Georgia - Columbus Area

We spent a full week at the Fort Benning FamCamp near Columbus Georgia. It was a very nice campsite. Not many people were there and it was very quiet. The pool won't open until this coming weekend which was unfortunate as it was very warm the entire time we were there. But for $84 week with our national parks pass, it was a real bargain.

While at Fort Benning, we visited the National Infantry Museum. We spent about 6 hours there, wonderful exhibits. There were a lot of recruits at the Museum, all men. Since they're infantry, no women.

As Fort Benning is the home of airborne training school, we spent a couple hours watching young men jump from the C-130s that were flying overhead.

We visited the Andersonville National Historic Site, which has three main features - the National Prisoner of War Museum which also serves as the visitor center, the Prison Site, and the Andersonville National Cemetery. The POW museum describes both the Civil War prison camp and the hardships, experiences, and sacrifices of American POWs throughout history.  The prison site was built in 1864 and was intended to hold 10,000 Union prisoners inside the 16 1/2 acre stockade.  However at its peak, over 32,000 POWs struggled to survive what was definitely a "hell on earth."



On our way back to Columbus, we stopped in Plains to visit the Jimmy Carter National Historic Monument.  The old Plains high school has been reopened as a museum and has several  very nice exhibits and an excellent film.  We then drove to the old homestead where he lived as a you g boy.  The Carters still live in Plains and are active in the community.  Former President Carter teaches Sunday school at his church twice a month.  It is quite inspiring to see how a barefoot country boy from rural Georgia grew up to be president of the United States.










Our visit to Callaway Gardens was a little disappointing as the spring flowers were gone, especially the azaleas,  and the summer flowers were just starting.   We took our swimsuits thinking we might spend some time at the lake only to learn that the beach and water activities wouldn't be open until Memorial Day weekend.   I thought about doing the tree top adventure but they recommend long pants and I only had shorts.  The treetop adventure traverses more than 3,000 feet and features 11 zip-lines and 20 sections comprised of ladders, logs, discs, netting, and other suspended obstacles.  It looked very challenging but fun.  Maybe next time.