Oktoberfest and Other Fall Fun

Saturday was such a beautiful day that there was no way anyone could have held me indoors!

I called up my germaphobic friend and asked her if she would like to take a ride up to the mountains with me along the meadering scenic by-way and through the fall foliage. After a promise to stop afterwards in the little Alpine-style village of Helen for Oktoberfest, she was ready to come along for the ride.

It was such a beautiful day full of sunshine and brilliant autumn colors. And despite the rain deficit Georgia has been suffering, the waterfalls still flowed along beautifully. I am not, by any means, new to the scenic by-way we traveled. In fact, this route is one I regularly take to clear my head and sort my thoughts year round. Some of the trails I love to hike, including the Appalachian Trail, are right along this path. Usually I am alone when I head northeast of my home in the city to take make this drive, but I have to say that it was something special to have a friend along with me on this day. It was too beautiful to not share with someone else.

So this is a picture from the by-way of my beloved Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia. The golden autumn colors are really spectacular right now. The high peak in the distant right hand corner is Brasstown Bald, Georgia's highest.

Brasstown may not look that much higher than all the rest, but from the observation tower on her peak, you can see out forever into North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and even the skyscrapers of Atlanta on a clear (miraculous), smogless day. It seems like mountain ridges after mountains ridges roll into oblivion. The view is fantastic from here. I could only imagine how it looked on this day as the usual blue hue of mountains glowed with firey color.

We made a stop by one of my favorite falls. This is upper Helton Creek Falls. The lower falls plummet down a rock slide just below where I was standing when I took this picture. I think it is amazing how summery it still looks here. One of my favorite things about these mountains is the fact that the forests remain forever green, even into winter. The hemlocks, mountain laurel, Christmas Ferns, pines, and mosses remain green year round, even surviving the snow and ice.

After our drive, we joined the fun in Helen. This photo is a warning as to why not all wanna-be Germans should openly drink mugs of beer in public at a wanna-be Oktoberfest in a wanna-be Bavarian village. Yes folks, this lady is actually attempting the Chicken Dance with a mug in her hand! That was entertaining, but not quite as entertaining as watching all these people spin around arm-in-arm sloshing one another with beer and continuing to chant up the band for Free Bird. I am poking fun now, but damn I wanted to join in! Except I would have liked to have balanced my Wurst Haus beer mug to something cooler than Lynard Skynard...you know, something more like Bocephus. That'd be some real redneck...err, I meant to say...that'd be some real German wanna-be fun!

I did want to get a cool mug to take home. Instead of getting one at the Wurst Haus, we thought we'd get a cooler one if we went to the Troll Tavern. I liked the idea of a Troll mug just because I like the tavern's slogan of "We're by the river, under the bridge" and because it really is under the bridge (you know, where all trolls live). But I was disappointed that the mug didn't mention at all that they were under the bridge and instead only has a picture of a troll on it that rather favors an elf more than a troll! In other words, I suffered an expensive, dark German beer to get a mug that mentioned under the bridge for nothing! I have a mind to go back and tell them that they aren't technically under the bridge anyway... more like below it and to the side of it. I took this pic. from the bridge that they are supposedly under, nonetheless.


And last, but certainly not least...this is where I went on Sunday with Best Friend. This place is called The Vortex and is located in the eclectic Little Five Points in Atlanta. You cannot find a better burger than a Vortex burger. I kid you not, I am addicted to this place. I am usually a veggie and chicken type of girl, but this place brings out the cavewoman in me and leaves me screaming, "Meat! I need meat! More meat!" But it's cool for now. My excuse for coming here so often this month has been "to keep within the spirit of Halloween". Seriously, can you think of a better place to honor Halloween than eating within a skull with psychedelic eyes? What will my reasoning be behind eating here every other day in November??? Well, November's my birthday month and I'll eat there if I want to! So leave me alone!

Stay tuned...more creepy tales to follow this week.