Callaway Gardens

Jay plus Robert and his family were again blessed to be able to spend the Labor Day weekend together at Callaway Gardens. We missed Karen and her Alvarez family: Cathy plus Daylin, Braden, and Skyler who were off to their colleges. Jay got to and from Atlanta with Robert's help. He picked Jay up in Valrico and drove him to the Airport for their flight to Atlanta and he drove Jay to Atlanta for Jay's flight back to Tampa. Joyce was nice enough to pick up Jay at the airport and they celebrated "homecoming" with dinner at the Longhorn Steak House. ;s helpThis year, we wanted to extend our activities time at the resort, so Karen along with her family and Jay, drove up on Thursday night. We again had a four bedroom villa and Callaway Gardens provided two Pack 'n Plays and two high chairs for Alice and Thatcher, which was nice. Overall our three bedroom villa was very, very nice with plenty of get-together space. It was nice to have all living areas on one floor. The bedrooms were fairly large, each having a full bath with a double vanity, good closet space; two had their own coffee closet that included a small refrigerator. The view out the back windows was really great. As usual, a larger kitchen was needed, but Robert again made it work. The villa had a washer/dryer; and Natalie remembered to bring laundry detergent. The kitchen had a dishwasher and we ran through the Callaway- provided detergent. Bottom line: Very good accommodations: bring laundry detergent, dishwasher soap, and extra soap for bathing shampooing. Robert's contribution as chef extraordinaire was again terrific. He coked out all the breakfasts and put together nightly snacks. Robert also led the cleanup operation for each meal. Yes, others helped, thanks to all!! (Click on any slide to enlarge it.)                 Also, more than nice: Robert and Natalie did a ton of shopping beforehand and drove the food up to the resort by car. This included snacks, juices, sodas, dozens of breakfast eggs, packages of breakfast snacks, a cow's worth of bacon, pancake mix, loaves of bread, a large variety of lunch meats, items for Jay's clam dip, and a whole lot of dressings and other condiments. That had to have been a lot of work. During the stay the food items purchased by Robert and Natalie covered the breakfasts and also some snacks. This year we had 4-passenger golf carts which were wonderful as always. We rented two carts, as we have done before. Staying at the resort and driving around on golf carts adds a whole new and very entertaining dimension to the vacation. Traveling around the various roads and trails of Callaway Gardens in a golf cart is a sweet experience. This September Benjamin had his license and was an experienced driver. He drove a golf cart like a Pro. On the first night, we ordered out, and we enjoyed tasteful barbarque dinner. Then we took a golf cart ride down to the beach area and back. The next morning we loaded up the golf carts and headed towards the Discovery Center, which included a nice playground and two Treetops Adventures. Luke was first up on his Discovery Course, and he was the star of the group. Next would be the high ropes course that would included zipping across and back Robin Lake. This would be a first fior Charlie; he was excited but already a pro at negotiating such a course.               While Robert, Benjamin, Everett, andCahrlie were in the treetops, everyone else got to enjoy the neaby playground.                 Following the fun at the Discovery Center, we took our carts over to the Golf club for a nice lunch. As always, the balloons were terrific, especially in the evening when they fired up in tune with the music. And we enjoyed the nightly fireworks.     For Saturday and Sunday nights, we ordered carry-out from neighboring Pine Mountain food establishments, and we also grabbed some snacks at the Robin Lake vendors. Many nights we played the card game "31." The beach area, on Robin Lake, was fun, especially when it was combined with a visit to Aqua Island, which was a sure favorite. Sunday was "Beach Day." We arrived around 11:30 and, by ignoring some traffic signs, found a good parking spot for our golf carts.                                                           Aqua Island was as fun as ever. Lots of challenges available to be conquered. The Braden Clan played a spirited game of tag with the common "no tag back" rule. Robert said a while lot of and one other: If a player slips into the water while trying not to be tagged, that person becomes "IT." Monday morning we packed up, got our group photos, and headed home with lots of good memories of fun family time together. A few comments and thoughts for the future. Please do not allow all or even any one of these comments to take away from the fact that we had another wonderful time together at Callaway Gardens. It's just the "engineer" in me that tends to list things that might be better in future adventures. Even though we arrived a day early, we did not: rent bicycles, play miniature golf, play kickball, play paddleball (cones and a rubber ball), play Corn Hole (a set was not brought to Callaway), play Bocce Ball (ditto), take our traditional picture near the Adventure Center, or take what would have been a good picture at Robin Lake. And we only took the family picture behind the villa by pressuring everyone. We said we wanted to go to the beach each day, but we went just twice - once in the twilight on Day 1 to play BeachBucket toss and once on Day 3 as part of going on Aqua Island. We just didn't seem to get in as many morning activities as possible. On one hand, this is vacation; but on the other hand we traded in some sleep-ins for some of the activities we missed. My vote would be that the kitchen closes each day at 9AM. Anyone who is not up and running by then will be picked up later if/when we bring a cart back to the villa. Lastly, and most important; I hope we can find a way to continue our Labor Day Weekend Callaway Gardens get-togethers in the future. I love them. Back to September 2024 Back to the BradenClan Home Page