Plucked Chicken and Mermaid

Columbus, Georgia
Lake Pines RV Park

I'm going to surprise my readers who didn't believe me when I said we going to rest the past two days.  We did it!

We spent Memorial Day resting and reading on the patio.  The weather was wonderful and perfect for a holiday.  The park was packed but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves without disturbing anyone.

We had two flags out but they were the only two flags in the whole park except for one a few sites away from us.  I can't believe that as many RVs as was here, no one else had a flag out.

Today we had a dilemma.  I suddenly realized that we've been here a week and not tasted any local cuisine.  No problem, we'll try somewhere for lunch and come back and spend the afternoon in the pool.

I checked the local visitor's book of 51 things to see and do in Columbus.  I narrowed it down to two places that looked unique.  

There was Dinglewood Pharmacy which has a scrambled dog.  The chopped up hot dog and bun are smothered in chili, onions, pickles and covered with oyster crackers.  They have been making these for almost 100 years.

The second choice was the Plucked Up Chicken and Biscuits. The example  shown in the booklets was the Chelsea Biscuit which has a biscuit, fried chicken, pimento chest, bacon and jalapeno jelly.  

We both decided on the Plucked Up Chicken and we made a good choice.  It is located in the downtown area and we found a parking place right out front.  They are open 7 am until 3.  It wasn't quite 12 and the place was almost packed.  

It isn't very big but as it filled up people were quite content to wait for a table.  

I thought this should be posted in every restaurant.

We were immediately waited on and there was a good selection on the menu, as an example of prices, chicken fried steak and potatoes was $4.75. 

I asked our waitress to bring us the most popular thing on the menu.  She said she'd bring us two Chicken Coops.

It came on a platter.  There was fresh baked biscuit with gravy, fried chicken (you could have had grilled), bacon (lots of bacon,) cheese, parsley and two eggs.  Bill smiled the whole time he devoured his meal.  It must have weighed a couple of pounds. I'm a big eater and I couldn't finish it all.  I'm sure this wouldn't be considered heart healthy, but it sure was good.  

When we returned we put on our bathing suits and went to the pool.  It was worth waiting until today because we had the pool to ourselves most of the time.  

A mom and her 8 year old joined us later.  Ella had a mermaid suit which she received for getting straight A's.  It consists of two parts.  One is a fin section and the other is  some kind of stretchy material that slips over the fin and a "girdle" style fit up to her waist.  

  

She said it was easy to swim in and was comfortable.  I guess this is something new, but is catching on fast.  I'm glad we saw how she put it one.

I spotted this other animal in the pool.

Tomorrow we pull out.  We've really enjoyed our visit here and realize a week isn't anywhere near long enough to enjoy this town.  The weather has been perfect which has allowed us to enjoy all the outdoor activities.  

Turtle Safely........

POW'S--A Perfect Place for Memorial Day Weekend

Columbus, Georgia
Lake Pines RV Park

When we planned things to see during our week here, we thought since today was in the middle of the Holiday Weekend, people would already be where they were spending the holiday, making today the best day to be on the highway.  We were ready to leave a little after 8 am.  

Where were we going?  The Andersonville National Historic Site, which wasn't crowded.  The Site is divided into three parts, National Prisoner of War Museum, Prison Site and the Andersonville National Cemetery. 

I'm glad we did the Prisoner of War Museum first.  I was surprised to learn that it covered all POW's from all of our wars.

Once again our timing was perfect as they were getting ready to show a very well done video.  Just listening to what these POW's went through is heart wrenching.  

The museum had equal amount of stories covering all the wars.  

As you went out the rear doors you saw this reflection pool.

This park is on the grounds of the Andersonville Prison.  

The first Union prisoners arrived at Camp Sumter on February 1864 before it was finished.  It was intended to hold 10,000 over 16 1/2 acres.  By August there were 32,000 prisoners on 26 1/2 acres.  It is believed that 13,000 died while imprisoned during those 14 months. 

I knew we wouldn't have time to do everything so didn't stop at the spring.  We also thought about stopping in Americus to see the Habitat for Humanity exhibit, but didn't think it was open today.

