Georgia

We were in Georgia for six days counting our over night stay at the Crossroads Travel Park in Perry on the way to our destination, Enota Mountain Retreat, outside of Hiawassee.  While at Enota we took several day trips:

Brasstown Bald 

This is the highest elevation in Georgia .  This is a picture of  the observation station from the entrance to the park..

There is a bus to take you up to the observation tower.. Thank goodness, we didn't have to drive.  Our driver gave us a little talk and said there are about two weeks in late September, if the sky is clear, you can see the Atlanta sky line.   It was cloudy when we were there but the views from the top were still spectacular. The pictures do not do justice to what my eye saw.

Helen
We went into Helen for a few hours and to have lunch. It is a quaint little town with a stream surrounding it.
It is enjoyed by  tubers and and even a few dogs.

If you haven't been there, you are definitely in the minority, it is a nice little place, touristy in a nice way.  These pictures will bring back memories for most folks.

Grits
I love grits, especially the "good" ones.  We spent an afternoon at  Nora's.

They still grind twice a week the old fashioned way.

 And still use power generated via the stream.

I got my grits! And can't wait to cook them up with some country ham we bought at a roadside store in Hiawasse and smothering some biscuits with moonshine jelly that we picked up a "General Store" in Blairsville.

Moonshine
 We went to Pappy's Plaza, in Blairsville in search of moonshine.  There are several small stores there, including the general store where the jelly came.  There is even tubing behind Pappy's Trading Post on the Nottely River.

There is a restaurant as well but it was closed that day so it was ice cream cones for lunch from the Trading Post. But the best thing at the Plaza is the  moon shine distillery.

 It was started by Tommy Thompson, the lead singer in the new Waylon Jennings band (the survivors), the Waymore's Outlaws.  It's his Granddaddy Mimms' original recipe.
We had a tour of the facility

And a tasting. We tasted four different ones: white Corn Whiskey,  Apple Brown Betty, Peach Cobbler and Blueberry Cobbler.

Since we were in Georgia, I bought the Peach.

They will be moving into their new building on site in just a few months. It is an old museum with lots of the original stuff still there.  It will be neat to have this place open again.

We enjoyed Georgia, especially our campground, but North Carolina was calling.

To share our North Carolina adventures, click here: North Carolina