We took off for the North GA mountains last Wed with our friends the Brewers. It is so nice having friends to go with us. We have actually "inspired" two different families and given them the "camping bug"...the Connells and the Brewers both bought pop up campers after camping with us just one time. The pop up is really the way to go...a tent is awesome for one night and for a daddy/son camp out but for a family with a baby..it is nice to have a decent bed to lay down on and a place to get out of the elements if necessary. We drove 9 hours (the Brewers really have to pee a lot!) up to Clayton GA. Our campground, Black Rock Mountain State Park, was at the top of Black Rock Mountain. Most campgrounds are in a valley but this one was literally on the side of a mountain. It was beautiful! Camping people are always so friendly and the campsite hosts helped us get two great sites...he saw all the kids and helped us find ones that were adjoining with a green space nearby for the kids to run around in! Perfect! I really do think the kids could have just stayed at the campsite...they played house in some big bushes, some kind of bad guy/good guy game, walkie-talkies, rode bikes, walked all over the campsites, etc. I will spare you all the many details about our trip because it took me way to long to write about our last camping trip but to name a few:
First day we hiked all over the campground and around Black Rock Mountain. We looked at the views at the overlooks (pretty funny because Mrs. Harriet is afraid of heights), hiked to Ada High Waterfall which is straight down a mountain, made walking sticks for the kids, and went to Tallulah Gorge (about 30 minutes away). The daddies took all the kids minus Grayson and Molly down 320 steps to the Gorge suspension bridge and then back up all those steps! We were walked/hiked out by the end of the day! Last stop was a place called Goats on the roof where goats actually lived on the roof of the business...you could feed them by pedaling a feed cup up a conveyor belt by riding a bicycle. Only in America could a family make a living by having goats on their roof!!! Love it!!
Second day, it rained ALL DAY LONG!!! Makes for a very long day camping!!!! This was mine and John's 10 year anniversary day. We decided to make the most of it and drive to Dillard to eat a yummy breakfast and then luckily we found some indoor activities! We drove to Franklin, NC and went to a "fun station" type of a place. They had indoor bowling, put-put, arcade games galore, bounce houses, indoor playground, and laser tag! Thank goodness we found this...ended up blowing a lot of money but the kids had fun! John and Jeff smoked the kids at laser tag and were so proud of themselves! We ate lunch at a little pizza joint and shopped at a Outdoors store...John and Jeff's favorite part of the day no doubt. Back to the campground we went and it was still raining. When we got back...Brewers found water in their camper...YIKES!!! Off to home depot John and Jeff went and brought back chick-fil-a for everyone. All ten of us ate in the Gay's Pop Up! This would normally make me itch but I dealt with the chaos o.k. and we all recovered nicely. I am actually very proud of our patience, creativity, and positive thinking! P.S. I made John an album for our anniversary...10 years of pics from our life together. I got so emotional making it! A lot has happen in 10 years!!!
Third day was clear but cloudy...thank you GOD!!! We drove to Blue Ridge, GA to an Apple Orchard that I was determined to visit. Turns out that we couldn't walk through the orchard (they only do that in September) but we got to shop, taste different kinds of apples, apple cider, had fried apple pie with ice cream, and bought yummy apples and boiled peanuts! After that we stopped in Hiawassee, GA and looked in some cute shops and then went back to the campground. We took a walk around Black Rock Mountain Lake and then went back and had dinner and a fire!
Fourth day was cold but beautiful! Brewers went home today and we were sad to see them leave. John got out in the freezing cold and made us breakfast. He is great in that he will get the job done. My husband is a survivor and will always take care of us! After breakfast we drove through the most beautiful scenic area in the mountains...ended up at Mark of the Potter Pottery cottage (where we have been before). Local artist sit and make pottery before your eyes. The store is in an old sawmill. Very rustic and very cool! John and I collect pottery and we always go to Mark of the Potter if we are up that way. We came away with two huge soup bowls this time! Then we drove to Helen, GA ....not really our type of a place...very touristy and kind of junky if you ask me but the kids had never been there and we got some lunch. Afterwards, we found a road to go to Shoals Creek Falls. John had looked up some waterfalls on the Internet and this one sounded cool. You had to drive down this little gravel/dirt road, through a small river, and way up in the woods to the trail head. Honestly, I was a little nervous because it was late in the afternoon to start a hike such as this but we did it! We hiked 1.4 miles down the mountain to two huge and beautiful waterfalls! Then hiked 1.4 miles back up the mountain....we were tired but it was so worth it. It wasn't a well known falls like Anna Ruby so we were pretty much on our own in some gorgeous Forest!!! When we were driving back to the campsite we looked some more at our map and think that we figured out that the hike we did was part of the Appalachian Trail....John was so stoked!!!! We figured out that John has carried all of his children on his back in our backpack up and down a mountain at about 7 months of age...Emily and Molly in the Smokey Mountains and J.D. in the Rocky Mountains. COOL!! We were so proud of ourselves for such a great hike and the kids loved it and never once complained! Molly fell asleep on the way back! Great way to end our trip! For some great pics visit this slide show below! There were too many to post! Harriet took a lot too so I will have to get some of hers too that I don't have.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=284188954115%3A1818704805
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