Our next stop was the Jimmy Carter Historic Site Georgia.  This didn't look like your normal National Historic Site.  

It is housed in the old Plains High School where Jimmy Carter attended school.  

We viewed the excellent orientation film in the old auditorium.  

Bill felt comfortable sitting at the oval office desk.  We've seen so many of them, I think they must be mass produced.

One of the classrooms has been replicated to look like one during Carter's school years.  

This is about all that I remembered about the Carter's.  

This is the town of Plains that Carter painted.

He still teaches Sunday school classes.

This is a copy of the Nobel Peace Prize he won in 2002.

I didn't realize he was a submariner.  Don could have probably told me that.  

The Plains Depot was home to the 1976 campaign headquarters.  It was the only building in Plains that was empty and had a bathroom.  

Next we drove down to the boyhood farm, passing the haunted house where the Carters rented from 1956 to 1961.

You can't help but pass Billy Carter's service station and the Carter residence which is closed to the public since the town only has a few streets.  The Carter residence which was built in 1961 is the only home they ever owned.  

We didn't stop.

The Secret Service booth.

The one thing I neglected to mention was the park rangers were so helpful and friendly.  

Here's the home and you can walk through it.  The family moved into in 1928.   There was no running water or electric.  

Notice the thunder mug by Jimmy's bed.

This was a big day when they put in running water and this bathroom.  Notice the bucket over the shower which has holes in it for a shower head?

  

This was where they came to after school to get their list of chores that his mother left for them.  

These were the clay tennis courts. Jimmy was always beaten by his father when they played.

 That building is the commissary that they ran for their workers.

It was well stocked and there was a list of the prices in those days but they never paid any money.  It was deducted from their wages.

The windmill doesn't work anymore.  Notice the gasoline pump by the side of the commissary. 

We were ready for lunch but the only restaurant closed at 2.  I really wanted to try the peanut ice cream.  The downtown was constructed around 1890 and remains relatively unchanged.  

The RV Park has a free jam session at the barn every last Sunday of the month, but by the time we returned it was almost over.  

I don't mind telling you that we both decided we need to do absolutely nothing the next two days.  We figure the pool and the holiday travelers will leave and we'll enjoy doing nothing.

Turtle Safely.......

Army Yesterday--Navy Today

Columbus, Georgia
Lake Pine RV Park

After visiting the Army museum yesterday, we thought it befitting that today we check out the Navy.  Bill wasn't real excited about going but once he found out it wasn't on the water he liked it better.

If you've ever visited the USS Cario in Vicksburg, just imagine a museum that covers many more ships.  

Here's an excerpt from the Columbus Daily Enquirer, Friday December 23, 1864.  "This splendid ram was launched yesterday at about 11 o'clock and now sits calmly upon the Chattahoochee as a duck upon a pond."

General James Wilson's Union soldiers captured the city of Columbus and set the CSS Jackson ablaze.  

It floated down the Chattahoochee River about 30 miles and was grounded on a sandbar and burned to the waterline.  It is amazing that it is so well preserved.  

We spotted this one for our friend, Don Del Rosario, who was a submariner.  

Here's another replica for Don.  

The CSS Chattahochee isn't as large but there were many artifacts found.

 The next exhibit was a timeline of the beginning of the navy.  It included a lot of detailed reading of every conflict that was held in the Civil War.

Opposite of the timeline was a flag wall.  These are original flags.  The reason some are displayed backwards is that there was writing on the side displayed. 

The government was involved in this and it took many years to get permits to excavate it in 1980's when it was over 100 years old.

Here's an early torpedo which was made from beer kegs and wooden cones which was covered in tar.  

Here's part of the Monitor that has been excavated.

CSS Albermarle--you could walk inside.

and see how the Navy lived aboard ship.

The captain had better accommodations.

This ship was a replica of an ironclad.  

I was surprised at how open the inside of the ship was.

The Water Witch has been reproduced in full scale.

Look at how comfortable Bill looks when on dry land.

I guess we just don't think too much about the Navy and the Civil War,  

but it told the story of a lot that I didn't know.  

And there's your history lesson for the day.....

Turtle Safely......