Helen, Georgia...Our One Year Anniversary Trip



Helen, GA

Love comes and often goes

In one door and out the window

Until one day true love finds its' way

And in your heart it's here to stay.

I wrote this poem when I was in my twelfth grade English class and for some reason it has always stuck with me. I felt like sharing it with you since this blog is all about Leon and my anniversary trip to Helen, GA. If you're not familiar, geographically speaking, with Helen, GA, don't worry. It's a little mountain town about an hour or so north of Atlanta. It is very cute and quaint, resembling an old German town. All of the buildings reminded me of little gingerbread houses. I swear Hanzel and Gretel were going to come walking around the corner at any moment. Many of the restaurants, pubs and bars served German food and drinks and all of the locals were extremely friendly and helpful.  

Leon in front of our cabin.

All of our goodies we bought the first day.

While we were in Helen we did a lot of fun things but also took it easy. With no real schedule or any where we had to be we truly enjoyed this trip. We arrived on a Thursday evening and after getting settled into our cabin (http://www.blueridgecabinrentals.com/) we ventured into Helen, about five minutes down the road, to explore the town. Since it wasn't quite the weekend yet, and this was in April, so it was still the off season, most of the shops were closing down for the evening. We ventured into a few shops to see what local things we could find. First we purchased a couple bottles of wine from a local winery as well as a six pack of beer brewed in Georgia from the local grocer and I couldn't pass up the fragrant soy candle. Leon's weakness was some yummy beef jerky. Needless to say, none of this made it home, except the candle. We enjoyed every bit of it during our stay. After our shopping spree we stopped by a cute little pizza place, Nacoochee Village Tavern and Pizza, and enjoyed a yummy pizza before heading back to our cabin for the night.



This picture does not do Anna Ruby Falls justice.

Now, if you know me, you know I enjoy being outdoors. So, Friday we decided to head to Unicoi State Park and take a little hike to check out Anna Ruby Falls, not to be confused with Ruby Falls in Tennessee. (Here is a little history on the falls if you're interested http://georgiatrails.com/trails/annaruby.html) The hike was fairly easy (on the way down) and only about a mile up and back. The trail was paved and had several resting areas along the way and was easily navigable for the young and old a like. The view at the top of the trail was of the gorgeous Anna Ruby Falls, double water falls! Well worth the short hike. Later on we went and played putt-putt at a very cute putt-putt course and then ventured to one of the local German restaurants for dinner. I had some kind of weiner-schnitzel and Leon had a German version of a hamburger. The food was pretty good, just not something I would want to eat everyday. While at the restaurant, Leon asked for a Coors Light. Well, to our surprise, Coors is apparently a Jewish beer and the German restaurant did not carry Jewish beers. Our waitress was nice enough to explain this to us. So, Leon tried a new German beer and was just as happy with it.

Saturday we stopped by the local winery, Habersham Winery, to taste some wine and then went into the Nacoochee Village Antique Mall. The Antique Mall was in this beautiful historic home and every knook and cranny was filled with every type of antique you could imagine. It was like taking a step back in time. Next, we walked across the street to the Nora Mill Granary Grist Mill and Country Store. This was a neat experience because they still grind corn on the original 133 year old French burr stone. I love history and greatly enjoy getting see things like this in person. We also visited the Jumping Goat Coffee store next door and sampled and bought some delicious coffee.

 

After the coffee store we made our way into town and you could tell the weekend had arrived. The streets were packed with people, cars and horses and carriages hauling all the tourists around. We went through all the cute shops and bought a few more things and then enjoyed a big lemonade and just sat around and watched the people go by for a while.

Our trip to Helen was a wonderful vacation and a great way to celebrate our first anniversary together. If you ever get a chance to visit Helen, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! If you'd like to see more pictures of our trip to Helen follow this link (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2102470&id=45100738&l=b27013f776) to my album on Facebook.



Leon feeding the fish at the grist mill.