Lens Artists Photo Challenge # 227 – Home Sweet Home

Posted in Georgia, Nature, PhotographyTagged , , , , , ,

If I had a visitor from another country who wanted to see my home country in a week or a month, where would I take them? This is the challenge Tina has given us.

I live in the United States. Many visitors from other countries are surprised by how huge it is. It would take more than a lifetime to see it all.

Instead, I will take the time we have to see the many beautiful sites in my home state of Georgia. There are mountains, farmland, friendly small towns, the Okefenokee Swamp, historic cities, barrier islands, salt marsh, beaches, lakes, and the city of Atlanta.

I’m not sure we could even cover the entire state in one month but we could give it a good try. We’ll start our tour in coastal Georgia where I live. We would visit at least one of the three inhabited barrier islands that can be reached by road, go on a dolphin tour to look for Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins, walk on an uninhabited island that can only be reached by boat, and take a ferry ride to explore Sapelo Island or Cumberland Island National Seashore. We would catch blue crabs from the local waters and steam them for a delicious meal, snack on boiled peanuts, and feast on low country boil with shrimp fresh from the sea.

Dunes and pier on Tybee Island, Georgia
Sunrise at Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GA
St. Simons Lighthouse, GA
Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin near Tybee Island, Georgia
We often are the only people on one of the uninhabited barrier islands
Nanny Goat Beach, Sapelo Island, Georgia
Fresh Georgia Blue Crabs straight from the creek to the pot.
Boiled Peanuts
Low Country Boil
Exploring coastal Georgia

We would visit historic Savannah and enjoy a family style lunch at Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room.

Mercer House, Savannah, Georgia
Waving Girl Statue and Olympic Cauldron on River Street on the Savannah River
Historic stone steps leading to River Street
Forsyth Park Fountain, Savannah
Mrs Wilkes Dining Room

We could take a ride to Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge to see nesting egrets, herons, and woodstorks in the spring. We could continue farther south for a boat ride through the Okefenoke National Wildlife Refuge.

Nesting Wood Storks
Cypress Trees in the Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia
Alligator in the Okefenokee Swamp
Great Egret with chicks, Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge

We would take a road trip on back country roads to north Georgia. We would stop to explore Athens, the home of the University of Georgia, go to the top of Brasstown Bald, and look for waterfalls. We would pass by fields of cotton, corn, and pecan orchards along the way.

University of Georgia Arch, Athens
View from top of Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia
One of the waterfalls of Tallulah Gorge

We would take another road trip to see the western part of the state and stop to explore Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain and President F. D. Roosevelt’s Little White House in Warm Springs. We would drive by peach orchards and watch the sunset at one of the many lakes in Georgia.

Callaway Gardens Azalea Trail
FDR’s Little White House in Warm Springs, GA
Peach County, Georgia
Georgia Peaches
Sunset over Lake Seminole at Eastbank Campground

There is so much more to see in Georgia. Sadly, I don’t have photos of some them. In Atlanta we could see the World of Coca-Cola, the Georgia Aquarium, Centennial Olympic Park, Stone Mountain, the President Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. We could visit the Providence Canyon, also called the grand canyon of Georgia in Lumpkin and beautiful Rome in northwest Georgia, and too many more places to name.

I can’t end a post about Georgia without including the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team. Go Dawgs!

Georgia Football Barn Sign, Tennille, GA
Dooley Field at Sandford Stadium

If you would like to see more about my home state of Georgia please visit visit this post I did a a few years ago Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Georgia.

Many thanks to Tina for her Lens-Artists Challenge #227 – Home Sweet Home

21 thoughts on “Lens Artists Photo Challenge # 227 – Home Sweet Home”

    1. Thank you Bonnie! If you want to do a food tour then you also will want to try some delicious barbeque from a local restaurant. Pulled pork, spare ribs, barbeque chicken, brisket, and Brunswick Stew! I’m pretty sure we have driven through Villa Rica at least once.

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  2. LOL for the bulldogs entry Beth! You’ve done a wonderful job of highlighting the many beautiful opportunities for a visitor to Georgia. So much of it reminds me of our area here in SC. Loved your choices this week.

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    1. Thank you Tina! I wish I had more pictures of crops in the fields and some of the small towns and Atlanta. We recently drove on back roads with cotton fields as far as the eye could see on both sides of the road and no place to pull over to get some photos. I didn’t originally plan to include the Bulldogs in the post but after they won the SEC championship last night I couldn’t resist.

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    1. Thank you Mike and Kellye! That’s one of those things I didn’t mention. The Masters Golf Tournament, a Georgia Bulldogs football game, an Atlanta Braves Baseball Game, a Falcons game, the Savannah St. Patrick’s Day Parade would all be fun.

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