Georgia on my mind

Fort Benning has some awesome obstacle courses and rifle ranges. The large, uh, ‘cafeterias’ are also worth visiting, for some of what the locals call ‘chow’ :)

I’m from Atlanta, so I know that part of the world pretty well. Two places I’d love to go would be Plains, Georgia, home of Jimmy Carter and an interesting little town, and Warm Springs, which is where FDR would go to get polio treatments. Both are probably an hour or so from Columbus. Both would also allow you some decent access to Georgia countryside (and IIRC I did some tubing on the nearby Flint River many, many years ago).

Athens is probably a 3-4 hour drive from Columbus, at least, especially with Atlanta traffic, but is a fantastic college town. I can suggest a few other things once I wake up fully.

DQMoT, I never thought of that. Thanks.

I find that one of the best ways to plan rural road trips–where the point of the expedition is to see the countryside–is to get the WPA guidebook for the state. The WPA guides were, as you may know, written in the 1930s by members of the Federal Writers Project, and there’s one for each state. They’re rather outdated, of course, but that’s their charm. They come with suggested driving routes. The country roads are unlikely to have changed drastically (but bring a map in case they have!) and it’s fun to see what’s changed in individual towns. It would be fun to combine this suggestion with that of DQMoT. You should be able to find the guide at a good library or used book store, and it looks like the Georgia guide was republished in 1990 by the University of South Carolina Press.

Stay away from Victory Drive.

The North Georgia mountains are beautiful. They’re best in the fall, but still nice this time of year, if the weather is right.

There’s also Fort Mc, all kinds of Lester Maddox fun, the classroom Newt made history in, a number of nice old cemeteries, Stone Mountain, possibly some peach blossoms in regalia, Coke Museum, sadly I think you’ll be too early for the Vidalia onion fest. I’ll second the pleasure to experiencing the “all you can eats” around Benning.

Geographically, Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi, so you might want to limit your drive time. You *could* concentrate on west Georgia, not far from Benning. If so, I’d recommend that you plan on seeing beautiful Calloway Gardens, then do FDR’s retreat at Warm Springs, and, finally, drive a bit east to Newnan, where the historic district is quite lovely.

Further to nick s @17, Milledgeville would presumably be an obligatory stop for aficionados of Flannery O’Connor’s stories.

If you don’t mind the driving, do a loop from Columbus to Macon to Madison (via Dublin and Milledgeville) to Athens to Atlanta. The River Walk in Macon is a pleasant short walk and usually not very busy. Madison, Milledgeville, and Dublin all have nice historic districts. Make sure to visit the Last Resort, the Grit, or Five Star Day while in Athens for some good Southern food.

Savannah is a lovely city to visit. I recommend you avoid the place like it’s infested with the plague though if it’s St. Patrick’s Day. Sound slike you’ll miss that by a few days so you should be good.

Savannah is home to the Juliet Gordon Low house, home to the founder of the Girl Scouts, a lovely colonial cemetery, and several nice squares and parks. The ghost tours are campy but fun and a good way to do a walking tour of the historic district. River street is a tourist trap but worth walking down at least once, just to see the river.

There’s a great cafe called Gallery Espresso, that has rotating art shows, many from the local art school. I highly recommend Zunzi’s, a great little place that makes the best South African sausage and sandwiches. There’s Churchill’s Pub down on Bay Street, Vinni Van GoGo’s pizza (cash only) and the Firefly cafe. All highly recommended.

Anyone who tells you to go to Paula Dean’s restaurant, or Mrs, Wilkes boarding house restaurant are trying to poison you. They’re tourist traps that’ll give you the runs.

We’ve been in Atlanta for years now…take a drive down Tuxedo Row in Buckhead to see the glorious modern mansions of the New South. If you coincide with the Dogwood Festival in Piedmont Park, then definitely go, its a hoot. On Sunday night, you simply must drop by JCT Kitchen for their gourmet meat-n-three, it’s just the best southern cookin’ ever! Of course, CNN, Coke Museum, and the Aquarium are all perfectly fine ways to do the tourist thing.

I agree with Ralph Luker. With only 48 hours I’d take a meandering drive up to the Callaway Gardens, Warm Springs, Pine Mountain area. It’s lovely countryside! FDR’s Little Whitehouse is in nearby Manchester. Hoganville is kinda scenic and has a WPA/CCC amphitheater (home to Hoganville Hummingbird Festival) and a Sat. antiques market. Newnan has a very charming and classic southern town center with good restaurants and is an easy drive to Hartsfield-Jackson International airport.

The county seats idea is a good one, although as others have mentioned, Georgia is a good sized state: stay west. Among the county seats in the southwestern part of the state is Albany, which was for a time an important place in the civil rights movement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albany_Movement