Last weekend my husband and I had a wonderful getaway to the mountains of North Georgia. We stayed in the little town of Helen that's modeled after an Alpine village. Their slogan on the city/county website says: It's the Charm of Bavaria in the Heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
And yes, it is charming! We stayed in a hotel that sits on the Chattahoochee River. The river runs through the town, which makes for a gorgeous place to eat outdoors. Our hotel had picnic tables, a fire pit and a romantic swing right beside the river. We spent time out there on a couple of afternoons/evenings. Here's the hotel from the river view.
Here's a short, soothing video from one of our hotel's picnic tables...
The Chattahoochee River also provides a fun activity: floating in tubes-- fondly called shootin' the Hooch. :)
The weather was perfect. And the scenery relaxing and gorgeous.
We did the long float that took almost 3 hours since the water is low right now. We had push sticks to help us try to stay off rocks and away from shallow areas. Even with the sticks, my hubby had to get out of his float a few times to give me a push. haha
And the food! We ate at two German food places our hotel recommended. Bodensee and Hofer's of Helen Bakery and Cafe. Both were amazing! I only took a photo at Hofer's, where I got a sampler platter. Three sausages, a house specialty pretzel dumping (which was kind of like a pressed and sliced bread pudding), mashed potatoes with gravy, sauerkraut, YUMMY mustard for dipping, and two rolls (one of pretzel dough). The bakery was amazing as well for dessert later.
We also made a side trip to a pottery festival and museum, and also went to the Old Sautee Store and did some Christmas shopping. The front, older section is still set up like the old store just for display...
The day we left, we went toward Unicoi State Park and hiked a half mile to Anna Ruby Falls--where two falls converge to form Anna Ruby. Such a beautiful trip up the mountain!
What's wonderful is that Helen is only 65 miles away (just over an hour)! We plan to go back again and saved our water shoes for tubing along the river again next time. It's close enough that we can even make a day trip! Have y'all ever floated down a river in a tube? Or maybe done whitewater rafting?
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This sounds like so much fun! I have done tubes in a lazy river at my home town aquatic center! Does that count? Your way sounds so much better. I can hear the laughter and picture you DH having to get out and push you hehe I'm not that far over 5ft tall so getting out is always my struggle and trust me it's a scene worth laughing at! When you make it to the black hills make sure you look up the Alpine Inn for some German food and good steak. Georgia is on my list of vacations one day :)
ReplyDeleteYou'll love coming to Georgia! And I'll make note of the Alpine Inn! :)
DeleteWhat a lovely getaway, Missy. That's beautiful. And there's nothing like tubing down the river on a hot day. Except maybe some yummy sausage. Two of the things I loved most about living in Germany were the sausages (wurst) and the cheese. Yum!
ReplyDeleteMindy, on that plate I had bratwurst, knockwurst, and Hungarian sausage. I enjoyed them all! So cool that you lived in Germany! I don't remember ever hearing that before.
DeleteI love that this getaway was so close to home for you! I love being able to "get away" without going too far.
ReplyDeleteKatie mentioned the Alpine Inn...we came *this close* to eating lunch there yesterday! We were in Hill City to run some errands and stood on the corner...debating...but decided we didn't want to hurry through an Alpine Inn lunch. We ended up at Subway instead!
My favorite close-by getaway spot is Buffalo, Wyoming. We haven't been there for a few years, so we might just have to take a weekend before winter sets in!
Jan, I hope you get to take your trip to Buffalo soon!! Although my first thought was that Buffalo, NY, (where my mind immediately went to) wasn't very close. LOL
DeleteI love going to Helen, GA! I'm about 1 1/2 hours away. The last time we went we parked in the back of the lot across from the hotel and river and walked up to the street. After shopping, all we had to do was walk down the bank to sit and rest and eat a snack before heading home.
ReplyDeleteI've never spent the night there since it's so close to home, but I thought that hotel would be the perfect place if I ever did.
Linda, it was a great location! And I loved the outdoor area. They have a nice pool too.
DeleteEeep! I love when I get to blog travel. Looks like you had an awesome time! I've never water tubed -- just snow tubed where you use a tube like a sled. But it sounds like the perfect way to take a scenic tour. Also sounds like the perfect setting for a contemporary romance novel. :-)
ReplyDeleteKav, snow tubing would be fun, too!
DeleteYou know, I hadn't even thought of the town as a book setting. But you got my mind going crazy!! I think I'll have to do that. :)
Oh, Missy. This looks so lovely and restful. I've never gone tubing. I'm so glad you had this time away.
ReplyDeleteMary Cate, I'm really glad we got the chance for a nice getaway.
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