North Western Georgia

On Wednesday, my mom was in Rome, GA for work. Dad, H and I decided to go along for an adventure. Rome, GA is a cute little town in Northwestern Georgia. We dropped Mom off and went for a little driving tour of town, the highlight of which is the courthouse proudly situated on the river. We found a Starbucks for my new mom caffeine fix and headed down to Heritage Park.

Heritage Park is situated where the Oostanaula and Etowah rivers meet. There is plenty of parking, a playground and an adorable gazebo that provides shady seating (for enjoying your coffee) on a hot day. There is a path on the bank of the river and another up on the levee that protects the city from seasonal floods. (The parking lot is actually in the flood zone, you will see the giant flood gates when you pull in.) Both paths are rather level and are perfect for a stroller. The old railroad bridge is a great place to start your visit. From this vantage point, we saw several river otters working on their home on the opposite bank and the swarm of swallows who have taken up residence in the neighboring street bridge diving into the water for their breakfast. Continuing on the railroad trussle will take you into downtown Rome. We doubled back and headed down to the lower path for a stroll along the river. The path does not provide much shade, so sun protection is necessary or just venture back to the gazebo and continue your river and people watching from there. 


We picked Mom up a bit before noon and headed to Bartow Gateway Park on Lake Allatoona for a picnic. Gateway Park has great views of the lake and lots of covered picnic tables. We enjoyed our packed lunch and little H had a chance to get out of his car seat and play with Grandma and Grumpy. 

After lunch we headed into neighboring Cartersville to visit the Booth Western Art Museum, which is a collaboration with the Smithsonian Museums that provides the nation's largest collection of Western art. The introductory video gives you an overview of the exhibits that are available at the museum. Cowboy paintings are not exactly my thing, but the museum had a visiting exhibition on paintings from National Parks. My favorite exhibit was one featuring one letter from each President of the United States, along with a portrait and some fun facts. I'm a sucker for exhibits on the Presidency! H was a trooper in the museum but we left right about the time he needed a diaper change and some food and headed back to Atlanta.