Winter Overnight Getaway

We took a quick overnight getaway to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia for my husband’s birthday. His New Year’s Eve birthday has always been a fun family time for us spent at home, but since our married daughter would be gone this year, we decided to do something a little different for everyone to look forward to. We were gone for just about 24 hours, but it was just perfect! Callaway is only an hour and a half away from us, so we usually just make it a day trip, however, last year we stayed in one of their cabins for a weekend and this year we decided to try their Lodge. We loved it!

My daughter said this place had serious Hallmark vibes! Wouldn’t you agree?

It was nice to see it all still decorated for the holidays.

The view from our balcony was a treat even in winter. I can’t imagine how much prettier it must look in the spring with everything in colorful bloom.

After checking in we went to walk through the Butterfly Garden.

The turtles are so cute to watch.

Everything is so green and lush!

On one of our trips many years ago, we witnessed a young man proposing to his girlfriend at this waterfall.

I got my picture taken with my birthday man. I love this guy so much! He’s my rock.

There were some fun activities for kids.

And beautiful butterfly artwork all around the lobby.

Next we went over to the Discovery Center.

I loved the nature theme in the Christmas tree.

And how about this poinsettia tree!

There isn’t much to see in the gardens during winter, but we walked around the lake a little before our dinner reservation.

Back at the Lodge we had reservations at the Piedmont Dining Room for my husband’s birthday dinner. Unfortunately, my daughter wasn’t feeling well so she stayed in the room while we ran down for dinner.

We got the buffet, and it was seafood night! So delicious! My husband was a happy man.

We had evening tickets for the Festival of Lights, so we went back up to the room before heading out and our daughter was feeling a little better, so she was able to go with us. This was the view from our balcony before we left. We could already see the lights!

Everything was even more festive at night!

Our ticket time for the drive through was 7:30 and there was about a 30-minute sit/wait in our car once we were in the park. Then the actual drive through took almost an hour and a half so we definitely got our money’s worth. Over 10 million lights!

The whole light festival was so dreamy! These photos don’t do it justice. There were themes for each part of the drive with whimsical moving lights and music to go with each theme. Such a treat!

The next morning, we slept in before checking out of our hotel and then headed over to Country Kitchen for breakfast.

And what a breakfast it was! We all enjoyed our dishes. My daughter had the peppermint cocoa pancakes–Yum!

Besides a great country breakfast, the next biggest draw to Country Kitchen is the gorgeous mountain view which we were excited to see, but it was an incredibly foggy morning so this was all we could see. Still a pretty morning though.

We took our time at breakfast, shopped in the Country Store, and then headed back home for the New Year’s lineup of football, birthday gifts and dessert, and one last Christmas movie before the clock struck 12 and welcomed in a new year!