Scenic View RV Resort, Milledgeville GA

Scenic Mountain RV Resort

2686 Irwinton Road S./Bus 441S
Milledgeville GA 31061
478-454-101

Date Oct. 6^th, 2015

We found this small very nice park on our detoured route home to PA. Detoured because of flooding on I95.
The park no longer accepts Passport America. However they did give use a 30 amp site with water for only $20.00 Sites with full hook up and cable are about $40.00. They are a Good Sam psrk. There is  no over the air TV. The park is build into a hillside with a deep drop and steep hillside entrance. Very doable. We had one of the few pull-thrus.
There are 53 sites, I believe a few more being added. The site was level gravel.
Very friendly staff.

Roads are wide and paved. We were in a rush to get back to PA and didn’t have time to explore the park. It is very new and is very nice.  There is a laundry and bathhouse. There is also a heated pool. Several small fishing ponds.Lots of room to walk a dog.It is a very nice  park and we  would stay here again.

Just arrived, getting dark

 Wide roads and some construction.

Still hooked up and getting ready to leave

 

Amelia Island FL 2015

The next day we left the  Walkabout RV Park for Amelia Island. The trip was about a half hour from the rv park . On the advice of our golf cart tour guide in ST Mary's we sign up for a boat tour to and partly around Cumberland National  Seashore.    We check in and paid for the tour. 

This is our tour boat

The tour went out the intercoastal   waterway toward Cumberland Island, Georgia. The tour was very very informative. We learned a lot about the history of the area and island.  We saw some of the remaining structures, and learned about the lavish lifestyle that went on with  the rich and famous.  On the way out and back we did see dolphins frolicking  close to the boat. We did get to see some of the wild horse that life on the island. The trip was about two and a half hours. This is a trip we recommend .

 

 

Shrimping is a big industry in this area.

having a bad day

 

      

After the boat trip we had lunch at a restaurant  that was about 10 to 15 feet off an active railroad track. While we were eating two trains passed by. It is a little intimidating  seeing train cars pass so close and feelin the vibrations.

 

 

At the visitor bureau  we receive a great walking guide of the Fernandina Historic District. There are 43 buildings listed in 50 block area. It is very easy walking as most of it is very flat.The only problem we had was the heat.  Fernandian Beach is the north end of Amelia Island.  43 homes are listed on the National Historic Register, but there are many more old homes. 

The Palace Saloon is the oldest operating saloon in Florida

Just a sampling of some of the beautiful homes on the walking tour.

The oldest county courthouse in continuous use.

     We did make our way back to the car and then drove the area looking at other homes not listed, but beautiful. The walk in the heat and sun did tire us out, so we made our way back to the RV park. While here at the Walkabout RV Park we did want to visit the Okefenokee swamp and surrounding area. But we will have to save this for another trip. We choose the Walkabout RV park as it was central to Amelia Island, St Mary's and Okefenokee area. It is also a little longer drive  to Brunswick  and the Golden Isles. The RV Park is a Coast To Coast Park and Also accepts Passport America.  So the next day we headed for home with a two day stop in ST Augustine. We used this stop to break up the trip home. We will be not posting again until our next trip unless something unusual happens or for a short trip around home.

Till the next time, thanks for following along  and safe travels and stay well. We love to hear from you.

    

ST Marys GA. August 2015

 One place we wanted to visit was St. Mary’s  GA., while staying at Walkabout RV Park. We stopped at the visitor center were we met a wonderful 85 year old volunteer. More about her later.  At the center there is a small but interesting GA state Radio  Museum. 

We sign up  for golf cart tour of the historic part of the town.

   

         The tour was given to us by the visitors  bureau manager as she had no volunteers that day.  We also visited the Cumberland Island museum.

    Our plan was to visit Cumberland Island National Seashore, but because of the extreme heat we decided to put it off for another time on the advice of a park ranger. Of course we had to find a good restaurant, as a good road trip includes FOOD. When in a Small fishing town, seafood is on the menu

   Then it was back to the RV. The next day we visited Orange Hall.  Orange Hall House Museum circa 1830-38. 9,500 square feet on 3 floors with 12 fireplaces.

 

    The tour was given to us by the same 85 year old volunteer we met the day before. She was wonderful. She told us so many things about the mansion and the area history.  She said we were like family listening to her. 

     We then took a walking/ driving tour of the town.  There is also a small Submarine Museum in town that we didn't get to visit. There is also  a large submarine base in town which employs 9,000, the towns largest employer.  

The fishing fleet is in for the day.

We came across a few of the old churches in the area. 

