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.

Twelve Days of a Dixie Christmas - #9

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. #9 - Noccalula Falls Park: Gadsden, Alabama For today's destination, we head north to Gadsden, Alabama. With a full-hookup campground, an open air passenger train, a village of century-old buildings, a vintage covered bridge, lots of cool animals, a killer playground, and some rather spectacular waterfalls, Noccalula Falls is already an awesome destination. Add thousands of Christmas lights, holiday decorations, and Santa, and this quaint small-town park becomes a magical Christmas holiday destination. The legend of the waterfall and the Native American (Creek) princess Noccalula are the central theme of this popular little park. Actually, it's not just one little park, it's several smaller parks that, when combined, make for one awesome destination. . While the legend is tragic, and the falls can be spectacular, the city has made this place much more. I believe the falls could dry-up, and the park would still draw visitors. It is a historic and beautiful place that we'd recommend to anyone.   If you read about just a few of our adventures, you may begin notice a common thread:ANIMALS. We really love animals! Noccalula Falls has an unusual collection of species, mostly farm animals, but some a bit more exotic. A stand-out memory in all our minds is the encounter we had with a young buck in the petting zoo. He was such a beautiful creature, and he licked the kids hands. He was no reindeer, but he was cuddly.   So there you have it, our 9th favorite Christmas Holiday Destination. For lots more pictures and details about Noccalula Falls, click here. Come back tomorrow to see our 8th favorite Christmas holiday destination.

Twelve Days of a Dixie Christmas - #10

A Countdown of our Favorite Southeastern Christmas Destinations

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 publish a new destination each day until we reveal our #1 Christmas holiday destination.

#10 - Silver Springs, Nature's Theme Park: Silver Springs, Florida

Now we continue the theme of non-traditional winter vacation spots with Silver Springs park in central Florida. By late December, the Richardson Tribe is ready for a few days of balmy weather. Warmth makes for a nice break in the dreary wet cold days just a little further north.

Silver Springs, located near Ocala, Florida, is an ancient source of relatively warm water that proliferates lush vegetation and abundant wildlife including birds, gators, snakes, and monkeys. Yes, monkeys. They're everywhere, as are the Christmas lights.

Silver Springs is a natural paradise that has been retrofitted (emphasis on retro) for the 20th..... uhhh, 21st century. I say this because many of us southerners visited Silver Springs as kids about long long ago. Silver Springs is a legendary southern destinations that dates back to the 1870s when an early entrepreneur built the first glass bottom boat. The water here is crystal clear, and the view of the aquatic life and vegetation is spectacular. Today, the famous Silver Springs glass bottom boats still take tourists on scenic and educational tours of the river fed by the ancient spring.

When the sun sets during the Christmas season, Silver Springs becomes a winter wonderland. There are thousands (maybe millions) of lights that illuminate the park's many natural features. It's a truly spectacular sight.

While visiting Silver Springs, we recommend RV camping at Salt Springs Recreation Area. It's located in the Ocala National Forest, and features a pristine warm spring with a family of manatee residing just beneath the glassy warm water.

So, there you have it, our 10th favorite Christmas destination. Visit us tomorrow to discover the vacation spot we consider #9.

Twelve Days of a Dixie Christmas - #11

A Countdown of our Favorite Southeastern Christmas Destinations 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 publish a new destination each day until we reveal our #1 Christmas holiday destination. #11 - Cumberland Island: St. Marys, Georgia The Carnegie family, one of the most prestigious and wealthy dynasties in the Americas, once spent their Christmas with their loved ones here on Cumberland Island. Today you can visit this once exclusive nature preserve for little to nothing. Cumberland Island, an official National Seashore, is a barrier island paradise known to few. Located near St. Marys, Georgia, Cumberland is at the southern-most portion of the Georgia coastal plane. To access Cumberland Island, you will take a ferry from the town of St. Marys. The marina where the ferry resides is really quite charming with multiple sailboats docked nearby. It almost has a "New England" feel to it. The ferryboat ride is just long enough to be a "ride," but short enough to remain interesting to the kiddos. The ferry will stop at two locations on Cumberland Island. We recommend the second stop because bicycles are available for rent there, and because the narrative at the first stop can be quite lengthy (but informative). The island has several miles of barren unoccupied beach, but the real attractions involve dunes, live oaks, armadillos, and wild horses. There are few places\ on earth that would compare to Cumberland Island's natural beauty, vegetation, and wildlife. While visiting Cumberland Island, we recommend staying at Crooked River State Park or Big Wheel RV park. If you want a natural surrounding, Crooked River is the place to stay. If you want an RV site with cable and full-hookup, then we suggest BigWheel RV Park. If money is no object, and you would prefer an exclusive room on the island, check out the Greyfield Inn. For more information about Cumberland Island, including dozens of pictures and a PB&J Adventure Journal entry, click here. Tomorrow we'll be heading south to another favorite southern Christmas destination. Tune in to solve the mystery.

