3-12-17  time to go back home:

Woke up to a surprise---snow!  It was rather pretty, though, and not enough to cause problems driving.  In fact it was melting by the time we left.  So I got up and took pictures right away.
This one was from our bedroom sliding glass doors.

Then I took a short walk around the property, again.
 Our cabin (River Run) and all our cars.

neat fence between the fenced yard and the driveway

 the river down by the fire pit.

 the stairway to Heaven

 the fire pit area

 the fenced yard

 Another view of the fire pit towards the cabin.

 I walked down the street a bit.  Looks like they may have bears here!  There was another trash bag part way up the hill side.

 chairs by the next cabin.

I liked that our cabin also had some maps and brochures of things  to do in the area.

 We were suppose to be out by 11, which made it even tougher that daylight saving time started early this morning and time leaped forward and hour.  Breakfast was a quick one--- Pillsbury Orange and Cinnamon danish rolls---can't ever go wrong with them!  Then we all packed up and headed out.
The road into and out of the area. 

 Enjoying the trees with snow on them.

 GPS is a bit tricky out here.  It told us we were at the cabin when we weren't.  Fortunately someone was outside when we were trying to find the cabin and they told us where it was.

 We even crossed a covered bridge on our way there---and out.

 It really didn't warm up much, but the snow was melting.

 Back to looking for old barns.

 and farmland.

 and waterfalls!

 Lots of red in the trees.

 another interesting barn

 Even passed a putt putt golf course in the middle of nowhere.

 And a vineyard.  There are actually several vineyards on northern Georgia.

 The clouds were really hanging low this morning.

 an interesting colored barn

  We had passed a state park on our way in, so we decided to check it out on our way home. Amicalola Falls State Park.  Turned out to be an excellent decision!

 Hard to tell from here, but there is the longest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippii just past this pond.

 Ken likes to say he didn't know we were hiking up to the falls, but when have we gone to a park with a falls and not hiked over to check it out?!

 This is definitely a great park for really seeing the falls and river.  Many parks have views, but a lot of them are somewhat blocked by trees.  They seem to keep this one pretty clear along the walkway

 Lots and lots of gorgeous views of the cascading river.

 The trail is even paved!

 Looking back from about a quarter of the way to the big lower overlook.

 View of the cascading falls from the lower overlook.  I originally figured this was as far as I was going to go---especially since I didn't know how far Ken was going to go.  He was pretty far behind me.  But after looking at it for awhile, I decided it wasn't that far to the bridge.  Most of the rest of the way was up stairs. 

 Looking back down.

 Heading up!

Looking back down on the large lower overlook.

 getting there!

 Finally there!

 Looks a lot higher from up here then from the lower overlook.

 And heading back down.

 Looking across the bridge towards the stairs that continue to the top of the falls.  It's 175 stairs to the bridge and another 450 to the top of the falls. 

 By the time I got to the overlook, Ken was getting there. 

 We rested there awhile and visited with a few other people for a bit.  Saw a lot of hikers with large back packs.  This is part of the Appellation Trail and one of the major sights along the way.

 Heading back down.

 No more snow left.  Just a few drops of water on the plants.

 a graffiti tree.

 As we were heading down.

 cascading water all along the way.

 and some interesting plants coming to life.

 like these wild flowers.

 After climbing to the bridge, I found out you can drive to the top of the falls!  So we did that, too.  But by now it was totally fogged over.

 Looking down from the top of the falls.  Bet it's a pretty impressive view when it's clear.

 Driving back down from the top of the falls.

Once we were out of the park, it wasn't too bad.  

 Still overcast, but we were soon out of the clouds and back to looking at farms.

 there are a million of these low long barns around north Georgia!  There's a big Purdue chicken factory near Gainesville and they raise a lot of chickens in Georgia that must end up there.

 Not sure if this is a house, barn, mother-in-laws cabin, or what----------

 Lots more spring colors in the trees the farther South we got.

 another farm house with cows in the yard.

 Thought this was a barn, but why would there be a dish in front of it?!

 and an occasional church.

Our 2 night stay seemed to be over really quickly!  Sure was a long way to come for Carol and Darryl for such a short time, but I'm glad they did.   And I'm glad we stopped at the falls on the way home!