Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. We just returned from an amazing, relaxing, much needed 4 day vacation in the mountains of Northern Georgia. We left Thursday afternoon and didn't end up getting there until late Thursday night. We weren't expecting the 1 lane, gravel roads up the mountain but thankfully we made it without falling off of any cliffs or colliding with any wild animals. We unpacked and fought off GIANT bees. I have never seen bees so big! Especially at night!! Bailey was restless all night, prancing around and sniffing everything in the cabin.
Friday we woke up at.....um.......well, late, and enjoyed coffee on the deck overlooking the mountains followed by a nice, homecooked breakfast (what, it's normal to eat breakfast at 2 pm on vacation, right???) We spent the rest of the day enjoying the cabin and it's surroundings, including the hot tub and the hammock on the side deck! For dinner we grilled some awesome kebabs and hung out on the deck until the sun set.
View from the hammock
Saturday we woke up a little bit earlier than the day before, enjoyed our morning ritual of coffee on the deck and homecooked breakfast, and then got ready for a day out and about in Blue Ridge. We first went to Morganton Point Recreation Area, which was supposed to have a beach where you could swim in the lake. We finally found it....we thought....because we were the only ones there and it looked like this. (And yes, that is a truck out there driving in the lake bed). 
We parked and and walked out to check it out, and Bailey got her first taste of the lake (literally, she tried to drink it, and bite it).
We parked and and walked out to check it out, and Bailey got her first taste of the lake (literally, she tried to drink it, and bite it).It was so muddy and gross that we left to try to find another area where we could take her in the lake. We stopped at the visitor center, and turns out, they're in the middle of draining Lake Blue Ridge. Fabulous. The man at the visitor center recommended another location, this time on the Toccoa River, right on the Georgia/Tennessee border. It was this perfect little park where we all got to walk out into the river together...Tom with Bailey and me with my camera to capture it all :) (And a big thanks to Tom for remembering to pack our river shoes...I remembered everything else but would not have even thought to pack them!)
On the way home we stopped at Mercier Orchards for some fresh apple cider, a 1/2 peck of apples, and some apple butter, and then drove through historic, downtown Blue Ridge. For dinner we had burgers and corn on the cob, both hot off the grill. We ended the night relaxing in the hot tub and watching the stars appear in the sky. I can't even tell you the last time I watched the stars at night! 
Sunday we spent the day enjoying being at the cabin and having nothing to do. We watched the hummingbirds fly from tree to tree and Bailey tried to befriend the frogs who hung out at the little "water feature" out front. For lunch we had grilled veggie sandwiches with some grilled lemon chicken thrown in as well. For dinner we had steak and grilled potatoes. The weather was perfect for swinging in the hammock and catching up on some magazines that had been piling up. Tom enjoyed playing his guitar and Bailey lounged around on the deck. Too bad we're not staying in Alabama, because this is definitely somewhere we would come back to regularly!
Various dinners from the grill
The sunset view from the cabin
Tom actually took the lead on this one (and by "lead" I mean that he did all of the work and all I did was snap a few pictures when I picked myself up off the couch).
He found some recipes online and I think he ended up improvising a little. The sauce was so hot it burned my eyes when I just walked by the kitchen, not even in it. Unfortunately, our little peppers didn't yield as much hot sauce as I had hoped. But we still got to make our own!