     Then again it was time for Food.  There was a old sail boat docked that we were told was open from 5 to 9 so visitors  could go aboard. So after dinner we went down to the dock. As soon as we stepped on we had that feeling we had been here before. When we took a few steps we knew we were on her before, but where. We started walking around and met the captain and told him we were on the ship before, but not sure were. Then it came to me. It was in 2007 in Brunswick GA. Sure enough, the ship was there being refurbished. Talk about coincident

 

 

On our driving tour we came across The Tabby Sugars Works. Tabby was a type of building material made from burning oyster shells to create line, then mixing the ash with sand water and oyster shells. These remnants still standing unprotected since 1825.

We saw building supplies being taken to the island. The pontoon barge is being pushed by a pontoon boat,

Florida Rambleings

     Forgot in our last blog that we met a fellow blogger Darren and Joyce  and their two great dogs. Their blog is  http//:america-by-rv.blogspot.com it is fun meeting other bloggers. We have been following their blog for over a year.
      Also forgot while in Savannah there were a lot of girl scouts and signs saying welcome girl scouts. The reason, the 100 anniversary of the girls scouts. Juliette Gorden Low founded the girls scouts in Savannah. The people at the visitors center told us that a lot of girl scouts are making a pilgrimage to Savannah in tribute to the 100 anniversary.
       To answer a few questions about our last couple of blogs. The antique store in Savannah was 4 floors of antiques stacked floor to ceiling with isle's just wide enough to get through. There was enough furniture to furnish many, many old homes in Savannah. We saw tags on items from $5. to $5,000.  About were we stayed. We stayed at Lake Aire RV Park in Charleston and Hardeeville RV Park in Savannah. We will update them soon in another blog, check back. Changed how we send out emails, we are now sending out bulk email's as BCC, Blind Carbon Copies so no one's email address will be seen. This is for your added  security. Your email address's won't be seem by others. We had tried to do this in the passed twice,  and it didn't work for us. I believe the reason it didn't work was a few email address were no longer in use. I kept getting error messages, removed them and now it is working. We had a few email address that were changed and didn't know about the changes so the BCC won't work. 

     We did so much touring the two weeks we spent in Charleston and Savannah that we should have made notes. As we sit and reminisce we remember things we wanted to share with you and put in our journal, which is our blog. One of these things is the story of "The Waving Girl". "One of Savannah's favorite stories involves the life of Florence Martus (1868 - 1943), who was known well by Savannahians and sailors of the sea as the Waving Girl. The daughter of a sergeant stationed at Fort Pulaski, Florence later moved to a cottage along the river near the entrance of the harbor with her brother George, the Cockspur Island Lighthouse keeper.
As the story goes, life at the remote cottage was lonely for Florence whose closest companion was her devoted collie. At an early age, she developed a close affinity with the passing ships and welcomed each one with a wave of her handkerchief. Sailors began returning her greeting by waving back or with a blast of the ship's horn. Eventually Florence started greeting the ships arriving in the dark by waving a lantern.Florence Martus continued her waving tradition for 44 years and it is estimated that she welcomed more than 50,000 ships during her lifetime. There is a lot of unsubstantiated speculation about Florence having fallen in love with a sailor who never returned to Savannah. The facts, however, about why she started and continued the waving tradition for so many years remain a mystery".
" copied from about.com

       We also missed the bench in Chippewa Square that Tom Hanks sat on and told his life story in the movie Forrest Gump. The bench has been move to the Savannah History Museum. The last time we were in Savannah the bench was still here, or a replica of the bench.
      We also didn't visit Bonaventure cemetery as the famous statue of the Bird Girl , made famous in the book and then  in the movie, "Midnight In The Garden Of Good and Evil", was also move to The Telfiar Museum. The Bird Girl statue was featured on the cover of the book, and became a tourists attraction. 
          Linda's favorite chefs restaurant, Paula Deens, A Lady And Her Sons. This is one of several dinning rooms. We ate on the third floor.

    One day while driving back to the rv park and crossing the Savannah River at the end of the bridge we took a left onto Hutchinson to see what was there. We ended up on what looked like a race track. We saw some people parked and out of there sports cars. We stopped to inquire about the road we were on. They told us it was a road race course. It was closed but now being used again  They believe it was now operated by Porche. Why we could just drive onto it I don't know. They encourage us to do a few slide through the turns. Thank God we were in a Chevy(that's for my friend Barry-inside joke). So we fired up the HHR and ran around the track at break neck speeds between 40 and 50 mph. We didn't slide through any turns, but it was fun. Just one of those crazy things we run into from time to time. 

      
      Since we have been here at the Thousand Trails Orlando RV Park we have met up with several friends. We must have joined that "senior" group, as we play outdoor shuffle board and play bingo.  At least bingo paid off for me, Bob, I won $107 on one of the specials. I did get a lot of strange looks from some of the regulars. You can tell the regulars because of their "bingo bags" and at least six dobbers in front of them. There were about 16 games paying from $40. to $113.

