Behind the Scenes: Pine Mountain Passages

Georgia Traveler's Pine Mountain Passages epsiode airs tonight at 9 PM, tomorrow at 7 PM and next Wednesday, June 4 ay 7:30 PM. We thought it would be an ideal time to share some behind the scenes moments with our viewers from our shoot at Callaway Gardens.

Now, you may know about the lush gardens, beautiful walking trails and all the water fun at Robin Lake Beach, but do you know about the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center?

Co-hosts Keely Muse and Phil Proctor visited the center during their stay and had a butterfly identification contest. These beautiful residents of the Center were captured by our Executive Producer Ashlie Wilson. The day we visited the Butterfly Center actually started at the new Spa Prunifolia at Callaway. Here's a behind the scenes picture of co-host Phil Proctor preparing for a pedicure. That's Associate Producer Jennifer Houston Wood standing to Phil's left and Photographer Charlene Fisk pointing the camera at Phil's feet. Unfortunately for Phil, out production schedule didn't actually include enough time for him to get a full pedicure, so, he actually just kind of got his feet washed.

He was fine with that decision as soon as he learned that the next stop was a golf course! The Mountain View Championship Golf Course is just one of Callaway's courses that provide different challenges and scenery to golfers of all ages. Bud Robinson, Director of Golf at Callaway Gardens came out to give Phil a few tips about playing that first hole at Mountain View, which has been a site on the PGA tournament. Phil and Bud are standing on hallowed ground for the golf world. Tiger Woods, Phil Michelson and Sergio Garcia have all walked this green. Here's another behind the scenes pic featuring Phil, Bud and Photographer Charlene Fisk.

While golf has almost always been a part of Callaway Gardens, one of the newest additions is the Lodge at Callaway Gardens.
This is where the production crew stayed overnight during our visit and we were very pleased with the accommodations. In order to get some nice "tracking shots" which are smooth pans of particular features, our crew borrowed a luggage cart from the Lodge staff and set about to substitute the cart for what would have been a dolly and track situation under more exacting film circumstances. Always excellent stewards of the donations from GPB members, we often get creative! That's Jennifer Houston Wood pushing our "dolly" and Charlene Fisk with the camera. Here's a close up of Charlene when she's not looking through the viewfinder eyepiece.
Just look at that concentration!

And that's a glimpse behind the scenes of our "Getaway" shoot at Callaway Gardens! We would like to thank Rachel Crumbley down in Pine Mountain. She's the Corporate Relations Manager for Callaway Gardens and we're happy have met her and her staff. We all feel like we made new friends in West Georgia. Callaway Gardens is located near Columbus.