Twelve Days of a Dixie Christmas - #12

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. #12 - Parks at Chehaw: Albany, Georgia Albany Georgia may not register high on some lists as an ideal winter destination. They would be wrong. Chehaw is especially inviting this time of year. The air is cool and crisp, the campground is beautiful (virtually empty), the creatures in the wild animal park are in plain view sunning themselves, the native snakes are hibernating, and the seasonal Festival of Lights is pretty spectacular. It's hard to define our favorite feature of this destination. The Jim Fowler (Wild Kingdom) designed  Animal Park is most definitely one of the nicest we've ever visited. However, the kids would have to rank the playground as one of the best they've ever seen too. The bike riding is easy here because it's very flat. In fact, once you're here, you can ride bikes pretty much anywhere you'd want to go in the park. Albany is just a short drive from the Parks at Chehaw and features many entertainment and dining  opportunities. We especially enjoyed bowling at the local lanes and eating delicious seafood prepared locally at Blackbeard's. For details about the Parks at Chehaw, including dozens of pictures and an Adventure Journal entry, click here. So there you have it. the first of our Twelve Days of a Dixie Christmas starts in Albany, Georgia. Where from there? Tune in tomorrow to solve the mystery.

On The Air:

The Richardson Tribe will be guests on "Road Rebelles" talk radio Sunday night, November 25 at 10pm. Tune in to hear about how the big adventure began. If you have a specific topic you'd like to hear about, please visit our Facebook page and make a suggestion. I'm sure we can work it in. New Affiliate: We've been big fans of Fulltime Families for quite a long time, and now we are an affiliate publisher. Check out their website to see all the great benefits they provide for traveling families. They have several books with titles like How to Hit the Road 2012, Everything You Wanted To Know About Homeschooling, Perfect Games For Travel, and more. Additionally, they publish a magazine that will keep you updated on the latest family travel news.

Outdoor Adventure Day at Sloppy Floyd State Park

Adventure Journal - Entry Date: September 2012 - More

Each September, James H (Sloppy) Floyd State Park hosts an incredible event called Outdoor Adventure day. We try to attend every year if possible. Sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate, but this year was perfect. We always camp when attending this event because the park is beautiful and Sloppy Floyd features one of our all-time favorite campgrounds. With just 25 sites, the campground isn't as large and crowded as some state parks, and the sites are level, spacious, and plush with native trees and shrubs. 

With all that said, perhaps the greatest bonus for the Richardson Tribe is the abundant supply of fossils and semi-precious gemstones scattered over the ground. Sloppy Floyd is a rockhounding paradise, and we are rockhounds. On this trip, we found mostly druzy quartz and fine lace agate, but we also found a geode or two.
 

We arrived at the campground on Friday evening, set-up the camper, and built a fire. The evening brought a slight chill, one of the first of the Fall season. Early in the evening, some other campers stopped by and told they used the PB&J Adventures website to plan their family camping trips. Their extended family was visiting the park for Adventure Day because they had learned of it on our website. Needless to say, that made my day.

The Adventure Day festivities began at 9am Saturday morning, and we were there bright and early, beating the crowds. The kids started with a virtual video hunting game, but I think one or two thought it was a little too realistic. Then it was archery. All the kids did great, but Lainey actually received applause after her round. She put five arrows in a perfect grouping, all within just a few inches of one another. Santa brought all the kids bows and arrows two years ago, and their practice has paid off.

From the archery arcade, we wandered to the opposite end of the lake where the rock climbing wall was located. Lee Thomas and John Micah opted to try their hand at fishing while Lainey and Heath conquered the wall. Then it was bb guns where all the kids did very well. Again, practice makes perfect. Soon it was lunchtime, and that meant free hot dogs and soft drinks for all. Heath thought they were the best hot dogs he'd ever tasted.

The afternoon was spent in much the same way. We rode the pedal boats and canoes and fished. I'm not sure how many times the rock wall was scaled or how many hot dogs were eaten, but a good time was had by all. When 2pm rolled around, we were ready for the snake show. Each year at Outdoor Adventure Day, Jason Clark from Southeastern Reptile Rescue provides an educational and entertaining reptile demonstration. He teaches what snakes are dangerous and how to recognize them at a safe distance. We all learned some great lessons about how snakes keep the rodent population under control, and how venom is being used to cure certain illnesses. We now know and respect snakes a lot more.

We spent the balance of the day enjoying the campground. Lee Thomas and I enjoyed a game of chess while the others made a movie with Lainey's new camera. The movies' main stars, made from marshmallows, were Marsha and Marshall Mallow. They went on a camping adventure that ended tragically with a fire. Perhaps we'll air it on YouTube after a little editing.

For lots more details and pictures of James H Sloppy Floyd State Park and Outdoor Adventure Day, click here.