 

Savannah GA Part one

       Here we go again. Another great Southern city, Savannah. We spent four days doing walking tours of the historic area's. The last time we were here we did the hop on hop off bus tour, but this time we wanted to get a lot closer to the history by walking all the different streets, and reading all the plaques. We purchased a walking tour book in the visitor center and took off. The book was very informative with great information. I think we walked on all the streets in the Historic area. For now we got our fill of old southern homes and buildings. We need a break from all that history.   But wait we are  heading to The Oldest City, ST Augustine FL. Well its only for a week and we spent 4 months there so we won't do to much touring. We will upload photos in the future. Again we took many pictures of many historic homes and plaques. We probably walked 6 or 7 miles. We did ride the free shuttle around town to different starting points. We also rode the free ferry shuttle, just for the boat ride and to take some photo's from the water.
     One of the best finds we had in Savannah was Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room. They are only open Monday to Friday for lunch from 11:00-2:00. Lunch is served family style. They do no advertising and there is a sign about 18 X 24 inches out front. That's it. Word of month is how we heard about this restaurant. Mrs Wilkes was featured on all the morning shows and many many magazines. People start lining up at about 9:30. We got there at about 9:45 and were about 30th in line. We did get in on the first seating. There are 4 tables of 10. We sat at a table for 10 with 8 strangers. Four of the folks at our table were RVer's. So that broke the ice and we all introduced ourselves. One RV couple  was from about 50 miles from our hometown. The other RV couple was from TN with their daughter and son in law living in the area. The last couple was from Boston MA. After about 5 minutes the uneasiness of dinning with strangers ended. We did meet the one Rving couple 4 days later on one of our walking tours.The food was fabulous. There was so much to eat we didn't know were to start. There was Southern fried chicken, pulled pork, beef stew,jambalaya and about 12 different type vegetable. See www.mrswilkes.com  If you go to the website read the story.
       Linda (in red) waiting in line. The table, see Bob far right.

      One day we took a ride out to Tybee Island. We did not tour Fort Pulaski, because we did this a few years ago. Friends Abbie and Nancy  told us about the Sweets Treats candy store. Boy was this a mistake going there. We are now about 3 pounds heavier. The pralines and glazed pecans were unbelievably good.
   We had to eat at "The Lady and Sons", Linda's favorite Food Network chef, Paula Deen's place. We did eat here in the passed, but what the heck, we have to eat somewhere. It was just ok, nothing really special, just one of touristy things you have to do.
   One day we took a trip to Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge was only about 5 miles from the  RV park we were staying at. It was a cold and windy day. We only got to see a lot of wading birds and ducks. It was to cold for the turtles and gators to be out sunning themselves. The refuge is part of the Atlantic flyway. Part of the refuge was at one time a rice plantations. see more at www.fws.gov/savannah 

    On our last day in Savannah there was a parade for Veterans day. We saw at least a 1000 JROTC cadets form most of the high schools in the area. We talked with a mother of one of the cadets and she said it use to be mandatory to be in the JROTC program. Now it is not mandatory in all schools, but in some.
      On one of our walking tours we cane upon a antique store. The owner was outside and said stop in and check out the 4 floors of antiques. We did and could not believe our eyes. Your have to see the pictures.
     

