Twelve Days of a Dixie Christmas #3

A Countdown to our Favorite Christmas Destination The Christmas season is taken pretty seriously in the southeastern US, and the Richardson Tribe has a dozen suggested destinations to make your holidays more adventurous. Over the next 12 days, we will reveal each of our favorite RV camping and recreation spots until we reach our #1 Christmas Holiday Destination. Come back each day to see the places this southern family has grown to love. #3 - Cataloochee Ski Area - Maggie Valley, North Carolina We voted democratically, and the kids quite adamantly expressed their opinion: Snow skiing is awesome! Cataloochee Ski Area, just up the mountain from Maggie Valley, North Carolina (near Asheville), is a great southern snow ski destination. There aren't many that fit this category (southern ski area), but Cataloochee does a respectable job fitting the bill. Another benefit of Cataloochee is the snow. For our northern friends, this may seem strange. But southerners don't see much snow, so when we do, fake or not, it's a big deal. Last year (2011) we visited Cataloochee at Christmas Break, and the kids all participated in ski school. They were assigned an instructor that worked with just the four of them, and he was awesome. He was so patient and great with the kids. By the end of the day, they were going up the lift and skiing down the big slopes (cautiously). We expected that they would be exhausted and ready to go back to the camper, but they didn't want to leave. Cataloochee is a ski area, not a resort, so the "lodge" is actually just a place to rent equipment, eat, shop, and warm up. It's not a place to stay overnight. Don't worry, there is plenty of lodging available in Maggie Valley and the surrounding area. In past seasons, we have RV camped locally at Stone Bridge RV Resort, but we weren't pleased with the condition of the campground last time, so we're trying a new place this year (shhhh, it's still a Christmas secret). Locally, there are many other things to do. There is a snow tubing facility, a motorcycle museum, gem mining, restaurants, the Smoky Mountain National Park, Cherokee, Asheville, and another of our favorite Christmas Holiday Destinations, the Biltmore Estate. So, Cataloochee Ski Area is the Richardson Tribes third favorite Christmas destination. For lots more pictures and details about Cataloochee, click here. Come back tomorrow when we reveal our #2 pick. The Smoky Moubntains are beautiful here at Cataloochee.

Twelve Days of a Dixie Christmas #4

A Countdown to our Favorite Christmas Destination The Christmas season is taken pretty seriously in the southeastern US, and the Richardson Tribe has a dozen suggested destinations to make your holidays more adventurous. Over the next 12 days, we will reveal each of our favorite RV camping and recreation spots until we reach our #1 Christmas Holiday Destination. Come back each day to see the places this southern family has grown to love. #4 - Fort Wilderness - Disney Resorts, Florida Ok, we love state parks, nature, and low cost vacations, so why is a Disney property on our list? Well, it's because Fort Wilderness is actually an affordable way to visit Disney and other surrounding attractions. It's also an awesome campground with an incredible list of amenities. As a Disney property, you can imagine. First, the full hookup RV campsites are large, level, and private with lots of surrounding tropical vegetation. There is a massive year-round pool (with water slide and entertainment), rental boats, a beach, stores, shows, restaurants, horseback riding, hiking, wildlife, golf carts, and shuttle busses that will take you anywhere within Fort Wilderness. I need to point out that golf carts, bikes, and shuttles are the primary modes of transportation within the park. Cars are expected to be left at the campsite. Perhaps the most popular mode of transportation at Fort Wilderness is the ferry that carries guests across the lake to the Magic Kingdom. No waiting in line here. If you are a guest of Disney resorts, you move straight to the front. Returning to Fort Wilderness from Disney's Magic Kingdom is just as painless as getting there. Guests board the ferry at the Magic Kingdom back gate and are dropped-off just a few yards from their bikes and golf carts. The pool is especially popular with the kids at Fort Wilderness. There is constant entertainment, music, games, all targeted at the youth. When was the last time you could relax in the warm sun and let someone elsse take care of entertaining your kids. Sorry folks. Everyone needs a break every once in a while. The evenings are awesome at Fort Wilderness. The campsite decorations are incredible, but the Magic Kingdom fireworks are even more spectacular. There is also an amphitheater that shows movies after dark. This event is a lot of fun for the whole family because it includes a bon fire and s'mores. If you would like to see more pictures and details about Fort Wilderness, click here. Come back tomorrow when we reveal our 3rd favorite Christmas holiday destination.

Twelve Days of a Dixie Christmas #5

A Countdown to our Favorite Christmas Destination
The Christmas season is taken pretty seriously in the southeastern US, and the Richardson Tribe has a dozen suggested destinations to make your holidays more adventurous. Over the next 12 days, we will reveal each of our favorite RV camping and recreation spots until we reach our #1 Christmas Holiday Destination. Come back each day to see the places this southern family has grown to love.

