This Week: Pine Mountain Passages

On this week's episode of Georgia Traveler, we're exploring "Pine Mountain Passages" in west Georgia. Keely and Phil begin with a great getaway to Callaway Gardens and enjoy gardens, golf and the new lodge and spa. David meets a new species of friend at the Wild Animal Safari and Keely hikes the Pine Mountain Trail. Phil finds fantastic food at the Bulloch House and David takes a legendary swim in Warm Springs.

Georgia Traveler 208, "Pine Mountain Passages," airs this Friday, August 21 at 9 PM, Saturday, August 22 at 7 PM, and Wednesday, August 26 at 7:30 PM on GPB.

For more information, check out our website at:
http://www.gpb.org/georgiatraveler/

Georgia Traveler is produced in partnership with the Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Georgia Tourism Foundation.

Georgia Public Broadcasting is Television, Radio and Education: your PBS station serving all of Georgia; your source for great music and NPR news; and Georgia's source for top-quality multiple media educational products and services.

Watch Georgia Public Broadcasting on these nine stations across Georgia: Atlanta - WGTV/8, Albany - WABW/14, Augusta - WCES/20, Chatsworth - WNGH/18, Columbus - WJSP/28, Dawson - WACS/25, Macon - WMUM/29, Savannah - WVAN/9, Waycross - WXGA/8.

This Weekend in Georgia!

This is the last full weekend in July, so, get out there and enjoy summer! If you're looking for some ideas, we've got some:

Rescuing a Piece of Romantic History

at the Dahlonega Gold Museum State Historic Site in Dahlonega

through July 31, 2009

Sweetheart jewelry, mementos from the Civil War given from soldiers to their loved ones, will be on display at the Dahlonega Gold Museum State Historic Site in Dahlonega. That's in northeast Georgia. This exhibit is on loan from The National Museum of Patriotism and is part of the largest collection in the world. For more information, you can call 706-864-2257 or visit their website.

Florida State University Flying High Circus

at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain

through August 7, 2009

Every Summer since 1960, the Florida State University "Flying High" Circus has been in residence at Callaway Gardens. The Circus is composed of talented college students who train and perform in the Circus as an extracurricular activity. The top students in the Circus are invited to Summer Adventure each year to perform and to serve as camp counselors. Their daring acrobatic acts keep audiences on the edge of their seats: trapeze acts, juggling routines, balancing acts, tightwire walks and more. For more information, visit the Callaway Gardens website. For more information about Callaway Gardens, check out the Georgia Traveler segment by clicking here.

ArtSquared

in the Downtown Historic District in Savannah

Friday, July 24 through Sunday, July 26

ArtSquared Savannah will be a weekend celebration of the arts in Savannah. On Friday evening, City Market will come alive as the Art & Soul of Savannah. The countless galleries will stay open into the evening while you take pleasure in the sights, sounds and tastes of City Market. On Saturday, guests can enjoy a Palette to Palate Gallery Hop throughout the Historic District. At each gallery sample Southern delicacies and wines while enjoying the sounds of jazz and classical music by local musicians. On Sunday, you will be treated to a Gospel Brunch at the Jepson Center featuring Mt. Zion Baptist Church "Voices of Praise." In addition, take a trolley, walking, hearse or many other wonderful tours the city has to offer to round out the cultural experience. For more information, visit the website.

And those are just a few of the events you can find this weekend in Georgia. For more ideas, visit the ExploreGeorgia website operated by our production partners at the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

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.