My next "adventure" will be to central Georgia working for the Air Force. I don't recall ever leaving anything there that I needed to go back for so I'm just no starting to research. I'll be going without my wife and kid so I'll have ample free time. I intend to become more active in whatever VFW is there and I intend to offer my services to the National Infantry Association even it's it stuffing envelopes. What else is there to do in the heart of dixie that doesn't require a couple hours drive to Savannah or north Florida?

Welcome! (Or is it, Welcome back?)

Georgia is the largest US State east of the Mississippi, and it has many different very different geographies: sandy coastal plains (below the "fall line"); the Appalachian Mountains to the northeast; a region of valleys and parallel ridges to the northwest (where I live ...), and healthy swamplands to the southeast. There are many state parks scattered throughout the entire state: an annual pass costs about $50 and gets you a couple nights free camping, too. Franklin Delano Roosevelt State Park, for instance, is the home of FDR's "Little White House," where the President retreated from wartime ... and, where he died.

If you want to explore, hiking is a great option: north Georgia is a mecca for long-distance hiking (besides(!) the Appalachian Trail). Geocaching (hide-and-go-seek with a GPS) is very active in Georgia: there's the Georgia Geocacher's Association (GGA) and regional clubs everywhere. Or, just turn off the Interstate highways and start exploring the backroads.

I'm a Floridian so it's sort of a welcome back..

I'll admit that my experience in Georgia was either simply passing through or military training so it's not diverse nor great. I had to google what geocaching was and that actually sounds kinda fun and a good way to spend a weekend..Thanks!

Be careful of some activities in Georgia as I've heard that "safe sex" there is defined as "someone paints red X's on all the animals that bite" !!

Camping out in the mountains of South Carolina across the state line from Georgia.
I found lot's of things to see and do in Georgia.
But I was on a motorcycle.

I visited and toured a Winery. Bought some wine.
Visited a illegal still and bought some moon shine and apple jack.
Hit the local Honky Tonks and met new folks at the Oglelthorpe Lounge in Albany.
Rode to sites that re-enacted Civil War battles <live action>
Went inner tubing down rapids.

I did a lot of other stuff also in Georgia during the 3 weeks I lived in a tent out side of there.
But having fun is a state of mind for me. Like visiting the Barber Museum in Birmingham Alabama.

If "y'all's" lingering impression of the State of Georgia is of "red X's," and moonshine, then you really need to come and visit the real state.

Now, if you like wine, you'll find excellent wine. (But, do skip the "Georgia Winery" just south of the state line on I-75 ...) There are several native varietals, including the Muscadine and Scuppernong grapes, but unfortunately the easiest thing to do with these grapes is to make sweet (ick!) wine. Nevertheless, northeast of Atlanta (I-85, I-985) in the mountains there are now some superlative wineries ... including those with enough skill to produce excellent wines from the aforementioned native species. Someone recently published a very definitive guidebook ... and it has become a very thick volume.

Georgia is, of course, a colony, and both Europeans and Native Americans have been (or, as the case may be, were ...) living here for well over a hundred years before "The United States of America" was a gleam in anyone's eye. The Spanish built forts here, for example. It was also a hard-fought battleground during the American Civil War. And, so on. So there is an uncommon amount of cultural history here, if you're in to that sort of thing.

The State Parks are an excellent avenue into this. (And, they have a state Geocaching challenge in, I think, 32 of the parks state-wide, which leads to a set of three geocoins ... all three of which I proudly display.)

And, the very nice thing is, I think that all of the Southern US states are, each in their own very-different way, "now firmly planted in the 21st century." I have certainly found up that you can grow up in a place, leave it and return to it, and upon returning realize that you really don't know anything about it. Does it have a cultural history that in some cases has some very ugly things? You bet. History is what history is, and sometimes (no matter where you live) it isn't very pretty.

I don't know what's in the rivers down in Georgia, but if there are slow, quiet rivers with a steady current and warm water. Then general tubing is a relaxing event, especially if it finishes up with a barbeque or something.

My old man already has my bike/bikes picked out so we can ride the "tail of the dragon" he knows my obsession with Monsters and Thruxtons so I hope his vision or my next bike matches with those. The only thing I'm sure if is it'll be and American twin of some nature but he sent me the google maps plan and the hotels he wants to stay in. We always said we'd ride from MI to Alaska since that's probably not in the cards due to his age and my lack of time this trip I'll ride, stay, and talk whatever he wants.

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Keep in mind gents that I've not lived in the states baring a spring to Thanksgiving in 2008 where I worked close to a hundred hours a week getting a restaurant profitable since 2008. I've also never really spent any time in Georgia since basic training, Airborne school, and Ranger School where I failed spectacularly twice in mountain phase in Dahlonega.

I will admit that I'm not looking forward to this and will try to get away from it as soon as possible but I'm not sure if it's my uncertainty about the job or the area. The job will be completely alien to me, in an environment that is alien, and the command level is too high for my personality. Simply put I'm uncomfortable and looking for non-destructive things that'll be comfortable and normal.

Re: Red Xs" - It was a joke as generic as "this guy walks into a bar" where "this guy" can be anyone or anything and in this case commonly other locations are inserted in place of Georgia. From sea to shining sea, the US is BIG and all of it holds beauty and good people (and humor) as is true of Terra Firma everywhere. Most ugliness is in badly managed, old cities, and Atlanta and Savannah, for example, put NYC to shame by comparison, and let's not mention much of northern New Jersey.

Hi Chris...

Is this because of immigration issues?

Regards...

My wife is a marketing professor at the local university and my daughter is in gymnasium.

Hi...

Hopefully, your time in Georgia won't be long. Time away from each other as a family will be hard...

Regards...

Welcome back, Chris, and I hope your concerns turn out to be smaller than imagined (the South is famous for "laid back") and that your time in the mountains and with your family will be something between an old homecoming and a rebirth. Improvise, adapt and overcome may be a fave of Marines but it is good advice for all. Hang tough but hang calm!