Cherry Log, GA - Part One

 I'm back with another summer recap post. Last year, we realized that if both boys went to church camp this summer, that we would have an entire week without them and we could go on an adults-only trip! We hemmed and hawed about where to go and, despite knowing dates and everything ahead of time, we didn't get anything planned. Throw in a few other snags and we were left about two weeks before wondering what to do. We decided on Nashville, TN, and then realized several things we wanted to do would be difficult to plan that quickly and prices were SKY HIGH so we scrapped that idea and I sort of resigned myself that we would stay home. Eddie talked to a couple in our church that owns a few cabins in the Blue Ridge area and after they sent links, he secured one for us for a few nights! 

I was pleasantly surprised at how EASY it was to get to the Blue Ridge area (we stayed in Cherry Log, which is just north of Ellijay and just south of Blue Ridge). Our cabin was WAY up on a mountain and it took us about 10-15 minutes to get to it coming and going. Other than that, it was easy to get to and easy to get around in that area!

We set off on Tuesday morning and headed north! We stopped for lunch and we were close to Reinhardt College  so Eddie decided to drive through to see if it had changed since 1997. We had no sooner entered campus than he slammed on brakes, reversed, and shouted, "Zach?" Ummm....what is happening? Zach was not just a friend, but Eddie's ROOMMATE that he hasn't seen in all of the 21 years that we have been together (at least! probably longer!). They enjoyed catching up with each other for a few minutes, Eddie got the Reinhardt scoop, and Zach told Eddie that we would pass another friend's business on the way to the mountains so later we stopped AGAIN and visited with Jeff. (I didn't see any of my college roommates! Such a disappointment!)

I did, however, enjoy riding around Reinhardt and Cherokee County where there were plenty of nods to my distant family that still lives in the area.

We continued our trek north and finally arrived in the big city of Cherry Log, Georgia, to enjoy life in the cooler mountains for a few days. The views were BEAUTIFUL and I enjoyed a picnic on the porch as well as some reading while we watched the sunset. It was gorgeous!

The week before we left the weather report was rain, rain, and more rain. We'd sort of resigned ourselves that we were either going to miss out on some of the outdoor things or we were going to be wet. But lo and behold, the weather reports were wrong! Wednesday morning we woke up and Eddie declared there was no chance of rain! One of the biggies on my wish list was Brasstown Bald and it was also the furthest from where we were staying so we decided to start there.

We also woke up on Wednesday morning and got a phone call bright and early that James had fallen the night before and hurt his elbow so I began orchestrating how to get that seen about. Big thanks to my sister in law, Kayla, for the guidance on where he could easily be seen and bigger thanks to Grandmamma for taking him, waiting a few hours for all of it, feeding him, and returning him to camp. He was in Dooly County and she went and took him to a neighboring county to an urgent care. AND because we were headed to higher elevation, we had ZERO service a lot of the day which made coordinating things even more fun! I'll do a whole separate post on this injury because it is quite a story!

Back to Brasstown - The closer we got, the darker the skies got. Apparently, the higher elevation didn't get the no-rain memo. When we pulled into the parking lot it was EMPTY and raining. There were clouds EVERYWHERE. One of the appeals of Brasstown is that you can see for MILES AND MILES. It was also COLD. 

Instead of walking up in the rain, we hopped on the shuttle and when I expressed my concerns about it being a bad day, the driver said, "It's never a bad day on the mountain! You can still see the movie and museum and sometimes the cloud will lift around noon!" The video was VERY interesting. The weather on the mountain has been as low as -27* and never higher than 84*. *mind blown* 

After we went through the museum we realized that the clouds were lifting and we were able to see a lot! We couldn't see Atlanta (apparently you can on a very clear day!), but it was beautiful! We did take the path down instead of the shuttle and enjoyed all of the mountain laurel and rhododendron that was blooming. It was really a good morning!

Enjoy this last photo of me "visiting" Brasstown Bald as a kindergartener!

We left Brasstown Bald and headed to the Toccoa River Swinging Bridge. I kept reading that this was hard to get to, but wow! It was 20 minutes off the main road on a bumpy, narrow dirt road! We were glad we went! It wasn't crowded and we enjoyed walking across the bridge, exploring a little, and then returning! 

We had trail mix for lunch between our stops so we got back in the truck and headed to Blue Ridge for an early dinner. We stopped to look at Lake Blue Ridge on the way (I love a clear lake!). 

After we browsed downtown for a bit, we stopped to eat at Chester Brunnenmeyer's. We ordered a wings and ribs appetizer and OMG. The sauce on the ribs was amazing.

After dinner, we headed back to the cabin and enjoyed reading on the porch.

Stay tuned for Part 2!