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#5 - Stone Mountain Park - Stone Mountain Georgia

Stone Mountain Park is a southern icon, and it's also the Richardson Tribe's 5th favorite Christmas holiday destination. Stone Mountain has lots of features that make it a favorite. First, and most obvious, is the mountain itself. Billed as the world's largest piece of exposed granite, Stone Mountain is very unique in its looks and its origin. The vertical face of the mountain features the largest bas-relief sculpture in the World. The sculpture is a memorial of three key Confederate figures: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis. This side of the mountain is also the site of a spectacular weekend (April thru October) laser and fireworks show. Additionally, Stone Mountain Park has the largest campground in the state, hiking, biking, a passenger train, 4D theater, miniature golf, Duck rides, a gondola ride to the top, farm animals (of course), and much much more.

During the winter months, the large hillside opposite the massive sculpture is converted into a tubing slide and snow play area called Snow Mountain. Even with 60 degree weather, they'll still be making snow. The process is pretty interesting to see. For a fee, visitors can spend a couple of hours enjoying the tubing experience. There is also a kiddy slope and a snow play area. It's as close to a white Christmas as many of these southern kids will ever see.

As the Sun sets during the Christmas season, the park's two million plus Christmas lights and decorations come to life. There are special Christmas shows in the village, Santa is in attendance, and plenty of yummy treats can be found in the restaurant and shops. Evenings are concluded with a fantastic Christmas themed fireworks show.

When visiting Stone Mountain, we RV camp at the park's campground. If you visit the PB&J Adventures website, you will find that we have very mixed emotions about the campground. It has so much potential, and some of the campground is ok, but most of the sites are in pretty rough shape. Still, regardless of the campground's condition, the view across the lake, especially at sunset, is second to none.

If you would like to see more pictures and details about the Stone Mountain Park, click here. 

Come back tomorrow when we reveal our 4th favorite Christmas holiday destination.

Twelve Days of a Dixie Christmas #8

A Countdown to our Favorite Christmas Destination The Christmas season is taken pretty seriously in the southeastern US, and the Richardson Tribe has a dozen suggested destinations to make your holidays more adventurous. Over the next 12 days, we will reveal each of our favorite RV camping and recreation spots until we reach our #1 Christmas Holiday Destination. Come back each day to see the places this southern family has grown to love. #8 - Helen, Alpine Village - Helen, Georgia Ok, I admit it's a bit crowded and touristy, but Helen has to be one of our favorite Dixie Christmas holiday destinations. The "ginger bread" architecture of the simu-German alpine village lends itself to the Christmas season. Enjoy Christmas music and bratwurst as you browse through dozens of nic-nac shops offering-up all sorts of candy, fudge, t-shirts, knives, and otherwise, pretty cool stuff. The Chattahoochee River flows through Helen, barely a creek at this point. In the summer season, visitors can "shoot the Hooch" in inner tubes and kayaks. Tubers can pull over and enjoy a brew and sandwich before proceeding downstream. The water is a little too cool this time of year for such activity, but you will still enjoy sitting by the river enjoying a hot beverage as the sun sets. Then the light show really begins. Everything in the village is outlined with lights, even the horse-drawn carriages. It's an awesome experience. On one particular visit to Helen last winter, the kids found a phone booth. They had never seen a phone booth, but soon discovered the cold hard fact about public phones, they seldom work. While visiting Helen, we like to camp, pan for gold, and collect rocks at Gold n Gem Grubbin' in Cleveland, Georgia. Helen is also very near Unicoi State Park, Vogel State Park, Blairsville, Dahlonega, and Brasstown Bald, the highest point in the great state of Georgia. So, there you have it. Our #8 Christmas destination is Helen, Georgia. Check- in tomorrow to see what our #7 favorite Christmas destination is.

Stone Mountain Again -Thank you sir, may I have another?

