Sweet Georgia -- Macon                                                                     April, 10, 2001

Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama are behind us and, sometime in the last few weeks, we've found Spring.  The poppies, cacti, and unpredictable weather of the Southwest have given way to dense patches of bluebonnets, pink azaleas, bright white dogwood, and warm sunny days.

We had hoped to get a last-minute time-share exchange into Hilton Head for Easter week to precede a confirmed week in Myrtle Beach.  But the double whammy of  holidays and the PGA tour event at Harbour Town was more than our usual luck could overcome.   Looks like Georgia will be on our minds for the next week or so.  Perfect time for a little insight on how we travel the nomad way.

After crossing into a new state, our first stop is the Welcome/Visitor Center (prevalent on Interstate highways).  Helpful personnel (who will make recommendations), maps, brochures, booklets and magazines provide detailed information on everything in the state, including golf.  I'm addicted to the TravelSaver Guide, which has coupons for last minute walk-in motel rooms at a real discount.  Three or four companies publish these booklets, and I always take one of each.  Apparently, you can also print coupons off their websites.

We know we want to spend a couple of days in Savannah and get in a couple of rounds of golf, but not much else.  Atlanta is near, but doesn't appear to suit our present mood.  After looking through the AAA Guide and Welcome Center handouts, we decide to bypass the hustle of Atlanta and stop in Macon.

Out comes the TravelSaver and I cross-reference their discounted motels with my AAA Travel Guide.  I look for deals at 3-star motels.  Winfield Inns ("business hotels") are my favorites, but Hampton Inns, and Holiday Inns are usually the best of the deals available.  Although one can't make reservations at the coupon rate, I call the motel to ask whether they have rooms at that rate for that night; if so, we head there.  The other night we stayed at a 3-star Holiday Inn for $39 plus tax, and because I'm a member of their "Club" (free--just sign up) we got complementary  hot buffet breakfasts as well.  Not bad, huh?  In Macon, we scored a brand new Winfield Inn for $49, the coupon rate (FYI, rack rate was $84, walk-ins were $69.)   The great room with deluxe continental breakfast was so nice we stayed a second night.

Sometimes we do reserve a room in advance, especially for a Saturday night or a holiday weekend.  I prefer to stay in a big city on the week-end because that's when room rates are low.  Great deals are often available at first class hotels; these places cater to business people and often discount their rooms on the weekend.  If you book through a consolidator like Expedia or Travelocity, you often save even more.

Deciding on what to do is easy.  AAA rates some attractions as "gems", that is, definitely worth a visit, and we usually focus on these.  There's also the advice from the Welcome Center, the hotel desk people and the brochures we've picked up.  And of course today there's the net -- IgoUgo.com has travelogues about almost everywhere, and AOL has a travel board where people rate restaurants, sights, etc.  These sources led us to the city's historic district, the Hay House, the Ocmulgee National Monument, and the Macon Museum of Arts and Science.

We wandered through Macon's old city area. There were some lovely, hilly, tree-shrouded residential streets lined with impressive 1880's era mansions in a variety of architectural styles.  Our destination was Historic Hay House, a large renaissance-revival style mansion, topped by a decorative three-story cupola.  It’s beautiful exterior is stucco (painted to look like red brick!) trimmed with white columns, ornate balconies, railings, and rounded or capped windows.  I loved the feel of the large, high-ceiling'ed rooms.  The excellent craftsmanship of the restored trompe l’oeil ('faux' painted) walls in the entryway and foyer looked like real marble.  Apparently the walls had been painted and protected by lacquer when the house was built 150 years ago.  Thereafter, the lacquer yellowed badly, and the walls were painted over by various owners.  Then in the early 1990’s, the original faux marble underneath was exposed and, with amazingly little work, restored to its original condition.  Today, Hay House is a work in progress.  There’s much restoration still needed, but based on the nicely furnished rooms on display, it must have really been something in its time.  Well worth a visit.  (Georgia Trust photo from their website.)

Ocmulgee National Monument is near downtown in a wide-open park-like setting on the Ocmulgee River.  The Monument’s mission is to preserve the several 1000-year old Indian mounds that are sacred to the Creek Indians.  You can hike for miles and climb the 25 - 50 ft. mounds to elevate your heart rate.  Unfortunately, there's surprisingly little known about the civilization that built them.  The main feature is a reconstructed lodge / meeting room.  Enter this mound and imagine yourself attending a powwow here a thousand years ago.  Admission to the site and visitor center are free.

Being scientists and liking art, we couldn't pass on a visit to The Macon Museum of Arts and Science.  The AAA book says that the museum is open Friday night from 5 to 9, and our luck: Friday night admission is free.  The museum is small -- the art section only had 30 paintings on display (an American Impressionist exhibit was to open soon), but the science section had many interesting exhibits, including one on "how things work".  We watched two planetarium shows, one about the moon through the ages; the other about the spring night sky.  Afterwards, the "observatory" (a 10x15 rectangular space surrounded by 12-foot high concrete walls) that houses two large telescopes was open for viewings.  The sky cleared just in time for us to zoom in on binary stars, nebulae, and planets -- Saturn with it’s rings and striped Jupiter with it’s 4 luminous moons.  We were practically the only people there!  I know science isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I would have thought free admission and free shows would be a draw... Oh well, WE had a great time. 

I’m not sure you could spend a lot of time "doing" Macon, but there is a fun day’s worth of sights, especially if you happen to be there a Friday.

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