Our Trip to Georgia

  A couple weeks ago I got the chance to travel to Georgia with my family. It was truly one of the best trips I've been on in my life. Usually, when you go on vacation you go to a warm destination, like the beach. I loved how we did something different and instead flew to a cold destination, I thought this trip to the mountains was way cooler literally than going to any old beach. It's one of those trips where you grow closer as a family and really get to have that family bonding time we all know and love.

We stayed in the heart of the mountains, so we had no cell service while at the cabin, we only got service when we went into town. This may sound like a shocker coming from a teen, but it was so nice to have a break from technology. All you truly have to do to entertain yourself in the mountains is hang out with your family, play with your cousins, go fishing, read {I almost read a whole book on our trip}, cook, eat, laugh, play board games, go for nature walks, and what ever else you come up with along the way! If you've ever seen the movie RV with Robin Williams, where he takes his family on a road trip in an RV because he wants to reconnect with his kids before they are grown and out of the house, you'll get what I was just talking about.

 Our main reason of going to Georgia was to visit the lovely family we have there, My Aunt Lynn, and her family. Right when we landed we booked it towards Clarkesville to go see her.

 This is her backyard that she was showing us around, the kids loved it.

Then she took us to a hole-in-the-wall place for lunch, that had killer comfort food! Everyone got either a Hamburger, Cheeseburger, or Grilled Cheese. Me and mom got grilled cheese's, while dad and Con got cheeseburgers, all with a side of either french fries or onion rings. All homemade. And also, all to die for. And don't even get me started on the handmade milkshakes they've got, I ordered Strawberry, and it was the best milk shake I've ever had hands down.

 

Next, we made a stop at Jaemor Farms to pick up some homegrown produce, oh and also some fried pies.

I was really torn on which kind to get, my wise Aunts told me the apple and peach, were good, but the dried apple was the best. It has a more infused apple taste to it then just the plain apple kind. So I went with there wise words and selected the dried apple pie, and boy were they right.

After we filled our bellies we headed to the cabin. It was an incredible, 3 story mansion that definitely fit the whole family. 

The Soque River located right in the backyard of the Cabin

   

while the kids liked to play in it...

explore it...

and take pictures by it...

we also liked to fish in it...

and at first we weren't too successful...

but then we got the hang of it...

 and spent a lot of our free time at the cabin, trying to catch the biggest trout we could get our hands on

On our first full day out we went and explored Helen, Georgia.

 A quaint little German town in North Georgia, near the outskirts of the border of Tennessee.

 

On our way home we stopped by a beloved store in the area called Mark of the Potter. It's a shop where artist make and sell their pottery pieces. It is such a find, filled to the brim with handmade items that you just won't find in any old gift shop. Its truly a one-of-a-kind place, and if you're ever in Clarkesville, GA you MUST check it out!

  It doesn't look like much from the outside, but you will be blown away by the items it holds.

I unfortunately, couldn't get a picture of the inside out of respect for the artists.

It's located right on a gorgeous river, where you can sit and see wildlife (like bears, oh my!)

Oh, and you thought I was kidding...

These picture are from the Mark of the Potter website located here, this bear was just strolling down the river bank, and the other one was just grabbing a quick bit of bird seed for a snack. This is considered no big deal to Georgia residents, I on the other hand would of had a mild heart attack. Thankfully, we didn't personally run into any bears during our trip! But I was prepared with bear mace in case we had a problem.

Breathtaking, as usual in Georgia. 

  

We weren't so into the idea of possibly crossing paths with a bear, so instead we walked through the store and up the porch where you can feed the trout swimming in the river.

Nope those aren't sharks, they are GINORMOUS trout!

I think these babies are malnourished by any means.

And another "Kodak Moment" of course, as I like to call it.

After a fun day we headed home, down windy twisty turning roads. This one wasn't bad, but once you got closer and closer to the cabin the more sickly the journey becomes.

On a happy note, can you believe the insanely gorgeous drive, lined with colorful autumn trees?!

Even driving down the road is breathtaking.

After a long day of trekking around in the cold we all snuggled up around the fire.

Thanks to our master fire builder {my dad}

and roasted a few marshmallows

and did some more fishing...

Our next adventure, the following day included traveling to Jaemor Farms in Alto Georgia, on the way passing a flurry of colors.

This is where we went the first day we arrived in Georgia, and had gotten those mouth watering fried pies {my stomach is grumbling just thinking about them}.

 

 Jaemor Farms is home to a huge corn maze that we completed with success!

 

We did all the fun activities they offered, including duck races, a tractor ride, a super slide, apple cannon shooting {Connors wouldn't stop talking about how cool it was}, and of course walked through the corn maze.

It was a ton of fun, for people of all ages, not just little kids!

 After getting home from Jaemor Farms Connor had a little case of hat hair.

 

 As you can probably tell, my favorite thing about Georgia is the gorgeous, raw, natural environment covering the entire state. Between the mountains, the trees, the rivers, it's all just so incredible. So I really wanted to bring a souvenir back that wasn't the average tacky "I Heart Georgia" magnet or t-shirt. I wanted to bring home a little bit of nature. So I went exploring in the backyard of the cabin and picked out the prettiest leaves I could find. I plan on doing some DIY soon with them to show them off somehow! And if you have an good ideas of preserving and displaying leaves, let me know!

Thank you trees, for giving us such gorgeous leaves!

 

Just to give you an idea of the temps we got to live in for a few days, the weather was perfect the entire time we were there, it was so refreshing and different from the weather we have back at home.

 

Thank you for having us Georgia, It was a blast!!