully, I got up and down in one piece but it certainly wasn't as easy as I remember. I also have to say that I'm not too fond of my wrinkles, etc. that have come with age when I'm right side up. And, my aged imperfections don't look any better when upside down. :-)

We decided to eat in town for lunch. We ate at Aspen's Mountain Grill. The food was delicious. Rachel was a bit offended by the rustic decor; you know...bear skins, moose heads, etc. The idea of displaying a stuffed real animal to her is certainly not attractive. But despite Rachel's thoughts on the decor, we'll definitely try this restaurant again some time. But, what was even better was dessert at Sage's Soda Fountain in Pine Mountain. The inside of this restaurant is decorated like an old soda shop. There were lots of things to choose from including sandwiches, ice cream, milk shakes, bakery items, etc. It had a unique atmosphere and the treats we had were delicious. This place is definitely worth a visit when you travel to this area.

We thought we'd catch a movie during the early evening but the nearest theater was in LaGrange, GA, which was around 15 miles from Pine Mountain. However, we didn't have access to the internet to check movie times so we drove there hoping we'd arrive at a good time. Unfortunately, we arrived at 5:30 and the next start time for Nim's Island was 8:00. And, since we had a late lunch no one was ready for dinner so we just decided to head back to Pine Mountain. The down town area of LaGrange was nice and an area we wouldn't mind visiting again some time. By the time we got back to Pine Mountain, we were ready to eat dinner so we tried Fox's Pizza Den. The pizza here was quite tasty and definitely a place we'd visit again.

We returned to the camper and enjoyed another camp fire. Rachel spent some time catching frogs and releasing them. Meanwhile Anna adorned herself with a lot of glow sticks.

We had heard from other campers that bad weather was heading our way. We had a nice evening but we were awakened during the night due to the noise from a very strong rain storm. We were thankful we weren't sleeping in a tent that night. We were also fortunate that no tornadoes hit where we were but they did damage some areas north of our home town.

We did eat breakfast in Pine Mountain on Sunday morning at Chipley's Family Restaurant. It was a bad choice. We tend to pick local restaurants as much as possible but we were regretting our choice here. We tried their breakfast buffet. It was horrible. The food was barely warm. The eggs were runny. In general, the food just wasn't very good. And, the service wasn't much better. The food might have been better had we just ordered from the menu but we won't be back to find out. We decided to head back home early right after breakfast on Sunday as we weren't sure what the weather was going to be like plus there was loads of laundry and other things that needed our attention. We saw tons of wild life on the way home as we were driving down the road: a deer trying to cross the road, a snake, several turtles, a wild turkey, and several vultures. It seems that after a good rain storm or during a light rain storm, it is the best time to see wildlife. I remembered hiking on a trail in the Smoky Mountains years ago and almost walked into two deer standing on the trail. The animals seem to know people aren't out as much during that time period.

Originally, we planned to go back to High Falls the coming weekend but we have decided to cancel our reservations and stay home. We really need a weekend at home to get caught up on things and clean up the RV for our trip on Memorial Day weekend.