Hi Everyone! I am still alive! Today, I have a very special guest blogger here with us to share her perspective on our family vacation this summer. My Mom! She put together a very nice recap of all our adventures, so I thought I would just share it with you. Thanks Mom!
Georgia
Vacation July 2012
Friday,
July 20
Drove to Huber Heights to spend the night with
Amy & Matt
Saturday,
July 21
We began our drive for the mountains of north
eastern Georgia. We checked into the
“Apple Mountain Resort” in Clarksville.
We had a 2 bedroom condo in the Presidential Greens (near the golf
course). It was nice!
Sunday,
July 22
On Sunday morning, we drove to Toccoa
Falls. It was located in the middle of a
college campus. We didn’t even have to
walk very far!
We spent the rest of the day shopping at
Wal-Mart, buying our groceries, eating at Taco Bell, then back to the condo to
spend some time at the pool!
Monday,
July 23 Anna Ruby waterfall &
Helen, Georgia
We drove straight to Anna Ruby falls in Unicoi
state park. It was an easy trail to
climb and 2 beautiful waterfalls!
I just needed to keep everyone on the trail!
After the waterfalls, we drove into Helen,
Georgia, which is a re-creation of an alpine village, complete with cobblestone
alleys and old-world towers. It’s definitely a tourist attraction, with
lots of little shops and restaurants.
It’s very pretty. One of the cool
things you can do is “tube the Hooch.”
That means float down the Chattahoochee River on an inner tube. We checked it out, and then decided not to do
it.
We
ate lunch at the Nacoochee Tavern. Their
specialty was pizza and it was delish!
Then Amy wanted to stop for ice cream so we
didn’t want her to have to eat all by herself!
Tuesday,
July 24
Today
was our adventure in Atlanta. Since we
know traffic is horrible, we decided to use public transportation – the
MARTA. It was easy and fun. We drove to the farthest station in the north
of Atlanta, parked our car, bought our ticket and road into town. Then, we only had to walk about 3 blocks.
We decided to see the Georgia Aquarium first. It
is the world's largest aquarium with more than 8.5 million gallons of marine
and fresh water housing more than 120,000 animals of 500 different species. The
aquarium's notable specimens include four young whale
sharks, four beluga
whales, eleven Bottlenose dolphins, three Great
hammerhead sharks, and
four manta
rays. We all enjoyed it very much, especially the
whale sharks!
When we left,
we walked across the street to Centennial Olympic Park, from the 1996 Olympics.
Then we took
the MARTA back to our car and drove to Stone Mountain, just outside of Atlanta.
Stone Mountain is more than 5 miles in
circumference at its base, and is surrounded by the Stone Mountain Park. The
summit of the mountain can be reached by a walk-up trail on the west side of
the mountain only, or by the Sky ride aerial
tram. Guess which way we got to
the top? LOL
Matt and Dad wanted to try walking up part of
the mountain. They found it a challenge! As dusk, they have a laser – light &
fireworks show, which was nice.
Wednesday,
July 25
This morning, we decided to get a little
R&R by the pool. But then we got
hungry!
We wanted to
try a local restaurant called “Hawg Wild BBQ.”
It was delicious! They had all
these different BBQ sauces you could try!
Then, on the way out, we spotted the fudge
counter! The deal was if you bought 2 bars, you got one free, so of course we
did! And we wanted to try several different
flavors, so we ended up with 6 different kinds!
My favorites were “almond joy” and “vanilla peanut butter.” We also bought cookie dough, Butterfinger,
mint chocolate, and Reese’s.
We wanted to explore another waterfall, so we drove to
Tallulah Gorge, just a short distance away.
And, we headed down the trail!
One of the most spectacular canyons in the eastern
U.S., Tallulah Gorge is two miles long and nearly 1,000 feet deep. Visitors can
hike rim trails to several overlooks, or they can obtain a permit to hike to
the gorge. A suspension bridge sways 80
feet above the rocky bottom, providing spectacular views of the river and
waterfalls. A paved path follows an on old railroad bed.
Going down
the stairs was easy, but I thought I was going to die when we walked back
up! We knew the park closed at dusk and
we didn’t want to get locked in, so Dad kept encouraging me to “keep
going.” When we got to the top,
profusely sweating, he remembered that he hadn’t set his watch for Eastern Time,
and so we really had another hour before the park closed! I almost pushed him back
down the 1000 stairs!
stopping to rest . . . .
Believe it or not, we still had energy to
play horse shoes when we got back to the resort!
A beautiful sunset to end our day
Thursday, July 26
Dad and Matt
heard about a trail to a waterfall that was strenuous. They were excited to try it so they got up
early and headed off! (Amy & I
declined the invitation to go).
Just down the
road was Panther Creek trail and falls.
Information said that it was anywhere from 5 – 10 miles, and not an easy
hike.
The
water was freezing! But they had a
great time anyway!
Friday, July 27
Today we found Minnehaha Falls. The 60-foot high falls widens as it quickly cascades
in 3-5 foot increments to a wide pool at its base. Minnehaha Falls is buried in
a wide, steep-sided cove.
As you enter the small cove there
is a rock sitting bench on the far end of a peninsula jutting out into the
creek bed.
Today we had
lunch at a small café in Clayton after we bought CheerWine (cherry soda) at WalMart.
More pool time and R & R. Since there was not any wifi in our condo, we
had to go to the Rec Center to get online.
So, once a day we would all pack up our laptops, iphones and ipads and
head over to check all of our very important emails!
Dad & Matt wanted to try playing disc
golf, so Dad talked the resort into letting them
play really cheap!
We also played mini golf a few times.
Another
beautiful sunset to end a lovely week at Apple Mountain Resort!
Saturday, July 28
We checked out and drove along the Ocoee
River. We stopped to watch rafters on
the Upper Ocoee, including the Olympic
kayaking course created for the 1996 Olympic Games at the Ocoee Whitewater
Center.
We stopped in
Murphy, NC, to have lunch with one of Dad’s clients. Then, back on the road to Huber Heights,
Ohio.
Thanks for letting me share your vacation blog, Mom!
We had a fun time and have never exercised so much on a vacation, but we would definitely go back someday!
