August 15 thru 16 - Rocky Mountain Recreation Area, Armuchee, GA
North of Rome, Georgia, just a few miles off highway 27, there is a little fisherman's paradise. The product of a partnership between Georgia Power and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Rocky Mountain Recreation Area is another local resource that is almost free for the public to use. The campground is wonderful with the piney woods running right down to the water. The lakeside camping sites are not very level (which is not unusual for lakeside sites). There is electric and water only, so, unless you plan on using the very nice bath house, long-term camping is difficult. It is a very nice facility though. It has a nice large sand beach and a pretty nice playground.

On this trip, Nanny and Paw Paw brought their boat over, and Mother Goose stayed with us in the camper, so we were able to spend some good times with all three generations present..

Daddy thinks the lake(s) at Rocky Mountain are cool because of what Georgia Power does here. There are 2 or 3 lakes at the bottom of the mountain, and a single large reservoir on top of the mountain just adjacent to Berry College (which was a very strange mountain to begin with).. At night, when power consumption is low, they pump water up the mountain to the large reservoir. In the morning, when power demand is high, they release the water through generator turbines. It's like a huge battery. It also makes it necessary to carefully tie your boat at night because the water level will change pretty dramatically. That remind me of a story about Uncle Mark and his Polaris watercraft, but that's for another time. 



August 07 thru 09 - Fort Mountain State Park, Chatsworth, GA
Anyone that knows us knows we love Fort Mountain State Park near Chatsworth, Georgia. We decided this would be a good weekend to wedge in between our other scheduled adventures. On this trip, Ranger Ruby introduced us to David Promis, a river keeper with the Coosa River Basin Initiative. Mr. Promis taught us about how pollution gets into our water. We learned what kinds of things get into the rivers, especially balls. We were introduced to water testing, and all the papooses tested the lake water for PH levels. Ranger Ruby also had a woodsy gentleman there to demonstrate how to grind corn. We ended Saturday with some good old fashioned singing and picking by Ranger Ruby, her husband Don, and a friend. It was another wonderful Fort Mountain weekend.