I haven't been to the Gardens in a long time, and although Andrew has been there more recently, it was just for the Christmas lights display. So technically this was a "new" place for both of us -- always the most fun! The Lodge has a mountain/woodsy feel, which Andrew called "Grove Park Lite". :)
Pretty soon after we checked in, we got a knock at the door and had a surprise delivery from "Mom" and "Dad".
Andrew thought it was a mistake because I don't call my parents "Mom & Dad" (and they would never sign a card that way). But sure enough, it was for us -- just signed incorrectly by the hotel! ;) We thoroughly enjoyed the wine and snacks while we lounged and watched football. Thanks again, yall!
A little before 7, we headed down to the Ironwood Lounge in the hotel to watch the Georgia game.
We ordered kettle chip nachos, pimento cheese fritters, fried green tomatoes, and black-eyed pea hummus. Yum!
Obviously, we won't dwell on the rest of that game-watching experience. So we'll just focus on the food! We also enjoyed the musical stylings (and occasional football commentary) of local band Backtrackin'.
Our hotel rate included breakfast and admission to the Gardens, so our plan for Sunday was to enjoy both! We slept in a little, ate, and then headed up the road a little ways to the gates.
We started out at the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center, which is filled with butterflies -- most notably blue morpho butterflies. Even though they were practically swarming us, it was almost impossible to get a good in-flight picture of them! (Whenever they landed, they almost always closed their wings, which are more moth-like on the underside.)
See it?
Half the people in there were just walking around holding out their cameras or phones, hoping to catch one. We managed to get a few! (And shoutout to the black and white butterflies, who were much more patient, still, and photogenic.)
Next, we headed over to the main gardens to see the fall display of mums, college football colors (UGA, Tech & Auburn), and the beautiful greenhouses.
I am not a fairweather fan.
By the time we made it through all that, it was early afternoon and time for (more) food. We headed over to the beautiful new Discovery Center by the lake for lunch, fish/turtle feeding, and the birds of prey show. The weather was perfect!
We had a great day and decided to take the "Scenic Drive" out to the main road and then stop at the Callaway Gardens Country Store to look for a Christmas ornament.
They didn't have one single Callaway ornament, which we thought was odd. Especially since they had an entire tree full of wine-themed ornaments. Oh well. I did think this cork garland was cute!
Anyway, we left empty-handed but enjoyed the overlook across the highway for a few minutes before heading back to the hotel.
For dinner, we decided to just eat at the hotel again -- in the Piedmont Room. It was about as crowded as you would expect a remote hotel dining room to be on a random Sunday night. ;) But we enjoyed it!
We checked out on Monday morning and enjoyed the breakfast buffet before leaving. Since Warm Springs and FDR's Little White House are so close to Callaway, we made a last minute decision to stop there before coming home. And we were so glad we did!
It was only $10, and they had an amazing collection of FDR memorabilia in a beautiful new museum.
We also toured the house (of course), along with the flag walk and the final/unfinished portrait exhibit.
The gift shop there did not disappoint either, as it had several different Christmas ornaments to choose from! We came away with a miniature replica of the Warm Springs stagecoach -- and a copy of the Southern cookbook that FDR's cook used (I couldn't resist).
We left in the super cool, fall-like temperatures (YAY) and headed back to Atlanta. We had a great time!
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