We are back-March 2012 cont into April

       We really got behind on our blog. We have been busy, and where does the time go? Well we will try to get caught up. While in the Orlando/Davenport area we met up with our son Mark's neighbors Chris and Tilly. Of course we went out to dinner. We also met our friends Jim and Linda several times They are working at Disney, and again took us into Epcot. The Flower and Garden show is taking place. I said last year how do they keep out doing the previous year. Wow! It was great to see all the displays and neat topiary. While at Disney we took our annal Disney cruise. It's port's of call are "The Boardwalk", The Yacht and Beach Clubs, The Swan and Dolphin Resorts, and finally Hollywood Studio's. Then several hours later the same trip in reverse.    We spent time at both Thousand Trails Orlando and Fawn Ridge (look for the review soon) resorts playing Domino's with friends Pat and Dave, Lance and Angelia and Jerry and Dianne. We are now ready for tournament play.  ha ha
    We spent an extra week in the Orlando area then we intented. So we had to travel longer distance then we usually do. We had wanted to meet up with friends Barry and Donna from GA. We had met up with them last year in GA and intented to spent four days with them when we had to make a unexpected trip back to PA. We had to leave the next morning after meeting them and then made a hasty trip back to PA. 
     On the way to meet them this year, we had an overnight stop in Athens GA at the Chehaw City Park. A very nice park. Will review the campground in the near future.
     We met them at R. Schafer Herd Corp of Engineer Park at West Point Lake in West Point GA. What a super park, will review in the near future.  BUT the best part of the trip was meeting up with friends. We are blessed with having so many friends in different places. We had a super time catching up and singing "Red Solo Cup, lets have a party", a Country Music hit for all you none Country music fans.  The park was one of the nicest COE park we stayed at. Wait till you see the pictures. All that for $12. a night with our Golden Age Passport.
       While at the COE's park we went to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain GA. It was a nice drive of about 35 miles. What a wonderful day. The weather was perfect, about 75 and no humidity.  The Azalea's were in full bloom. . It was spectacular. The flowers were great, but there was also a super "Birds of Prey" show. The show lasted about a half hour, featuring owls, hawks and vultures. Very interesting show. There was also a Butterfly house with many unusual butterflies. Many hiking and biking trails. We must have walked at least 5-6 miles. Barry and I followed Donna and Linda setting a double time pace. There are many different seminars. Visit www.callawaygardens.com  . This is where the "Victory Garden", a PBS special (Southern gardens) was filmed.  There is also a beautiful chapel.  A super place for a wedding. While we were there a pipe organ concert was talking place. All in all it was a fun filled day with good friends and a lot of exercise.
     The next day we went to Warm Springs GA, The home of Roosevelt's Little White House(FDR). It was about 45 miles from the campground, just passed Callaway Gardens. If we had planned it right and spent less time  in the gardens we could have done both in a long day. But we had the time and didn't want to rush. The little White House was a cozy little three bedroom cottage. Very simple and plain. Not at all what you would expect for a President of the United States.  He came here for the healing powers of the "warm springs". They were not "hot" springs, but warm at 88 degrees. We also visited the Pools and museum at the springs a few miles from the Little White House. The museum at the White House was filled with many items of FDR and many interesting facts. I wish our present day leaders could look at all he accomplished in his first 100 days to start to help bring the country out of the Great Depression. Things like The GI bill, Social Security, CCC, WPA,NRA, electricfication of Rural America, and more. See www.georgiastateparks.org . He started "Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation", hoping to relieve the pain and suffering from polio. Donna's aunt came there, as she was a polio victim.
      We also toured the Dam at West Point lake on two different days. See the difference in the water flow when the gates are open and then closed. We did drive across the top of the dam.The tour of the powerhouse was thru a window with no audio, just a few posters with some information.  We also toured the National fish hatchery in Warn Springs. Allow about 15 minutes for this poor display. Little information, very damp smelly aquarium room. Also drained ponds. Appears to be on the very very low budget by the US Fish and Wildlife service.
   
    After saying good bye to our friends we headed to Chattanooga TN for and overnight. We stopped at the Camping World RV Park at exit 1 on I10 in TN, will review in the near future. After a day  of travel we set up, and what else, but went out to dinner. The next morning we got an early start and headed to Pigeon Forge. We arrive before noon at our home for the next two months, Bear Cove RV Resort, will review in the near future.  We are here to work at Dollywood. The park we are staying at is about a mile form Dollywood. So it will be a short commute to work. We start training this week. Keep tuned for updates. Enjoy the pictures. It was very hard  choosing some pictures from the 1033 pictures Linda took.

 At Disney, our friends Jim and Linda with Bob. Let the show begin.

Callaway Gardens

 I believe this is a Red Shoulder Hawk

 My mother thinks I'm cute. A Vulture

 An great horned owl

 The azalea trail

 Donna, Linda and Barry

 The front porch for the Victory Garden show, just a facade.

 The Chapel

 The Little White House

 FDR's bedroom, were he was carried after he suffered a stroke and passed away.

 Picture of FDR in his swimsuit at the warm springs pool, and his sswimsuit.

 His living room.  He worked many hours on this card table. Note the stool under the table. Many things in the house show his love of the sea.

 The dinning room/living room.

 The guest house and servants quarters.

 The unfinished painting. He was sitting in the living room having his portrait painted when he suffered a stroke.

 The pools at Warm Springs. Only filled on holidays and special occasions.

 Bob testing the waters

The outflow at the West Point Dam

 Looking across the lake from the top of the dam at the RV campground

 Spotted from the top of the dam, I believe they are osprey.

 Inside the powerhouse

 Note the difference between these next photo's and the ones above. Very little water being released. There is a loud siren that sounds when they are going to release water.

 Ducks on the forward rocks and turtles on the back rocks

 Donna, Barry and Bob, relaxing after a hard day of playing tourist. Check out the size of that fire.  Our RV in the background.