6-20-16  To Helen and Anna Ruby Falls for our anniversary:

Today is our 41st anniversary.  We really had no plans for the day.  Angie suggested we go up to the cute little town of Helen in the northern mountains of Georgia (about 1.5 hours from home).  So we did!  I'm glad she made the suggestion.  I still don't know what's around, but I'm beginning to do some research.  I see there are a lot of water falls in the north, so hopefully we'll start going to them.  
Heading up 985----

 views of mountains as we got closer to Helen

 one of the old barns along the way.

another mountain

 cute little church in the middle of nowhere.

 I had no idea what this mound was until much later.  Apparently it's an Indian mound.

 The cute little town of Helen---made to look like an alpine village of Germany.

 the visitors' center.  They had a lot of good information.

I was surprised to see almost everyone walking around in swimsuits.  Then we noticed the river and stopped to check it out.  Found out why so many people were in swimsuits!  Looked like fun!

 Also looked very crowded!

 We continued riding around the cute little town.

 It certainly has a lot of restaurants and hotels.

 cute bird house.

 even had a windmill.

 and lots of little shops.  REminded me of a little Gatlinburg.

 Wonder if it's this busy in the winter?

 By now it was about 1pm, so we went in search of lunch.  Settled upon Bigg Daddy's. 

I had the lunch special of a philly sandwich.  I washed it down with a Terrapin IPA.  Both were tasty.

 Ken got a Clucker Sandwich (reminded us of the old days in college when we use to have cluck cluck sandwiches all the time).  I believe the next time we're in the area he'll be wanting to go get another one of these sandwiches.

 a few of the libations.

After eating, I wanted to go check out the nearby water fall---Anna Ruby Falls.  Ken was able to use his Old Age pass to get in free.  Otherwise I think it was something like $5 to go there.  He even did the hike to the falls!

 flowers along the way

 Smokey was even there.

 Ken charging on up the trail.  I think it was only about 1/2 mile, but it was a beautiful walk.

 Lots of gorgeous views of the river.

 nice shaded walkway.

 even had a few of these interesting benches along the way.

 and lots of overhead folliage.

 playing with slow shutter

 So many pictures to take!

 finally got to the falls.

 There were even wild rhodies still blooming!

 more of the lower left falls.

 the lower left falls and beyond

There were actually 2 falls here---supposedly named after the discoverer's daughters.

heading back down.

 Ken charging on ahead again.

 me playing with the camera some more.

 beautiful views of the river all the way back.

 I loved the signs that said stay on the trail, as if the copperheads and rattlesnakes would stay off it!

 As we were leaving I had to snap a picture of this beautiful hydrangea.

On our way out of the park, we checked out a couple other pull outs.  Nice swimming area here.

 another lake.

The map we got from the visitors' center in Helen also showed a covered bridge.  So we found it, too.

I had hoped to ride along the scenic highway nearby, too, but it was getting late.  So we decided we'd come back and do that another day.  Hope that day is soon!