Blue Ridge for Christmas

Blue Ridge for Christmas

View from our cabin.

It seemed like a reasonable thought... Drive north until we hit snow for Christmas. That was our intention for last month's holiday, but it quickly fizzled when we realized the entire southeastern U.S. was experiencing its hottest Christmas on record. Agh...
We decided, instead, to end our road trip in the north Georgia Blue Ridge Mountains.  Over my next few posts, I will cover certain aspects of our week long winter (ha!) vacation.

FLOODS, Floods, floods...

Fog

Although not quite the Smokey Mountains, the weather during our trip proved mystical as we watched the thick fog rise between peaks and drift down along the trees. Surprisingly, the usual Florida rain had not desensitized us; we watched the weather eagerly as the daily flood warnings sounded on our phones. Main roads were completely submerged, side streets washed out making it impossible for some residents to get to work or even leave their homes at all.

Toccoa River

On our first full day, as we drove back to our cabin along one of the only open roads, we saw several cars pulled off to the side admiring the rushing Toccoa River, so we too stopped.  A local began to tell us that kids normally play there, jumping off large boulders into the water, but there were no boulders that day, he continued to explain that the river was eight feet higher than normal.

Rough Terrain

The next day, Chris took to the helm of my mom's Ford Escape and enjoyed some 'off-roading' as we tried to make our way out into the storm. We had attempted several times to call a zip-line/horse riding attraction, but they refused to answer, so, we took it upon ourselves to seek them out and make a reservation in person. The mud road had us slipping, but Chris grinned from ear to ear, surprised by how well the little four cylinder was handling the drive. Once we reached our destination in the pouring rain, we found out they were closed for the season, even though their website hadn't mentioned it.

Our trip to the Appalachian Trail was similar. We drove cautiously along the winding road that dipped and rose. The flowing water beside us, just a slippage away, had us gawking, but what was more of a spectacle was the small, low sitting sedan attempting the same journey along the rocky terrain.


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