Warm Springs / FDR winter white house
Columbus, GA
Providence Canyon
May 24, 2021
Finally, the pandemic had relented a little, and we are fully vaccinated and ready to take our chances out among society. We plan a road trip that will take us down to central Georgia near the Chattahoochee River. In preparation, I checked out from the public library the Georgia State parks pass and parking permit. (Here is the route: Google map route)
Our first stop is the FDR Winter White
House near Warm Springs. (see
https://gastateparks.org/LittleWhiteHouse)
The house is modest, situated in a beautiful wooded setting. It's
especially rewarding when the docents in historical sites are
knowledgeable as well as friendly. One of the poignant exhibits is
the partially completed last painting of Roosevelt. During the
sitting he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died a short while
later. The museum on the grounds illustrates his popularity and also
illustrates how difficult it must have been to carry out his duties
and even his daily life suffering from polio.
In the town is also the pool complex where polio patients would swim for rehabilitation. There weren't too many visitors at either location.
Afterwards we visited the F.D. Roosevelt State Park nearby. (see https://gastateparks.org/FDRoosevelt) Roosevelt enjoyed being brought here, with its beautiful views of the countryside.
We drove on to Columbus and found our AirBnB in the historic section of town. The day was quite hot, so we decided to take a short nap to avoid the sweltering heat. As the afternoon cooled a bit, we unloaded our bicycles from the car rack and took off to explore the town.
The historic neighborhood is extensive, includes houses large and small, and has little traffic, making it very pleasant for a bike outing. The tree-covered streets and boulevards made for a refreshing and scenic outing.
Our plan was to reach the River Walk path. The city has built a multi-use path along the Chattahoochee River for a distance of about 22 miles. (see https://visitcolumbusga.com/visit/things-to-do/chattahoochee_riverwalk#gallery-5) We followed the path for several miles until we encountered construction that made it too difficult to proceed. Nevertheless, we enjoyed an hour or so of exercise and pretty views. We crossed the pedestrian bridge to be able to say that we biked all the way to Alabama. The city of Phenix, AL, across the river, has additional riverfront paths that we didn't explore.
On the way back to have dinner, we crossed several railroad tracks in the center of the street. We had originally thought that they were old streetcar tracks, but soon learned that they were installed to carry freight from the river docks to mills and plants within the city. We hoped to see a freight train on the tracks, and we were not disappointed. (The following video may not display on a cellphone; here is the link on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv6YmP-Ij0c)
Sleeping was not great. The AirBnB was quaint and well-situated, but the beds were not at all comfortable. By morning, though, we were ready to hit the road. Breakfast was at a French bakery.
May 25, 2021
Less than an hour south of Columbus is the most unusual Providence Canyon State Park. (see https://gastateparks.org/ProvidenceCanyon) During the first years of the 20th Century, farming and
logging practices didn't recognize the fragility of the land, and rainwater eroded enormous gullies in the landscape. The result is a network of deep canyons, exposing the many mineral layers and their inherent colors. We walked into the canyons, following several branches of the maze to see the flow of water and to admire the walls of the canyon, up to hundreds of feet above us. Then we walked a short while around the rim of the canyon to view the network from above.
Our plan was to visit the Columbus museum in the afternoon. Having checked the opening schedule, we arrived at the museum only to learn that they had removed that day from the calendar during the pandemic. The website had not been updated during the entire time, apparently. Disappointing!
We left for home, arriving later in the afternoon. It had been liberating as well as educational being out on the road for those couple of days.
