North Georgia Mountains

Most people would never guess that just a few miles north of where we live in our Atlanta suburb is the North Georgia mountains where the Appalachian Trail begins/ends, depending on where you're coming from.

And just one hour from our house, we drove this past Sunday into those mountains, to one of Georgia's most popular state parks: Amicalola Falls. Amicalola is the Cherokee Indian word for "tumbling waters." That's because they do!

And if you're willing to take your eyes off the falls and do an about-face, there you see from whence you came!

The falls themselves are 729-feet high, the tallest east of the Mississippi. You get your choice: start at the top and walk down the 425 steps (with views of the falls all the way down)...









...or start at the bottom, the base of the falls, and walk up. We decided to do both, parking at the top and walking down and then turning right around and walking back up.


The sweetest thing about walking back up is that we were behind a 6-year-old boy who has non-paralytic cerebral palsy. Because he was a bit wobbly (but still very energetic!), his pace ended up being exactly the right pace for us 50/60-something women! And the interchange we had with him and his parents was more than enough to make us forget we were climbing back up the 425 steps. It was wonderful.

I wonder if these boys, back at the top, know how lucky they are!

After the falls, we went into another part of the state park to find a spot to eat the fabulous picnic lunch Donica had packed for us. After that, we continued along a one-lane gravel road to find the High Shoals Baptist Church we kept seeing signs for. We eventually found it and were glad we persisted. It's as "country" as they come, with services held every 3rd and 5th Sundays of the month at 3p. 5th?? How many of those would there be in a year, I wonder!

Then it was time to head back home and catch even some more sights.
Always be cautious of pumpkin pickers!

Just a few yards away from that sign was this 1955 Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria, enjoying its retirement in the woods. Donica was the one who did the research to find out exactly what year and model it was! When I retire from everything, I'd like to live in the woods, I think! OH! That's right...I DO! :)

On the way up, we had made a mental note of this little treasure by the side of the road, selling ice cream treats. So, yes, we stopped on our way back.

Eat, drink and be Merry.
Relax and Enjoy Yourself.

We did. I couldn't have said it better myself.

What a great day in the Georgia mountains! You know what they say about your own backyard....

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Later this afternoon Donica and I will be flying to Zürich, Switzerland, returning on Sunday...just a quickie. She'll be there for business meetings on Thursday and Friday and I'll be there on...a PHOTO HUNT, of course! I'm so excited because it'll be my first time ever in Switzerland. Not only that, on Friday we plan to have dinner in nearby Basel with CS and O-X, blogger friends for a long time now. YAY for when the virtual world becomes REAL!

NINE TEN G'mas!

Count them!

One day recently Nicholas (age 8) and I started counting all his g'mas! Just when we thought we had counted all of them, we remembered another one...until we got to NINE! I think we got them all! WAIT. There's TEN. Someone just piped up....

I HAD to start with ME, of course (HAHAHA) because, well, he came out of Amy and she came out of me.
Talk about basic, crude truth!
Besides, this is one of my favorite images of him and me when he was 1-1/2 years old.

And since Donica is my partner, and so many of his memories are with her/us, she happens to be next in my own logic. Even though he doesn't call her "G'ma," she is. I call her his "Sugar G'ma!" :)
He knows he can get anything he wants from her, if he's reeeeal nice. :)



Even though Donica's mom passed away this past February, Nicholas knew her in his lifetime. In fact, he sat between Donica and me on the front row at her funeral. He even "got his education" about her cremains, curious as he was afterwards. So at 67 this year, she was his great-g'ma. Always will be.

On Daddy's side of the fence, there's G'ma Virgina (here with Nicholas and his half-brother, Ryan)!
Yup, his first two g'mas are Virginias and both are redheads. He couldn't have done that if he had tried!

Amy's dad had already married Linda, so in time sequence, she was/is one of the early g'mas. G'ma Linda.



Linda's 87-year-old mom is still alive and has met Nicholas a few times. So here's another great-g'ma. Great-g'ma Janet.
She's the one I had missed! (Anyone else out there I don't know about??)

Daddy then married Dee and HER mom is Anna (with one of her great-g'sons, not Nicholas). So add G'ma Anna to the list.

Dee's dad married Bobbi, Dee's step-mom, so now add G'ma Bobbi.
(Is she a "real" redhead??? I don't know.)

Then this year Amy married Dennis, whose mom is Judy. G'ma Judy!

Judy's husband is David, whose 98-year-old mother is Ruth. That makes her great-g'ma Ruth! Her birthday is in January and she wanted everyone to know that she's "almost 99."

There you have it. TEN. Count them! Seriously...what would YOU do with 10 g'mas?! I've often said you can never spoil a kid with too much love...especially if you're a g'ma, so this is one very loved boy who should grow up to be one of the most-loved kids on Planet Earth...ever!