Easy to Entertain - that's me.

Growing up I thought every family took a Sunday afternoon drive.  When we moved to New England in 1961 our Sunday afternoon drives took us further than our neighbors went on summer vacations.  I believe that no matter how small the trip, there is educational value in it.

As fuel prices began to creep upward we started limiting our trips away from the house to necessary destinations.  But non-destination trips (i.e. Sunday afternoon drives) are my favorite form of entertainment.  This past Sunday we had a full tank of diesel, the weather was beautiful and we realized how long we have kept ourselves cooped up, so we took off north and traveled through the North GA Blue Ridge Mountains.  The drive was beautiful.  We drove around Lake Burton and up to Brasstown Bald (the highest point in GA).  We chose the "way the crow flies" as our route back home, realizing too late that with wheels on the ground it was the longer distance. During the years we have lived in GA that road has fooled us many times with its length.  Our drive home brought us to Dahlonega where we skipped the gift and antique shops and instead did a little grocery shopping.

Some information about Georgia:  Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi and with that size comes many different types of geography.  Those of you who have only been on the Interstate highways on your way to Florida have missed a lot.  Northeast Georgia, where we live, is very mountainous. The Blue Ridge Mountains, which are at the southern end of the Appalachians are located here.  The small towns of Blairsville, Blue Ridge, Ellijay, Dahlonega, Helen and Clayton are great places for antique and other shopping.  The State Park system of Georgia is very nice also.  We passed Unicoi State Park on Sunday.  We remarked that it would be a good place to go back to and see the waterfalls.  There were some pretty campgrounds and cottages in the area to rent.