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Wednesday, September 24, 2014

River's Edge


Last winter, after I was sure our house sale would eventually close, I began making plans for this winter. Craig wanted to go to the Florida Keys if possible, so I used that as my destination goal. Our blogger friends Karen and Al have two lots in a park in the North Georgia Mountains, one of which they rent out. I asked her to save October for us.

As it turned out we arrived on Saturday, September 20. A little earlier than I had planned, but it worked for them because their last visitor had left a few days earlier. 

Their lots are in River's Edge, a lovely private park with large spaces, level concrete pads, full hook ups, and very nice people. It is about 10 miles from the town of Blairsville, which has both a high end supermarket and a Walmart.  What else do we need?

We will be here for a month, so I will have plenty of time to get some cleaning and sorting projects out of the way, and to rest after several months of travel. We spent much of our first day on the computer ordering things that we wanted from Amazon and other sites. Although we have a mail forwarding service, Amazon likes to have a street address for Fedex deliveries.  So if it wasn't needed right away, we kept saying "when we get to Georgia we will order this or that".

It feels like fall is here. The mornings have been cool, and the afternoons sunny but not hot.

There are many places to walk and hike in this area, so perhaps I will get some much-needed exercise. On Monday we went up to the observation tower on Brasstown Bald Mountain. The upper portion of the tower is not open to the public, but there is a large observation deck lower down that is.

Nottely Lake as seen from the observation tower at Brasstown Bald Mountain

We learned that the blue haze in the air over the mountains is not smoke. Its largest ingredient is isoprene gas released by decaying vegetation.


The 360 degree view was fantastic. I hope we can get back to this place the day before we leave so I can take a comparison picture. It seems the trees are just a tiny bit more colorful every day.

On Wednesday we went to Vogel State Park for a short walk. We now have an annual Georgia State Park pass, and hope to use it frequently.



As we drove in we were reminded what was important. 


The small lake which we walked around was very clear and smooth as glass.



Local resident. 



We took the side trail that leads to the Trahlyta falls.

We are looking forward to a wonderful month!

How will you celebrate autumn?

[From Craig]  There are two ways to photograph a waterfall.  You can use a really slow shutter speed, to get a "big fluffy white stream" look.  Or you can use a really fast shutter speed, to try for "each little droplet in its place".  I mostly use the latter approach.  The image above was shot at 1/2000th of a second.

14 comments:

  1. Nice to be able to stop and get some things done, eh? I like your waterfall picture, Craig. Love the duck crossing sign. Just goes to show you that ducks is people, too, huh?

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  2. When in Blairsville go to the Hole in the Wall cafe if you like chicken fried steak!

    Maura

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  3. When will you be in the Keys Merikay? We will be spending the month of January in Marathon. :) Maybe our paths will cross.

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  4. What a beautiful park. Such fun things to do so close by. I love the effect on the waterfall. You will surely see some beautiful fall color. We (along with so many others!) will be in Florida for the month of December. Maybe we'll see you down there.

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  5. Welcome to Georgia!!!! Enjoy those north Georgia mountains!! :-)

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  6. That looks like a wonderful place to be able to park!!

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  7. Sure does look like a lovely place to spend the month of October. Although I have found that almost every place in the country is gorgeous in October and in late May. Looking forward to reading more about your visits with Al and Karen. Say hi for me! We missed them when we were in Florida, but glad to say we didn't miss out on meeting you two. Have a great month.

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  8. Sometimes it is good to stay in one place for awhile, but not too long, a month is good. I'll be working in FL from January through April, seems like a lot of your readers will be in FL this winter.

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  9. Looks like a lovely place to spent October. The pictures are so pretty - looking forward to seeing the fall colors.

    arlonHboozer.com

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  10. We got to have lunch with Al & Karen when we were at the RV Dreams rally last fall. That area is just beautiful in the fall, and like you said changes color daily!

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  11. Since you have an Alfa, we have 7 Alfa Chapters, 3 Yahoo Alfa Groups, and 1 Facebook Group. Inviting you to join the Alfa family if you have not already done so.
    Dale Prichard Alfa Roadrunner Chpt President

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  12. That looks like a lovely place to rest for a while. A month is bound to go quickly with that sort of beauty around!

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  13. I am running far behind on reading my favorite blogs, and when I read your most recent posts I couldn't believe you were so close to us! We live about 40 minutes or so from Blairsville! I'm not sure how long you'll be in our area, but if you want to learn about other great places to visit, please email me at camelliacottage@bellsouth.net. I am a lifelong Georgia girl and know the mountains of northern Georgia like the back of my hand and would love to share some of my favorite places with you. Some are beautiful rides you would enjoy in your jeep! Enjoy your stay in beautiful northern Georgia! Becky

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