Columbus Georgia (Wednesday, March 30th, 2016)

Unfortunately for all of us, the good nights sleep that we had hoped for really didn't happen.  The room was loud, and just much more "tired" than we realized at first glance.  There were all kinds of little issues that really aren't expected or acceptable for a Holiday Inn Express.  It was unfortunate, since the staff was so friendly and helpful!  Although I have to say that our daughter and her husband have stayed there before and they haven't had any issues.  I think we just got a bad room.

We set our alarms for 5:15 (which was actually 3:15 Denver time), since we needed to  pick up one of our daughter's friend at the Atlanta airport at 6:00.  Steve and our daughter showered quickly, and I chose to skip a shower today since the morning was so rushed.  We arrived at the airport at 6:00 to pick up our daughter's friend Kathy, whose son is in Ranger School with our son (in-law).  We found her quickly, and Steve and I met her for the first time.  She is a great lady, who has been an amazing support for our daughter.  They talk and text often, and keep each other in the loop when things are happening.

We all headed back to the Holiday Inn Express and enjoyed the complimentary breakfast that is offered with our stay.  It was the usual breakfast that they offer, with the addition of a pancake maker, which was nice.  Once we had all finished breakfast, we got back in the car and headed for Columbus.

We arrived at our son (in-law's), and Kathy's son's, apartment complex, where we dropped our daughter off,

It's a really nice complex, with individual leases for each person, which makes it even better!

 and then followed Kathy on base to get our visitor's pass for the base.  You can't enter a military base without a military ID, or a visitor's pass. 

That is where Kathy left us, and we were on our own. We decided to take a little time and just look around the base while we were there.  It is very spread out, and heavily wooded, so it is difficult to really find anything there.  We did find a few of the areas that our daughter has talked about, like some of the training facilities, the barracks, etc.  This is where our son (in-law) was for RAP week and Darby, which are the first two phases of Ranger school, so we thought it would give us a feel for some of what he might have done for these two phases.

The base is heavily wooded, and a lot of it is dirt roads

Our son (in-laws) home for about seven weeks

A one mile run/obstacle course that the soldiers do at the end of RAP week

The barracks he called home when he was in between training phases

The most important things on post, the pay phones they could call home during breaks between Ranger school phases

One of the obstacle courses used during RAP week

We have done our research on Columbus, GA, and there isn't a whole lot to do in this small military town.  The two main attractions we found were the River Walk and the Infantry Museum.  Since the weather is really nice today, we decided on the outdoor option, which is the Chattahoochee River Walk.  It was really beautiful, and a great way to spend the day outside.  The Chattahoochee River runs between Georgia and Alabama, so as we were looking across the River, we were looking into Alabama.

The water tower marks one of the park entrances to the river walk

Walking down to the river walk from the street

Notice the island behind Steve

We have no idea what this is, but it is in the building that the river runs through and around

Now were on the little island.  The guy on the right is net fishing

He made quite a catch.  We don't know what kind of fish he was catching

Steve standing on the island

View from the island, looking back toward the building and mainland.  Look at the beautiful spanish moss

The bridge between Georgia and Alabama in the distance

Another picture of the old building that we don't understand

The actual river walk

On the river walk, looking back toward the building and the island

A statue by the Columbus State University art school

A zip line running from Georgia, across the Chattahoochee River 

The zip line across the Chattahoochee to Alabama

It's quite a river to zip-line over

A nice restroom along the river walk

Looking across the Chattahoochee River to an amphitheater in Alabama

A beautiful little bird

After our morning on post, and along the river, we were getting hungry.

Our daughter had suggested a restaurant called 11th and Bay, that serves upscale southern food, so we went there, only to find that it is only open for lunch on Fridays and Saturdays.  We were sad, but decided to try another well known restaurant in the area called Plucked up.  They are famous for their truly southern Chicken and Biscuits.  

Great decor inside, right down to the wash on the line

Steve had the Chelsea, which was fried chicken with pepper jack cheese, bacon and jalapeno jelly on a biscuit with a side of collard greens, and I had the Aspen which was a BBQ beef brisket sandwich with slaw on a biscuit with a side of cheese grits.  This was true southern food, which is not something that Steve and I would usually eat, but it was prepared so well, and the staff at the restaurant were friendly and helpful.  We really enjoyed our meals and would definitely recommend it for anyone that is looking for good southern food!

After lunch we took a quick trip across the river into Phenix City, Alabama so that we could say that we have been there, then we headed to our hotel to get checked in.

The Microtel Hotel from the outside

Our room was one of the smallest in the hotel, but it was very well laid out and comfortable

When we arrived at the hotel, we were exhausted, so we took about a half hour to re-cooperate, and then we headed out on a walk near our hotel.  The area was really nice.  All of Georgia is heavily wooded, super green and very beautiful.  Below are some of the flowers we enjoyed during our day.

We stopped at a nearby convenience store and picked up a six pack of beer that we had not heard of before.  We took it out to the gazebo that is on the grounds of our hotel, where we relaxed and gave it a try. 

We were soon joined by a group of workers from an electrical contractor out of Atlanta.  They were staying in the hotel while they worked a job in the Columbus are.  We had some great conversation with them and then headed out for dinner.  Our dinner restaurant was within walking distance of our hotel and was called Ready Steak Go. It was located next to a gas station/convenience store, but had really good food!

Steve had steak tips with mushrooms and grilled onions and I had fish-n-chips.  Fish and chips can be very hit or miss, but these were REALLY good. Both dinners came with a dinner salad.  It was the type of place where salad dressing, sour cream and butter come in a packet, but if you can get over the presentation, the food is really good.  We would definitely go back!

By the time we got back to the hotel, we were exhausted from a really early morning and busy day, so we climbed into bed with hopes of a better nights sleep in this new hotel that we would call home for the next few days.