Over Labor Day weekend we ventured back up to North Georgia for a long weekend of camping to celebrate Jonathan's birthday. Jonathan assured me that this time, the weather would actually be good. In fact, a few days before we left he even used the word 'perfect' to describe it. So we loaded up the Sonata to the roof and set off on our adventure last Thursday.
The weekend before we left we had Jonathan's parents, Tim's family, and Zach over for a birthday lunch. Janice and Richard brought Giordano's pizza for us; it's some of Jonathan's favorite.
We spent Thursday night with Joel and Elizabeth in Augusta and had a great visit. Friday morning we met up with Joel for breakfast at Cracker Barrel before heading to Vogel.
Joel and Elizabeth
Benjamin enjoying his pancakes.
Ian
Rosemary and Ezekiel being silly
Jonathan and me on his birthday.
The boys
Ezekiel and Rosemary made up their own rules for checkers. I think it mainly involved stacking and then spreading them out again.
After breakfast, we headed to Vogel State Park in North Georgia. We got there while plenty of sites were still unclaimed so we actually got to choose which site we were going to use. After we got the tent up and the car unloaded, I ventured to the Bi-Lo in Blairsville to get our food for the weekend while Jonathan finished making our campsite our home away from home.
The next morning we drove to Amicalola Falls. We parked at the top and planned on going down a bit then coming back up. Well, we went all the way down to the bottom of the falls. Jonathan carried Ben, but Rosemary walked down every single step on her own. The falls really were beautiful.
Rosemary took this picture of us on our way back up. We got a lot of "Go Gators" and similar comments. Apparently, it was a requirement to be a fan of an SEC team if you wanted to get into Amicalola that day. There were tons of Georgia (not surprising considering we were
in GA), Alabama, LSU, and Auburn fans around.
The kids fell asleep on our way back to the camp so our backup plan was to drive to Helen if they did so they could sleep a little longer. In May of 2007, we went to
Helen when we were camping at Unicoi and discoved Hofer's, a small bakery with amazing desserts. Since we were so close, we had to go back. This time, however, Helen was insanely busy and it took about half an hour to move just a few miles to get into the town. But the wait was worth it.
I think we bought about 12 things for the 4 of us to eat over the weekend. Everything is so good.
Rosemary decided very quickly that she wanted an eclair. She made a good choice. It was delicious.
Ben's first Hofer's experience.
Ben enjoyed a glaze donut.
After Hofer's, we headed back to camp to cook some steaks and potatoes for dinner.
The potatoes cooked in the fire.
I started a charcoal grill for the first time ever.
While our food cooked, Rosemary played in this little stream just down the hill from our campsite.
And Ben hung out in his pack and play, the safest place for him at the campsite besides Mom or Dad's arms.
On our way to Amicalola we had driven through Dahlonega and decided to go back on Sunday. It was a pretty quick visit. We just visited the gold museum to learn about the founding of the town then ate lunch at the Smith House.
The Smith House, home of delicious southern-country food served family style. We sat with a family from Dahlonega who had three little girls so Rosemary had a blast. We had fried chicken, pot roast, creamed corn, green beans, fried okra (which even Jonathan said was good...actually he said that he didn't want to spit it out of his mouth, which is the highest compliment that Jonathan could give okra), coleslaw, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, and I'm sure there was more that I can't think of now. For dessert we had strawberry shortcake and ice cream.
After attempting to get the kids to nap back at the camp, we went to Helton Creek Falls. It's tucked away at the end of a very long gravel road near Vogel. We hiked down a little to the falls and at the bottom there was a little swimming hole. Jonathan and Rosemary brought their swimsuits so they got in the cold water for a bit. Ben and I watched.
Jonathan put Rosemary on his back to climb over so they could slide down the rock.
After dinner on Sunday we roasted some marshmallows and made s'mores.
Ben had his first roasted marshmallow.
Rosemary roasted her own marshmallow and made the s'more by herself too.
Monday morning we slowly got everything cleaned up and packed into the car. Since the food was so good, we decided to go back to the Smith House on our way back home. (We do this other places we go too, go back before we leave, that is. Like at the Cheese Shop in Williamsburg and we did it at Hofer's last time we were there. I guess it's because we know we won't be able to get it for awhile).
I was so excited. Unfortunately, Rosemary gagged on her first bite so we spent the first few minutes cleaning that up. Once that was taken care of though, we were able to enjoy our food and it was just as good as the day before although the experience was maybe a little marred by its beginning.
Ben's was ready to eat too.
Rosemary thought this rock was pretty funny since it had music coming out of it.
After lunch we headed home. We were tired, but it had been a great trip. And Jonathan was right, the weather was 'perfect.' It rained a little bit, but it was nowhere near a downpour at any time and seemed to stop within 10 minutes.
I had made a sign for Cate's room based on the bedding set they'd registered for...only to actually arrive and realize that it wasn't the same set that they actually got. Sometimes surprises don't work out how you want them to. At least the colors coordinated. :-)
On the Saturday we were there, all 8 of us loaded into Jason's minivan and headed to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for some Boyds Bears shopping and a battlefield visit.
Outside of Boyds Bears, they had cute little photo op places as well as a place to make a scarecrow, paint a pumpkin or go on a hayride. It made me miss Jonathan and the kids. They would have loved that part.
Charles on one of the rocks at Devil's Den. While we were stopped there, we saw a bridal party getting pictures. While it really was beautiful, it seemed like a battlefield was a strange place for wedding photos.
