Our Nature

Friday, February 19, 2010

A Last Look at Westville in the Snow

Beside this log cabin…

were more building materials, resting in a blanket of snow.

This woodworking shop was full of really cool tools. This big wheel was part of a wood-turning lathe that could be used to create the spindle in the center of the photo.

The kiln and pottery shop were in one of these cabins.

There was a shy, black cat on the porch of this house. It disappeared as I can nearer.

These two snow figures bid us good-bye as we left through the front gates that are replicas of the ones that were in Milledgeville which was Georgia’s first state capital.

We, in turn, bid good-bye to Westville.

We had had a great time!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

A Winter Garden in Westville

This stately old mansion had a lovely garden, even though there was little green to be found on this snowy day.

A very cold rosemary:

The narcissus was hanging in there.

I think this was a variegated pittosporum.

The frosted gazebo and snowy trees created a magical quality to this garden.

Dr. Zhivago-esque, don’t you think?

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Our plan had been to visit Westville in Lumpkin. It is a pre-civil war village created by moving in original buildings collected from the area and laid out in town blocks. Because the roads had been clear, even though it was snowing, we felt like we could go ahead with our plan. I called to make sure Westville was open was assured that they were and that they were also serving food in the only restaurant, which is where we had planned to have lunch.

The drive up turned out to be a slow one because we did not realize that we would be climbing to a slightly higher elevation and, that up there, the roads were getting covered in snow. Though the road is fairly straight, it is quite hilly and at the bottom of most hills were bridges.

But seeing the snow was spectacular.

Westville turned out to be much larger than we expected and there was much to see. We will go back for the tours that we declined in the snow. We were the only visitors there and when we left, they closed.

This dog-trot house had been built by an Indian.

Notice the foundation.

The log house in the background of the above picture was a very interesting place.

This is where we had lunch.

Look at the picket fence:

The snow was piling up on top of each pointed board.

This is the courthouse.

A woodpecker was knocking on the building, in out of the snow.

More Westville tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Forty-nine States Had Snow On Friday

It was reported that forty-nine states had snow on Friday and we got to see our fair share on a trip we had booked weeks ago. We left Tallahassee on Friday morning around 7:30 to begin our little adventure to Bagby State Park in western central Georgia. It was pouring rain but somewhere close to Blakely, Georgia north of Bainbridge, the rain started to get quieter. It was a snow mix, and then, it was just snow. We ended up being in falling snow for 10 hours.

Here is the beginning when the hay bales looked like frosted shredded wheat.

These pines don’t see much of this in their lifetime.

It continued snowing, covering the fields but still melting on the roads.

The snowflakes were huge.

The yard of our lake-side cabin was already fairly well covered with snow when we arrived later that morning and unloading the car was…. interesting.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Mailbox Monday: SNOW!

For weeks now, we have had a reservation with some friends for a cabin at Bagby State Park in Fort Gaines, Georgia. It is located in west central Georgia on Lake George along the Alabama line, where the Chattahoochee River was dammed to create the large lake. Little did we know that on the day of our arrival they would have a major snow event in an area that rarely sees snow that sticks to the ground.

This is how it looked when we registered, mid-morning on Friday.

This is how it looked in the late afternoon.

For Florida “kids,” this was pretty amazing stuff! We were actually in snow falling for ten hours. It collected to four inches in some places. Thank goodness we weren’t tent camping this trip!