On The Road Again … to Cloudland

After taking in the Wednesday practice round at Augusta (about which more later, when I have more fully processed the experience), I was on the road again. This time, my destination was the McLemore Resort on Lookout Mountain in Georgia.

I’m staying at Cloudland, a posh Hilton hotel where my room has a spectacular view of the mountains and valley. On Friday — if the weather holds out — I will play their new mountaintop golf course: The Keep.

The hotel is expansive and beautiful, with bars, cafes, restaurants, fireplace lounges, meeting rooms and — get this — a classic looking library/ reading room with a fireplace. I spent some time after dinner there, working my way through Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings.

I’ll have a full report after I get back home to Michigan (and after I write my Augusta reflections).

In the meantime, here are a few more photos of the hotel at Cloudland:

I knew Cloudland was going to be a posh place when the valet took my car keys and told me he was going to park my car in some distant land, but that if I wanted it back, I could request it on my phone. And then a young woman showed up to help me unload my car and schlep my bags up to my spectacular fourth floor room.

Such red carpet treatment is very much out of my comfort zone. Everyone at Cloudland is incredibly gracious and friendly, but in the back of my mind, I keep thinking that I’m imposing. I had the same feelings when my room at school was messy; I felt uncomfortable leaving things for the custodians to clean (even as I recognize in both cases if everyone does it themselves, we are putting people out of jobs).

I weirdly feel more uncomfortable not having my car at my immediate access than I do leaving my phone behind (as I did for the day at Augusta National, where phones are verboten.) Mrs. GolfBlogger jokes that my Subaru is less a car than a pro shop — and she’s not wrong. The car has my clubs and bag; my cart; a hockey bag of golf clothes for every sort of weather (necessary in Michigan, where it can be 40 in the morning and 80 in the afternoon or vice versa); large first aid kit; snacks and sport drink powder; extra water bottles; various gadget parts and cords; writing tools; emergency blankets (I’m not getting stranded in Northern Michigan and freezing to death); bug spray; sunscreen; some hand tools; and a dozen other things that I am surprised I have when I find them.

I forgot to take one of the sport drink packets with me to the hotel room; I want it now, but don’t want to bother the valet at this time of night. Fortunately, I have a bottle of Vernors.

Do I have deep psychological issues, among which are insecurities and a tendency toward overpreparedness? Apparently so. Maybe I could get one of those online therapy companies to sponsor GolfBlogger.

Along the way to Cloudland — indulging the history teacher in me — I stopped to visit the Resaca Battlefield park.

The battle of Resaca was fought May 13 – 15, 1864 between forces commanded by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman and Confederate General Joseph Johnston. Both sides held strong positions near the town of Resaca and the Oostanuala River, with the Confederates attempting to block the Union advance on Atlanta. Over the course of three days, the two armies basically fought to a standstill, with neither being able to break the other’s line.

Late on the fifteenth, Johnston determined that Union troops were in a position to cut off his supply lines. Under the cover of night, he ordered a retreat, which somehow went undetected by Union forces. Johnston ultimately fell back to Adairsville, where another battle was fought on May 17.

Of course, we all know that none of those efforts were able to stop Sherman on his march through Georgia and to the sea.

I first read about Resaca many years ago when I was in the American Civil War phase of one of my other hobbies: wargaming with historical miniatures. I painted a couple of thousand 15mm soldiers and with my friends (including my much-missed friend Bob, who has since passed) refought many Civil War battles, including Resaca.

I will have to get back to that now that I am retired from teaching.