Calloway Gardens

Over the 4th of July weekend my parents and I traveled north to Calloway Gardens in Pine Mt., Georgia.  My parents had visited there many years ago and wanted to go back to see what it was like now.  We drove all day Saturday, stopping in Valdosta, Georgia for lunch at Chili's.

Calloway Garden's is a huge golf resort.  It has a spa, tennis courts, two golf courses, horseback riding, swimming, and just about anything you could imagine to do outdoors.  When we got there it was just about dinner time so we cleaned up and went to dinner at the Gardens Restaurant, one of the resorts nicer restaurants.  We sat outside, overlooking a lake and part of the golf course.  It was beautiful, but very hot! After dinner we drove around the resort for a little while and then stopped for ice cream at Rockin' Robbin's Malt Shop where we all ate Pralines and Cream...Yummy!

On Sunday we woke up and went to breakfast at the Country Kitchen, just a short drive from our cottage.  I had French Toast, it was delicious.  After breakfast we decided to venture to the gardens.  The resort is full of trails for walking or biking where you can look a beautiful flowers and plants.  Unfortunately, it has been so hot this summer all over the US that many of the flowers were not in bloom.  I think it would be better if we came during the spring when it was not as hot.  But, despite the lack of pretty flowers we had a nice walk and saw a few turtles.  After walking a few of the trails we decided to go to the butterfly house.  It is always fun to see multicolored butterflies flying around you.

Monday, the 4th of July, we went to breakfast at the lodge, which offers a buffet with everything you could possibly want.  The lodge also has free WiFi so we took our iPads and spent a little while checking our e-mails and browsing the Internet.  Of course, my Dad hates not having the ability to check the news every too seconds. :)  After breakfast we went to the pool and relaxed for a little while, but of course I didn't improve my tan any. haha!

Every summer the Florida State University Circus performs at Calloway Gardens so in the afternoon we went to the circus.  Although it is not like the typical circus that you might be thinking of with animals...it only has acrobats and boy was I impressed.  These are kids around my age that were flying way above my head and walking tightropes... it was amazing!  After the show we drove around the resort and looked at a few of the houses on the property.  They were so cute, but I don't think I would pick Calloway Gardens for my vacation home...I would prefer somewhere with a little bit more activity...  The night of the 4th there were fireworks over the lake so we watch those from our cottage and then watched the 4th of July special in Washington, DC.  We saw my dad's friend Hal Rodgers (Congressman from Kentucky) and his daughter on TV at the DC 4th of July special!

On Tuesday we headed to Tupelo, Mississippi with a stop at the Summit in Birmingham, Alabama for some lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen and a little bit of shopping.  We also watched the Casey Anthony trial verdict on TV at one of the stores...needless to say everyone was shocked by the verdict.

xo KD