Georgia - Part I

We dropped Anne & Margaret at the Birmingham airport and headed east. In just a little while, we were across the Georgia line (and got back the hour we lost a few days ago!) and stopped for lunch. Soon, we were back on the road for the short drive to Historic Banning Mills.

Earlier this decade, some folks bought this and turned it into a resort. After a short time, a fire destroyed the building. The local community helped in many ways to rebuild the main building. The surrounding buildings were added to increase lodging capacity.


They did a superb job of rebuilding and have retained the rustic feel. To the left side of the mantle you can see a blob of silver colored metal - that is the coinage that was in the safe during the fire! It melted inside the safe! Lots of stuffed critters in the main lodge!


I asked for a ground floor room so we were in a lodge just up the hill. The room was a little snug but had King bed and good heating system.


The breakfast was typical southern breakfast with three meats, eggs fried in bacon grease, biscuits and grits. I could feel my cholesterol rise as we ate! (But it was pretty good!)


The Zip Line Canopy Tour is a big thing here and one of the towers was just outside our room. It rained Tuesday so we did not do the zip line!


We parked the bikes before we left to meet our friends in Griffin GA. The reduced drag gave us another 3-5 mpg!


Back when I worked at Naval Avionics, one of my coworkers was a young engineer named Dave Gillmore. He married Sandra and moved to Georgia when NAC privatized. They live over two hours from Carrollton (where Hist Banning Mills is) so I suggested we meet half way at Griffin.
I picked Angelo's Mediterranean Restaurant from TripAdvisor.com and we were not disappointed! The food was excellent as was the company.


After lunch we sat for over two hours chatting with Dave and Sandy.
Angelo came out of the kitchen and told us to stay all afternoon if we wanted!


We drove back to Historic Banning Mills. I napped for a while and then we walked down to the lodge to meet the Nesbitt family. My sister Phyllis married Scott and had two boys, Brandt and Kurt. Brandt is now the Chef at Historic Banning Mills and he prepared a fantastic meal centered on beef Wellington! But when we got there, he was occupied with more mundane chores!


After dinner, we took this group photo of Vicki (Scott's wife), Theresa, Scott, Kurt, and Brandt , and yours truly. I think this is the first time we have been together with the entire family! Certainly we have not been with Scott, Brandt, and Kurt since Phyllis' funeral.
It was a fabulous meal and a good time was had by all!


Tomorrow we will explore the area on some of the many trails along the creek that runs below the lodge.

Then, it is on to Statesboro, GA to visit friends, followed by a long weekend in Savannah!