Every year, on the last Friday in May, Davy gets out of school at 11am. His summer officially begins at 11:01 and keeping with a new tradition that we started last year, we loaded up in the car and headed north. Last fall, when we were driving around north Georgia, we came across a little town called Blue Ridge. We decided that this would be our destination in the spring. We found a cute little cabin about 5 miles outside of town on www.vrbo.com (#14512), and it was perfect. The drive up was only around eight and a half hours, it was super easy and we weren’t to tired.
Our first day of exploring! We started with breakfast down in Blue Ridge at a cute little place called Serenity Garden Cafe. Our thoughts were to kill a little time because Blue Ridge was having their spring arts festival and it opened at 10am. What we didn’t anticipate was that they would charge you $5 per person to stroll through it. Needless to say, we passed and decided to get on the road. Crane Creek Vineyards was also having a spring festival, so Andy decided to drive us in that general direction and here’s what we found!
The next town over is called Blairsville. They too were having a fair. A beautiful church sits in the middle of a round-a-bout and venders were set up on both sides of the road all around the circle. This one was free, so we parked the car and went for a stroll. If you know us, then you know that we love BBQ sauces and honey. We picked up some Sourwood Honey from Berry’s Honey Farm and Southern Delight Barbecue Sauce from Kickin Mule…yum yum!
A while back ago Andy read an article about a place called Mountain Crossing. It is the first outpost and general store along the Appalachian Trail. It is here that hikers unload their packs, mail stuff home, and pick up anything that they think they might need. Off to our next destination.
Along the way we came across Vogel State Park. After spotting the waterfall from the road, we pulled in for a quick hike to bottom of it.
The store was fantastic. It was complete with home decorations for sale, all kinds of hiking gear, and the walls were lined with signed packs and boots from past travelers of the trail.
Next stop Crane Creek Vineyard! I found this vineyard on-line searching for festivals and fun things to do. Apparently, there are 41 vineyards in north Georgia. It was advertised as a fun family event, so Andy and I thought that this would be a nice place to celebrate our 9 year wedding anniversary.
They had us park behind the vineyard, and then transported us to the entrance on a hay ride. The boys just loved this, while we loved the view.
Once inside, the festival included a wine tasting, live music, lunch, painting for the kids and fishing. It was beautiful and very relaxing, just a little hot. If the temperature had been ten degrees cooler, it just would have been perfect! We bought a bottle of wine, and let the kids play. This was a nice stop. Happy Anniversary my love!
For dinner we drove back into Blue Ridge and went to Joe’s BBQ. It is a walk-up BBQ place with some very very tasty ribs. After dinner we drove over to Lake Blue Ridge to check out the views.
This house looks like a dream mountain house to me! 🙂
Well, after seven and a half years I have decided to hang up the sample bag and stay home. My new job is “CEO of the Zahn house!” This is such a big moment in our life that it must be documented on our family blog! So many people have asked, “what happened?” or “why” and really the answer is…it was just time. Although this position was considered part-time, it really wasn’t and it just seemed as if it was taking up more and more time, and becoming more and more stressful. So, last Thursday after I received an email and a text requesting yet another meeting, we decided enough was enough. My favorite boss was promoted and he moved on, summer bonuses were just deposited, and in less than 24 hours Davy was getting out of school for the summer. Timing was perfect!
Mountains! Beach! or Both!... 