If you're old enough, you may remember this line from the movie Animal House. During a fraternity hazing, Kevin Bacon's character was forced to say "Thank you sir, may I have another" after each whack of a paddle. In a way, I can relate. We continue to camp at Stone Mountain year after year, and continue to be frustrated at the condition of the campground and the seemingly casual way the "Theme Park" area is run. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with day one of our visit. Springtime at Stone Mountain can be exceptionally beautiful. The park is covered with flowering trees and shrubs, and the landscape is absolutely beautiful. We had friends coming into town, so we decided Stone Mountain would be a great place to meet them. We planned to camp at Stone Mountain for two nights beginning on Friday. Rather than fighting Atlanta Traffic on Friday Afternoon, we decided to wait till later in the evening to arrive at the park. We arrived at the gate and paid our $10 fee to enter the park. This, by the way, a per vehicle fee. If you tow a vehicle, don't drop it outside the park, or you'll have to pay two fees. Yes, $20 just to get to the campground. I knew what to expect when we got to the campground. The office was closed so I proceeded to my site. Unfortunately, the condition was even worse than I remembered, so I pulled into an empty site for the evening with plans to move in the morning. I put out the slides and hooked up power. No electricity! Oh well, no big deal. Homer (our RV) is self contained and everything works without outside electricity (except the microwave and coffee pot).   The next morning I took a walk to find a better site. I observed exactly what I'd seen over the past six years of camping here. A campground with so much potential, the largest in the state, slowly falling apart. To be fair, they have made improvements to a portion of the campground, but for the most part, the sites are poorly maintained, the roads are crumbling, and trash is accumulating. I chose a somewhat level site (probably 5" slope to left and back) adjacent my original selection before heading to the campground office to purchase tickets for the park. When I visited the campground office, I had no problem changing sites (the campground was almost completely empty). The lady at the office was very nice and apologetic. I felt sorry for her because I'm sure plenty of first-time visitors come in angry about their site. As I said before, I knew what to expect. While at the office, I purchased six tickets for the park, around $150. It's a little easier to swallow the expense here, because when you purchase tickets at the campground, you receive a second day (to be used any time in the calendar year) for no additional charge. We piled into Homer and headed for the RV parking near the attractions. The plan was to ride the shuttle, but were informed the shuttle only runs when enough people are camping. Of course, the water taxi wasn't running either. This information should be very obvious on their website, and it is not. The amusement park (I really hesitate to call it that) officially opens at 10:30am (seasonal) and closes at 5pm (yes, even on the weekend). We arrived at 11am, and were surprised to see that very few of the shops were open (most did open later, seemingly random). The train and Summit Skyride were running, and the miniature golf and Skywalk features were open, but that was about it. We decided to play some miniature golf then ride the Skyride to the top of the mountain to meet-up with our friends. We were excited to see so few people in the Skyride line, thinking it would be a very brief wait. Unfortunately, they seem to have reduced the frequency of runs because of the smaller crowd.   The view from the summit of Stone Mountain is pretty amazing. The Atlanta skyline is pretty amazing from here. You can also see the North Georgia Mountains as well as two nearby rock mounds similar to Stone Mountain. One is Arabia Mountain, and the other is Panola Mountain, a state park. We decided to walk down the mountain instead of riding. The kids ran most of the way. The plan was to catch the park's train back around to the attractions. We stood and waited for the train, which slowly passed us without stopping. We waited for it to come back, but it soon became apparent that the train didn't stop here anymore. Fortunately, there is a shuttle bus that stops at that location periodically.   Back at the attractions, the kids first wanted to go see the animals at the "Plantation." We all love farm animals and especially remembered the goats from previous visits. We weren't disappointed. We spent a lot of time petting the sheep, goats, and pigs, and talking with the ladies that take care of the livestock. After touring several of the old homes and other structures at the plantation, we proceeded to park's 4D theater for a Yogi Bear movie. We all loved it! The kids were also eager to try out the new Sky Hike, a sort of obstacle course on stilts. All four of the children and I decided to give it a try. There is a very similar feature at Dollywood with one exception. Dollywood's "Adventure Mountain" always offers a relatively easy route. I witnessed a pretty small child that got really scared on the third obstacle. He had no choice but to proceed through the entire level. Our kids did just fine, but I was ready to get off before I completed the first level. There are three levels. It's a great feature, but I think some alternative exits should be added. After a full day at the park, we headed back to the campground. We were so looking forward to a nice relaxed evening by the campfire with a view of the mountain across the lake. This is what keeps bringing us back, the view. Other than having a hard time keeping the firewood I purchased at the office lit, the evening delivered. It was beautiful. In all, our memories of the day were all positive. We had fun, saw some sights, and got a little exercise. We plan to come back in the near future to use the second day of tickets, and perhaps ride bikes at nearby Panola Mountain State Park. Yes, with all my gripes about the campground and the park in general, we keep coming back for more. So I'll say it again: "Thank you sir, may I have another?" Note: As critical as I am about the Stone Mountain Campground, I still recommend a visit. Just be aware of the condition of many of the RV sites. I cannot give an opinion on the tent sites, and many of the sites near the office have been redone. If you don't expect too much, you might not be disappointed.

The Georgia Mountain Fall Festival

The Fairgrounds are Fantastic!

A shady lane passes the exhibits as it winds around
a hill overlooking Lake Chatuge. It's beautiful.

