Bavarian Village & Tallulah Gorge

 

The second day my mom was here, we had another big day planned. My cousin recommended we visit Helen, GA. It is a Bavarian Village about an hour away from here. They happened to be having a Corvair car show going on. We walked through quickly before hitting the town!

This truck/bus was so cool! We had never
seen one before!!

 It was so fun to walk through all of the shops! We met some very interesting locals :) As we were leaving her shop, one lady told us a story about her trying to quit smoking... Her husband bought her a vapor cigarette. The first time she tried it, she felt like she was doing something wrong, so she was hiding it from everyone! She had a deep southern accent, and made the story VERY animated! It was so funny to watch haha

One of our favorite shops was Windmill Dutch Imports.

For those of you who don't know, Josh is Dutch. His Dad is very heritage oriented (??? I don't know how else to say that!) We love to look at all of the wooden shoes and windmills. Of course the candies are the best! Hoppies and Almond Fingers are a must buy every time we see them :) My mom and I spent some time in a quilt shop looking at all of the beautiful patterns. There was a fun candy shop with amazing fudge! For lunch we found a traditional German restaurant. They had amazing German Potato Salad! (It is made with vinegar and nearly mashed potatoes. Served at room temperature. Yumm!) Before we left, we found a coffee shop that had just roasted fresh coffee! It was so yummy :) The town was filled with so much character! We can only imagine what it might be like during Octoberfest!

Don't we look cute!! Next Halloween??

Wooden Toy Shop
We played there for way too long :)

 

After wearing out our legs, we decided to get back on the road and head toward Tullulah Gorge for a short hike. Everybody sells boiled peanuts and pork rinds on the side of the road here. We don't care for the boiled peanuts (they are like beans!), but we LOVE the pork rinds :) I know the whole concept is kind of gross, but when a local character offers you his homemade goodies, you don't say no :) We had seen a sign on our way into town, so we went back. It was a little shack with something smoking out front. My mom and I went up to buy them while Josh waited in the car. Oh man did we find a character!! My mom could hardly understand him. He offered us a taster of his Brunswick Stew. When he handed mine to me he says, "Ur gramma get a taste uh that she be jealous!" HAHAHA I couldn't help but laugh!! I asked him what came on his rib plate. He rattles off a list of about 5 sides then says, "And if you want some uh tha Brunswick Stew I put sum uh that on top too." This guy was hilarious! He insisted we go inside and take a "tour". We thought it was just a road side shack, but oh boy were we wrong. He showed us the kitchen and little convenient center storage area before taking us out back to a deck with picnic tables. He pointed to an old 5th wheel trailer and says, "Go down there and getcha self a 6 pack. When it gets dark we'll light a fire n you can getcha self another." Please read that line one more time and just picture this old redneck. The best part is... I think this scene is my brothers dream! I bet he could have stayed there all day with that old man :) I wish I would have thought to take a picture with him, but I guess the memories will have to do!

Tullulah Gorge is in Tullulah Falls, GA. It is where the Tullulah River cuts through the rock dome forming a giant waterfall. The series of 5 falls drop 460 ft. in 1 mile! We walked down over 1,000 stairs to get to the bottom of the falls. The Gorge floor was closed due to water release. We crossed a suspension bridge in the middle. It was kind of freaky but completely sturdy :) Josh took some awesome pictures as always! It was the perfect end to another great day in the mountains!