Georgia on my mind: from Atlanta to the Atlantic, the Peach State brims with juicy discoveries - State Of The Month

Travel America, Nov-Dec, 2003 by Angela Wibking

TAKING A QUICK TOUR OF GEORGIA ISN'T an option. After all, it's not just the biggest state in the South; it's the biggest one east of the Mississippi.

You realize that pretty quickly as you travel across its 57,919 square miles. You also realize that not only is Georgia a vast piece of real estate, it's also a wonderfully varied one. There are the Appalachian foothills to the north and isolated barrier island beaches to the south. In between there are pine forests, peach orchards, ad peanuts fields, plus an awful lot of American history. Two presidents lived here and the one from Plains still does.

The civil War was fought here, as was the battle for civil rights. Some of the country's brightest musical talents are Georgia natives; so are some of its greatest athletes.

It's the only Southern state to have hosted the Olympics and the place where the world's most famous soft drink was born. Scarlett O'Hara slept here but so did the Allman Brothers and Little Richard. In short, Georgia is a peach of a place to visit--any way you slice it.

There's no denying that Atlanta, with over four million residents, is the biggest and best-known spot on the Georgia map. Renowned for its restaurants, shopping, professional sports, and nightlife, it's also a terrific family destinations, especially since Imagine It! The Children's Museum of Atlanta (CMA) opened this year across the street from Centennial Olympic Park. The Georgia Aquarium opens with a splash in Olympic Park in 2005 and the World of Coca-Cola, detailing the history of the soft drink, will be located adjacent to the aquarium. Six Flags Over Georgia, a spectacular theme park with plenty of heart-pounding rides and live entertainment, and Zoo Atlanta, arguably the South's best, are other popular attractions.

After all the excitement of Atlanta, you may be ready for the quieter side of the state. If so, head for Pine Mountain, just an hour's drive southwest of Atlanta. The little community of a thousand residents is the gateway to one of the state's most beautiful attractions and resorts--Callaway Gardens. The 14,000-acre site boasts stunning botanical displays, a variety of accommodations, several restaurants, golf, tennis, fishing, hiking, and biking. It's also the place to go in Georgia to celebrate the holidays. Each year, beginning in late November, Callaway Gardens presents Fantasy In Lights, a display of eight million lights creating more than a dozen beautiful Christmas scenes. This year's dates are November 21 to December 28.

Of course, with Georgia's mild temperatures, the gardens at Callaway are a year-round attraction. The Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center features 1,000 tropical butterflies, plus exotic plants and birds inside North America's largest glass-enclosed tropical conservatory. Other highlights include the Callaway Brothers Azalea Bowl, a 40-acre garden with more then 3,400 hybrid azaleas that bloom in every shade of pink, red, mad white each spring.

Callaway Gardens is close to some of Georgia's most interesting attractions, including Franklin Roosevelt's Little White House in Warm Springs, where FDR died in 1945. The historic site includes the six-room white clapboard house that Roosevelt built in 1932 so he could be near the natural springs that provided soothing therapy for the polio from which he suffered. A new FDR Memorial Museum chronicling the president's life opens on the site next April. The antique and specialty shops of downtown Pine Mountain, plus Roosevelt State Park and Wild Animal Safari Park, are nearby.

Macon, 80 miles east of Pine Mountain, is home to 275,000 Yoshino cherry trees--more than any other city in the world. The entire city celebrates the pink cherry blossoms that burst forth each March with tours, a hot air balloon fest, and an arts and crafts show. But the city also celebrates the state's musical talents, as you'll see when you tour the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and learn about such native sons (and daughters) as Little Richard, Otis Redding, Jr., and Brenda Lee. Young visitors to the museum will love The Music Factory, the only dedicated children's music museum in the country.

The state gave the world some great athletes, too, as you'll discover at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in Macon. The largest state sports hall of fame in the country, it includes exhibits on Georgia natives Ty Cobb, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Evander Holyfield, and Bobby Jones, to name a few.

About 170 miles due east of Macon is the coastal town of Savannah, where James Oglethorpe ended his trans-Atlantic voyage from England in 1733 to found the 13th and final American colony, Georgia. Savannah became Its first city, laid out by Oglethorpe in a series of grids that allowed for wide streets and 24 public squares. Of those original squares, 21 remain to give the city its distinctive look and personality.

These squares figured prominently in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil the 1994 bestseller about strange doings in modern day Savannah that still draws visitors to the city. If you're a fan, be sure to take one of the tours inspired by the book. If art's your thing, head for the art galleries in the burgeoning Broughton Street entertainment district and the Telfair Mansion and Art Museum, the oldest public art museum in the Southeast. And since Savannah is as famous as Atlanta for its dining, you won't want to miss the Southern cooking at Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room in the historic district or the steamed seafood at The Crab Shack on nearby Tybee Island.