 We planned this entire trip to Hiawassee, Georgia around a single event: the Georgia Mountain Fall Festival. We'd heard a lot about the fairgrounds, but we had not yet attended an event here. The Fall festival, combined with the Autumn colors, gave us a great excuse to visit the park.

The first task in planning this trip was to identify a good campground as a home base for our adventure. The Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds feature two beautiful lakeside campgrounds, but we need full RV hookups for a four night stay, and the fairgrounds do not provide full RV hookups, After doing some research, I booked us a site at Enota Mountain Retreat, a place that qualifies as a PB&J Adventures destination in itself. We camped at Enota in the Winter of 2008 when it was very cold. We wanted to return when the weather was better.

If you are an artisan and craftsperson of rustic
mountain life items, this is the place to be.

We decided to visit the Georgia Mountain Fall Festival on Saturday. Admission was half price, and Ricky Skaggs was performing in the afternoon. We were a little worried about crowds when we first saw the parking lot. I really dislike crowds, especially when I'm trying to keep up with four kids. Much to our surprise, the fairgrounds didn't seem crowded at all. Because the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds are so large, crowds seem to dissipate soon after passing through the gate. Honestly, it's the first fairground I've visited in which I felt relaxed and wasn't anxious to leave. We were always surrounded by beautiful foliage and rustic architecture.

This awesome wooden waterwheel was operating
during our visit. Very cool!

Soon after arriving at the fairgrounds, we were faced with the difficult but enjoyable task of choosing our lunch. The job proved to be more difficult than we'd anticipated. I think we ended-up purchasing food from 3-4 different food vendors. Lee Thomas and I had some exceptional clam chowder, and the others had hotdogs and various other yummy delicacies. Like the fairground, the food selection here is exceptional.

After eating, we wandered through a large variety artisan displays and exhibits. Rebecca and each of the kids got new pocket knives from the DirecTV booth, and we sampled honey at the beekeeper's association exhibit. We passed through the farm-life museum where the kids and I admired the massive collection of die- cast cars, trucks, and tractors. Rebecca and I had to explain some of the vintage equipment, tools, and kitchen appliances to the kids. As we exited the rear of the museum building, we discovered a large, fully functional wooden waterwheel. It has a strong resemblance to the one at Berry College in Rome, Georgia.

From there, we continued to explore the exhibits. There are many old buildings on display at the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds. Many have been moved from other locations and reassembled here. There are numerous cabins, farm buildings, and an old one-room schoolhouse. Demonstrations of mountain farm life were happening all around. The kids were engaged the entire time, and were never bored.

By the time we'd seen the main part of the fairground, the first half of the Ricky Skaggs concert was already past. We decided to head back to Enota for the remainder of the afternoon instead. On the way back, we stopped at Track Rock Gap to see some ancient Native American petroglyphs carved into rocks there. Very interesting. More on that later. For a detailed description of the fairgrounds including dozens of pictures, click here.

Mammoth Cave National Park

More Than Just a Hole in the Ground

Mammoth Cave, the longest cave in the world. Mammoth Cave National Park is located between Bowling Green and Louisville, Kentucky. It's a beautifully wooded and rugged part of the country. The park's limestone foundation is riddled with hundreds of miles caves. In fact, Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the world. Much of the cave is without mineral formations, but the sections of the cave with formations are quite amazing. At nearly 400 explored miles, the sheer size of the cave is hard to fathom, and makes the trip worthwhile. Above ground, this 52,835 acre park is just as awesome as its Swiss cheese basement. The forest is open and clear underneath the massive hardwoods. The dense overhead canopy and abundant wildlife contribute to underbrush control. It's a very well preserved and clean national park brimming with natural beauty and furry creatures.  Much of Mammoth cave has no formations, but where they exist, they are awesome! Near the park's visitor center is a the Mammoth Cave Hotel and the park's primary campground. There are many options for lodging within the park, but camping, while very picturesque and natural, is limited for the extended stay of this family of six. The lack of water and electrical hookups can make stays of more than 2-3 nights a little trying. If you need full hookups, there are several options in nearby Cave City and Park City. Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park, with its child-oriented activities and amenities, is always a hit with the kids. The park's campground is beautiful ! There is plenty to do in the area. If you are here for a short visit, you'll have a hard time deciding which adventure to attempt. There are numerous caves outside the national park that can be toured, including one located in an Australia-themed park called Kentucky Down Under. This area possesses a "retro"  tacky tourist appeal reminiscent of Gatlinburg, Panama City Beach, and Ghost Town in the Sky. Rock shops, go karts, t-shirts, fudge, and zip-lines abound. Many of the attractions are seasonal, so do your homework before booking your accommodations.  For more details including a Journal entry and pictures, click here,