It’s Bavaria, Y’all

Last week we took a much needed vacation. Both Vicki and I were quite ready to leave town. Vicki has had a full plate for the last two months as she's worked to finish up Awana for the school year and then immediately dove into getting ready and going to CentriKid. This trip has been a nice respite for her as Vacation Bible School is right around the corner.

THE GEORGIA ALPS. We headed out on our vacation last Monday morning. Our original plan was to leave midweek to visit Will, Darice, and their kids but we decided to leave a couple of days early and check out Helen, Georgia.

Helen is a small Northern Georgia town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It lies along the Chattahoochee River. A little over forty years ago the town decided to revitalize by recreating itself into an Alpine village to draw tourism. They've done a good job of creating the atmosphere though it is a bit odd driving through rural Georgia and coming around a bend in the road to see Bavarian architecture all around.

I was about Helen like Nate was about CentriKid. It wasn’t at all what I expected, but it was very nice and I would go back. I keep comparing it to Gatlinburg in my mind which is good and bad. Helen reminds me a lot of how Gatlinburg was when I was a kid and before the area exploded into a major tourist destination. I like Helen for that. What I miss are the mountains. Helen is in the middle of the mountains, but they are shorter and don’t crowd the city, hemming it in on all sides, like they do further north in Gatlinburg.

While Vicki and the boys were away week before last Jenna and I got online and reserved a cabin a few miles out of town and near the Unicoi State Park. We were so far back in the woods that one of the trees about ten feet from our back deck had a sign denoting the National Forest boundary. We enjoyed the seclusion.

Oddly enough, we also got there before their peak season started so there was no traffic and plenty of parking. (We were told Helen hosts 2.5 million visitors a year.) We also enjoyed excellent weather with perfect temps and little humidity.

As I said, we headed out last Monday and took the interstate about half the way. The rest of the trip wound along state highways through Tennessee and North Carolina before we got into Georgia. The Tennessee leg of this took us past the Ocoee River where we saw lots of white water rafters paddling by. (This was also the site for the white water sports during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.)

Upon arriving and checking in we found the Nacoochee Village Tavern and Pizzeria for supper. We had spotted the Alpine Mini Golf course on the way through town so after our meal we drove back and enjoyed a round of golf after supper and capped it off with ice cream from the parlor next door.

Tuesday we ate breakfast at The Meeting Place, did a little shopping (Jolly's Toy Shop is cool!), and took in the huge HO model railroad layout at Charlemagne's Kingdom before going tubing on a two and a half hour down the river through town. We skipped lunch, but we did enjoy supper at the International Cafe where we watched other tubers drifting by. After supper we browsed through more shops.

Wednesday ended our time at Helen. After checking out of our cabin we ate breakfast at Hofers of Helen before doing some last minute shopping and visiting Goats of the Roof (yes, there are real goats on the roof and we payed a dollar to feed them).

The boys really enjoyed the gem-mining which we finally got in before leaving town. They found a number of interesting gems and Nate asked me how much I thought their gems were worth. All I could do is ask if he had fun. Given that he likes to pick up pretty rocks it was good for him.

VISITING FAMILY. After leaving Helen we drove over to Athens to spend time with the Jones family. As always we spent our time just hanging out at the house. The weather was perfect for swimming. The cousins also have a new ping pong table which was a huge hit. I think Scrabble may have even taken a back seat to old table tennis rivalries.

READING ON THE ROAD. Vicki and I take turns driving and when she's at the wheel and the road is fairly straight I sometimes read a book aloud. This time I read Hank the Cowdog: The Case of the Coyote Invasion. The boys, Vicki, and I all enjoy Hank and were in tears with laughter at the scene where Hank was upchucking after eating too much birdseed. (Yes, this sounds absurd, but you just need to read the book.)

Jenna, on the other hand, doesn't get Hank's humor at all and stays plugged into her iPad. Some people have no taste.

Joe