Christmas Is Already In The Air

From the minute our tires hit the pavement last Friday morning, we were scheduled to the maximum capacity. As I told you last week, my future plans were to make stops in both Columbus Georgia and Phenix City Alabama to re-visit both of my late grandparent’s last homes, and their final resting places in both cemeteries. Additionally, we also planned to stop along the way, and purchase some holiday flowers, to change-out at both grave sites, getting both sets of my grandparents ready for Christmas.

After making all the stops, we were on our way again, with about another hour or so drive before we would be at our final destination – Callaway Gardens.

We arrived at the Callaway Lodge and Spa a little after 4:30pm. We got to our rooms, unloaded our gear, and headed out to find something to eat as we had not had anything since breakfast around 9am.  We drove around Pine Mountain and its surrounding areas for about an hour before making a decision to dine at a place I had seen on-line called the Country Kitchen.

The Country Kitchen is actually located in Hamilton Georgia about 10 minutes away, and directly across from a spot called Mountain Lookout, complete with a telescope and a wonderful view. Cosmetically, I can see why it is so attractive to the naked eye and the hungry stomach, but everything is not always as it seems. The service could have been much better, and the food could have been warmer when it got to our table. But a starving man will eat most anything, and we did. They’re intentions are good and with a little more effort, they could live up to the hype that brings the folks in.

However, the next morning we ate breakfast at Edie Mae’s Kountry Kitchen in Pine Mountain and IT was the real deal. The lady that owned it was running the register and directing traffic and customers all at the same time, making sure everyone was tended to. You could order or do the buffet, we did the latter and it was wonderful! They also served lunch and supper – but we wanted to try other places as well.

After breakfast we headed to the Butterfly Center at Callaway. I’d already been there several times before, but there will never be a trip to Callaway that seeing the butterflies are not included.  Every species of butterfly imaginable could be found and there were cameras in most every hand!

But the grand honors of the trip belong to the Fantasy in Lights trolley-ride on Saturday night. Because of the cold front that came through, it was cold and windy, but it made it all the more “real” as we literally rode “in the lights” for at least six miles or more. I felt just like a child again, as 400+ people trolley-strolled and made low-voiced noises expressing our pleasure.

It was a wonderful mini-vacation but as always we were both glad to get back to Quincy. Because no matter where you’ve been, or how old you are, there’s still no place like home.