Mountain Escape

We spent a long weekend this last weekend at a cabin with friends in Ellijay, Georgia. In many ways, when we go on vacations now I just feel like I do my mommy duties in another location. I have to admit that I have had a little trouble adjusting to this, as sometimes it just doesn't feel like much of a vacation. However, just being away from home and experiencing a change of scenery really is quite lovely, and being that the mountain setting is probably my favorite, this trip was very enjoyable. Over these five days, I think I was really able to come more to terms with what vacation means now that we have a child. I am a mom. That is who I am now. And that doesn't change just because we travel. It just means I have a new little one to share all of these experiences with. She will grow up and will become more self-sufficient, and then I will look back on these days wistfully and wish she could take away my freedom all over again. So I tried to enjoy as much of this expedition as possible, waking up at the crack of dawn and all.

The cabin we stayed at was big and fairly well outfitted. It was set up so that Tim and Kate could take the master master suite on the main level; Jarrett, Elsa, and I took the two rooms on the top level; and David, Shelly, and Christian took the two bedrooms on the bottom level. This was ideal for Christian, as he wakes up easily and the lower level was really quiet, and with Elsa's white noise upstairs, she was completely fine there. The kitchen was large and great for hanging out and cooking all of our meals together, and the fireplaces -- both inside and out -- were wonderful. But best of all? The view. Did this house ever have one. Elsa took fairly long naps every day while we were there, but was waking up at the crack of early, and the one thing that got me through the morning was to watch the sun come up over the rolling, mountainous vista.




Oh -- and lest I forget to mention our cute, cuddly hosts:


Don't worry, most of those that we came across were dead or close to it. This one, however, was quite alive... for a short while.

We ate like kings and queens, of course. Our menu included pasta with sausage, broccoli, and roasted red peppers; sausage gravy and homemade biscuits; pork chops with a hard cider cream sauce; pasta bolognese; pumpkin pancakes; homemade cinnamon rolls; chili with cheddar-jalapeno cornbread; pumpkin bread; molasses crinkles; and from-the-box brownies (because you just can't make them from scratch any better). Needless to say, no one went hungry. And we made a new discovery thanks to Tim. Pumpkin beer tastes fabulous alongside a fresh-out-of-the-oven molasses crinkle. Mmm... mmm... mmm....

The boys went fly fishing on Friday and Saturday and didn't have the best of luck with the fish, but still seemed to have a good time outdoors together. Us girls hung around the cabin on Friday, but did venture out to Burt's Pumpkin Farm on Friday afternoon, which, aside from us getting turned around at the start of the drive and then feeling car sick while riding wedged in between two car seats in the back of Shelly's car, ended up being tons of fun. We went on a hay ride, let the little ones have some fun with the humongous pumpkins, and picked out a few of the smaller variety to take home with us. On Sunday afternoon, all of the families kind of did their own thing. We all ended up at the same place for lunch, just at different times -- a little BBQ joint in Downtown Ellijay. As an aside, when we made these reservations, I had no idea that it was going to be during Ellijay's big apple festival, so I believe the population was quite inflated over the weekend, but it was so quiet near the cabin that we would have never known had we not ventured into town. After lunch on Sunday, Jarrett, Elsa, and I drove to Noontula Creek, where the guys fished on Friday. It is an absolutely gorgeous area, completely out of the way, and with some sparsely spaced designated camping areas. We hope to camp there maybe next spring, as it's nice that you can drive your car right up to the site, but is otherwise rustic enough that you almost feel like you're backpacking. And both the Appalachian Trail and Benton Mackaye Trail cut through close by, so both hiking and fishing are readily available.










Jarrett woke up Monday morning feeling under the weather, and with a check-out time of 10:00 a.m., we really cut it close pulling everything together and heading out, but we did make it. Somehow, despite Jarrett feeling so poorly, we made it to Amicalola Falls and hiked up the East Ridge Trail (the old Appalachian Approach Trail) to the top of the falls, and then hiked back down the new Appalachian Approach Trail, which includes the 604-step staircase. I have only been to Amicalola once before with my mom and grandfather, but it holds a sort of magical status in my mind, being one of the terminus points of the AT. I still want to make it to the top of Springer Mountain one day to read the plaque, if for no other reason.




Jarrett felt even worse once back home, and is just now recovering. We are fairly certain he had H1N1, since it seemed very flu-like and since, according to my friend (whose husband is in the medical field), the seasonal flu has not actually hit yet. Who knows -- perhaps that is what Elsa had and just recovered from. Anyway, it was nice the sickness waited until the tailend of the trip, and it was even nicer that we decided to go to bed at 9:30 p.m. on Monday night and I didn't wake up until 7:40 a.m. the next morning. Elsa never sleeps that late. But how glorious it was to actually get ten -- yes, ten -- hours of sleep. Sure, it was back to 5:45 a.m. this morning, but that's okay. I'm still basking in the night before.