St Augustine, FL

We spent the last four days in St Augustine, a beautiful old city.  We enjoyed shopping and grabbing a bite to eat in Old Town. We got together with my oldest son for two days, it was a wonderful time!

We stayed at the Compass RV Park on Highway 207.  This was our second trip to this park; a nice place, we had a pull through spot. We are here to see the city and family so we spend very little time in the RV park. Tomorrow we move the coach to Cocoa Beach, that is where we will stay for the winter.

Pointes West Army Resort in Appling, GA

I love it here! We've had beautiful weather and the scenery of the woods and the lake are amazing! Tonight is our 5th night here, we went for long bike rides every day and enjoyed relaxing campfires every evening. This is the only place I ever felt like I was 'camping' every day. Yesterday John surprised me with a picnic by the lake - it was wonderful.
Tomorrow we move on to St Augustine

Pointes West Army Resort at Appling, GA

We rolled out of Unicoi Springs RV Resort at about 11am.  The drive was mostly two lane roads through small towns with a couple of stretches of 4 lane highways. Pointes West Army Resort in Appling, GA is a wonderful, beautiful find. I love it here! This campground is sponsored by Ft Gordon (US Army) which is about 30 miles away (John was stationed at Ft Gordon as a training officer in 1966 after OCS and prior to attending Flight School).

We are in camp site #3, parking spot Q.  We face the lake and are surrounded by trees - it is absolutely gorgeous!  When we arrived there were a couple parked pretty close to us and another RV on the other side of us; we walked around and met them - everyone was friendly.  They all were here just for the weekend and left before night fall. So now we have this whole area to ourselves!  After we set up the RV we decided to go to the commissary at Ft Gordon to get food we can cook over an open fire. 

When we got back to the coach, John gathered firewood and I started a fire in the pit. We cooked hot dogs over the campfire and John toasted his first marshmallow. 

47th Annual Oktoberfest in Helen, GA

Today we went on a hike and then later joined many others in the town at the Festhalle for the 47th Annual Oktoberfest event. It is Helen's biggest celebration - beer, brats, a band playing good German music - this place has them all. We danced waltzes, polkas, and even a Congo line and the chicken dance.  The Festhalle is setup with rows of long tables, we quickly got to know the other people at our table - everyone was there for a good time. We partook in the friendly Gemütlichkeit atmosphere, ate, drank and danced - it was a wonderful way for us to spend our last Friday night in the area.

This year, Oktoberfest is on weekends only from Sept. 7 through Sept 21, 2017 and then reopens daily beginning Sept. 28 and continues through Oct. 29, 2017.

Brasstown Bald, GA

Today we went to Brasstown Bald. Brasstown Bald is the highest point in the state of Georgia at 4,784 ft. We were hoping to get a view with some fall colors at a higher elevation. The leaves here in Northern Georgia haven't started changing much, but we did see more color on our drive to Brasstown today than we've seen all week. Hopefully with the cool evenings during our last few days the fall colors will make a fantastic appearance. Entrance to the park is $5 per person, 16 yrs. old and up. If you have a national park pass there is no charge.  For $2 you can ride a shuttle to the top or walk the ¾ mile trail.

At the summit there is a large observation deck and even an observation tower where you can see four states (North Carolina, South Carolina Tennessee and of course Georgia). Also, they have a museum and short narrated slide show of Brasstown Bald. We liked the patriotic feel with the garrison size American flag flying in the breeze, always a beautiful sight, but even more so with the mountains in the background. Back by the parking area there is a small gift shop and restrooms.

Brasstown Bald is well worth the visit if you are in the area.

On our drive back to the RV park we drove by a restaurant that had a line of people out to the parking lot. We decided to check it out. It was the Deer Lodge, 7900 Highway 17, Hiawassee, GA. We talked to people waiting in the line and we learned that this place was considered a local legend. They are only open Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and then only for dinner after 4pm. We waited thirty minutes. 

They work pretty much as a well-oiled machine, as far as the wait staff is concerned, they had a lot of people to attend to all at once. Salads arrived incredibly fast and the servings of onion rings was enough for 4 or 5 people; we took a couple of rings and gave the rest to the couple at the next table. I ordered the sirloin with veggies and John ordered the T-bone with a baked potato. The baked potato was huge and the steaks were so big they could have come from a brontosaurus - they literally hung off both sides of the plate. Everyone's portions were beyond generous. This was a great find, we will return the next time we are in the area. 

Tallulah Gorge and the Tallulah Falls

Today we visited the Tallulah Gorge and the Tallulah Falls. The Tallulah Gorge is a gorge formed by the Tallulah River cutting through the Tallulah Dome rock formation. The gorge is approximately 2 miles long, lined with rocky cliffs up to 1,000 feet high. Tallulah Falls is composed of six separate falls and drops 490 ft in one mile. The Tallulah Gorge is located next to the town of Tallulah Falls. Tallulah Gorge State Park protects much of the gorge and its waterfalls. The gorge is one of the 'Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia'.

In the early 19th century, the Tallulah area was a big tourist attraction. In 1882, Tallulah Falls Railway was built, increasing the accessibility from South Georgia. Resort hotels and bars sprang up to serve the tourist trade, which, after the addition of the railway, swelled to as many as 2,000 people on any given Sunday. In 1883, tightrope walker Professor Bachman crossed the gorge as part of a publicity stunt for one hotel. On July 18, 1970, Karl Wallenda became the second man to walk across the gorge on a tightrope.

We departed the Tallulah Falls area in plenty of time to make it back to Hawg Wild BBQ for the Ribs.  I enjoyed a full rack and this time John ordered a slice of pumpkin pie for dinner and a slice of coconut cream pie for desert.

Anna Ruby Falls, Chattahoochee National Forest

Today we hiked up into the Chattahoochee National Forest to see the Anna Ruby Falls, the cascading falls are created by two flowing creeks. The Curtis Creek falls drop 153 feet and the York Creek falls are much shorter but still spectacular at 50 feet. The water at the bottom of the falls is then considered to be part of Smith Creek which flows into the Smith Lake - the centerpiece of Unicoi State Park. After our hike we stopped to eat at Hawg Wild BBQ.