First, let me tell you a bit about the Reynolds Plantation. The Reynolds Plantation on Lake Oconee, GA may have just about everything a family is looking for in a vacation. It sits on the second largest lake in GA with 374 miles of shoreline. First of all it has 6 golf courses– one for each day of the week and that precious day of rest.
That takes care of dad, but what activities are there for the rest of the family?
Over twelve tennis courts, over eleven miles of hiking trails, more than ten kayaks, nine canoes, eight fabulous restaurants, seven pontoon boats, Six golf courses, five clubhouses, four marinas, three speed boats, two swimming pools and a world class 26,000 square foot spa, That’s better than a partridge in a pear tree. With all this and more this could well be the place to spend the 12 days of Christmas for you and your family.
Reynolds Plantation is located an hour east of The Atlanta Airport on Lake Oconee, a man made lake created by damning the Oconee River to generate electricity for the area. The Plantation stayed in the family trust for years, and was recently taken over by Met Life. I am looking for the Snoopy blimp, but I don’t see it. However everyone here seems thrilled by the new owners.
Like many Ritz-Carlton resorts these days, this Ritz-Carlton has an active kids club with a full time director and several counselors working in the program. They try to keep a maximum of 5-1 ratio of counselors to kids on any given day. When a kid arrives he can ride the small train that travels around the property. There is an activities room with a live bull frog and a couple of rabbits the kids can pet. There are many activities on the lake such as canoes, kayaks and a wake boarding school taught by a world class wake board champion, and of course, fishing.
They have fishing contests where the kids can catch a fish and put it in a tank in the activities room so they can bring Mom and Dad to show off the pride of their catch. (after the family checks out the fish is released back into the lake). There is also a tour of this man made lake led by a local historian. They take them down to the dam and show them how the lake not only creates a recreational space but also generates electricity. They also bring in one of the local tribal elders to lead the kids in a fire ceremony and to learn about the lifestyle of the Native Americas that have historically inhabited the area.
There is a community ice rink in the winter and there are concerts followed by fireworks every Sunday in the summer.
Lets just put it this way, if you are a kid on a trip to this Ritz-Carlton you are one lucky kid. And Mom, don’t forget the world class Ritz-Carlton Spa.
If you go: 80 miles east of the Atlanta Airport www.reynoldsplantation.com
Larry Berle is a travel writer who writes primarily about golf. You can get more information about his book A GOLFERS DREAM at www.Golfersdreambook.com
thanks for the share.