Georgia On My Mind: Indian Springs State Park, GA 6/8/08

We got up this morning and explored, on bike, the beautiful area of Chewacla State Park. It is in a heavily wooded park around a picturesque lake. Apparently, this is THE place to hang out before Auburn Univ. football games. In fact, some people store their huge RV’s here just for game day. We also noticed that many campers brought their own barbeques – you know those huge ones that most people have bricked in their backyards. These people take their barbequing seriously! We packed up and headed for Georgia, our first stop Warm Springs, FDR’s “Little White House.” It is very charming, and the museum is really interesting. Lots of history, films, memorabilia and very informed park rangers. I really enjoyed seeing FDR’s cars and how they were set up for hand controls. His house was much more simplistic than I imagined, but somehow I really enjoyed that. Ned particularly liked the “Stone Walkway of the States.” Each state donated a sample indigenous stone (2’ x 2’) often in the shape of the state. A plaque described the type of stone, the date the state was admitted to the union, and the state motto. It’s definitely hot here – mid to high 90’s. We decided to just go for it and drive the country back roads to our next destination with the air conditioning on. So far, the Winnie has been just perfect not showing any signs of low battery life or alternator trouble. Go figure. This part of Georgia is postcard beautiful. There are lots of rolling hills, pristine white houses with black shutters and big wrap around porches, and charming antique towns. Even though the pine woods are gorgeous, I do find them amusing. This Northern Sierra Girl is used to tall redwood and big fat cedar trees. The pine trees here are tall, but very skinny. They actually look like tiny Christmas trees on stilts. We only ate a light breakfast this morning, the usual cup of yogurt/bowl of cereal because we were holding out for a very special Sunday supper. Our 4:30 destination was “The Whistle Stop Café” in Juliette. It was the actual town and café where the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café” was filmed. I LOVED this place. It’s a tiny little town on the outskirts of a national forest. The café is located next to the train tracks and depot. It is exactly like it was in the movie, very homey, low key and just ordinary folks relaxing. (See photo of me hanging out on the front porch). There were only about 6 people in the café and the young women serving us made us feel so welcome with their southern hospitality. They sat down and talked with us, answering all my questions about the movie, the history of the town, the abandoned factory, etc. We were encouraged to walk around the back and make sure we visited the “barbeque pit”. If you saw the movie, you know what I’m talking about. The food here is FABULOUS. I had fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, collard greens & corn bread. Ned was less of a pig and just hand the fried green tomato BLT with a side order of onion rings. Let me tell ya – the best fried chicken I have ever eaten!! Of course, we split some peach cobbler for dessert. It was quiet warm and we couldn’t wait to get to the night’s destination, Indian Spring State Park – the first state park in the US! As usual, we were definitely not disappointed. Soon after pulling in, we blew up our swim rings, hopped on our bikes and headed for the lake. All the lakes so far have been really warm – close to 85-90 degrees. Sure makes me appreciate swimming in the Yuba River!! Anyway, we stayed in the lake until after 8:00 just floating around and gabbing. Damn it felt good. I think we did close to another 10 miles on our bikes today. I have to justify this southern home cookin’ somehow…