Pine Mountain, GA
December 29-30, 2006
We
decided to take a quick two day, one night trip over to Pine Mountain,
GA as part of our Christmas vacation. The main draw was the
Fantasy in Lights at Callaway Gardens, which is a huge display of
Christmas lights that draws people from all over. While we
were there, we spent the day in the gardens, and on our way home on the
second day, we planned a visit to the Wild Animal Safari.
On Friday morning, we left home early so we'd have most of the day to
explore the gardens. We were able to check into our hotel,
the Mountain Creek Inn (which is part of Callaway), then went into the
gardens to grab lunch at the Discovery Cafe. We watched the
Birds of Prey show first, then pretty much spent the rest of the day
seeing most of what the gardens has to offer. We hiked (well,
walked would probably be more accurate) a few trails and visited most
of the sites. One highlight was the Day Butterfly Center,
where you walk around in this huge glassed-in area with different kinds
of butterflies everywhere. It wasn't quite as big as the one
we saw in Gainesville, but it was still plenty big.
After stuffing ourselves at the seafood buffet back at the hotel, we
took our free shuttle bus back over to the gardens for the Fantasy in
Lights. We rode an open-air trolley through it (you can also
take your car). It was nice to not have to worry about
driving, but the downside was that it was VERY cold. The
trolley also had the advantage of some cheesy narration. The
lights were amazing...they had all kinds of animated displays and
themed areas. We then explored the Christmas Village area and
bought a few ornaments, and we got some dessert at the food court
there. We tried to get an older lady to take a picture of us,
and after several unsuccessful attempts we realized that she was lining
us up through the space on top of the camera between the camera and the
flash, instead of the viewfinder.
On Saturday morning, we enjoyed the breakfast buffet that came with our
room (it was all part of a package). We checked out and
headed back into the gardens. Tammy then discovered that
Callaway Gardens is a birding sanctuary. She saw all kinds of
birds in various places. One of the best was Mr. Cason's
Vegetable Garden. Because it was December, there wasn't much
growing there and so there weren't many people around, and the birds
loved this. We spent some more time in various areas in the
gardens before heading out for our afternoon. We spent a
while searching for a restaurant we had heard about for lunch, only to
discover that it's not even open that time of year. We ended
up eating at a cool place in Pine Mountain called the Purple Cow Cafe.
Everyone working there seemed like they were in middle
school, but the sandwiches were good and so was the milkshake.
It was a little rainy and wet, but we decided to go ahead and do the
Wild Animal Safari as planned. The animals didn't seem to
care that it was raining. We elected to drive our own car
through instead of renting one (probably a mistake), but fortunately
did buy two bags of food (one would not have been enough).
The park was a very unique experience...you roll your windows
down, and the animals just walk up to you hoping you'll give them some
food. A few brave ones tried to stick their heads in.
Sometimes, as you tried to drive off, they wouldn't move
because they wanted more food. The zebras actually chased us. Tammy got a little panicked a
few times, but all in all it was fun. A goat tried to take
off one of our side mirrors, but the car survived.
We then went to the caged part of the park, which was pretty much like
a miniature zoo. They have the largest collection of ligers
(bred for their skills in magic) in the U.S., along with a bunch of
other animals. Tammy wanted to take home the piglet that they
had for sale, but Ricky said it wouldn't get along with Angel.
We ate supper at a place called Crickets, then headed back to
Birmingham.
Callaway Gardens Pictures
Animal Safari Pictures
