Monday, September 26, 2011

Every Fall Activity, in 2 days

Our last hurrah before Jeff leaves for harvest in SD: camping at Fort Mountain State Park.


This was a return trip; we had been here in June and really liked the park and activities available.

It took us awhile to get back in the swing of camping. For instance, we forgot trash bags, so Jeff asked if I could find something at work before he picked me up. You can see here Jeff is moonlighting as a flight attendant (we get samples of weird things, like trash bags).


We arrived later, after work - so had to get everything set up and dinner started before dark. We did have to eat our Jambalaya with the lantern on.

We also arrived after it rained...so our firewood was wet. No fire. So instead, we called it an early night, warmed up in the shower, and jumped into the tent. We knew it was going to be cold - and it was. 52 on Friday night was a bit chilly, even with our synthetic clothes, sleeping bags, blankets, and socks.

On Saturday the nice weather continued - sunny and in the high 60s and low 70s, with blue sky and no humidity! After our simple breakfast of oatmeal, we took a hike around the lake (and found a geocache, which we backtracked almost halfways around the lake because I missed the turnoff).


After the hike, I challenged Jeff to a game of putt-putt. (Yes, this campground rocks.) The loser had to make lunch...it was pretty much a tie, so we grabbed a hot dog at the concession stand. (Yes, this campground has a concession stand by the beach, lake, and putt-putt.)

We relaxed back at the campsite while cooking chili on the stove, and then had a raging fire the rest of the night and fell into bed happy, not quite as cold, and tired.

The next morning we decided to take a route home that skirted along the mountains before heading south. (This would also take us by the outlet mall.)

Ahoy! U-Pick Apples!!!!!!!!!!!!! We totally stopped.


We had done this in Minnesota, but here it's a bit different - Rome and Golden Delicious (no Honeycrisp), no corn maze, but warmer weather. I distinctly remember wearing a fleece, jeans, gloves, and a hat in MN...not this time. There were also mountains in the distance here. Beautiful!


Jeff found the biggest apple ever created.


After our apple orchard stop, we continued on our way. Ahoy! A pumpkin patch!!!!!!!!!!! We totally stopped.


I picked out two big but reasonably priced (but really heavy) pumpkins. After rearranging the vehicle, we got them in.


Shortly after this photo was taken, we realized somehow our vehicle had disrupted a beehive. An angry swarm of bees attacked Jeff. I am not kidding. He rounded the corner after getting these in the Jeep, opened his door, and they flew at his head and body and in the open windows. He got stung while trying to get us the hell out of there. We moved the car about a football field away, stopped to swat out some more bees, and then calmed ourselves. Wow. It was totally crazy.

Ok, further down the road...Amicalola State Park. We had to stop...for another Geocache! Score!!!


And another 15 mintutes down the road...we hit Dahlonega. This quant mountain town is home to antique shops, stores, hiking and backpacking venues, and tons of wine and food restaurants. We ate at our favorite place, Gustavo's (seriously good pizza).

Finally time to turn south towards home...but not before hitting the outlet mall. Jeff needed some work boots. And I'm sure glad he did, otherwise we would have missed almost everything we did on Sunday!

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

Wow what a busy and wonderful weekend! Sounds like you guys had a wonderful time! What a great way to welcome fall and send summer out with a bang!