Visiting Helen, GA and hiking to Raven Cliff Falls

After our very yummy Thanksgiving dinner we drove up to Helen for a couple of days to visit this very peculiar town and go hiking.

On our way we passed the highway exit to the Mall of Georgia - oh the traffic! The exit was completely blocked and cars were lined up for miles. I can't even imagine what it was like inside the mall! Black Friday certainly earned its name there.

We had a cold but absolutely perfect weekend! Helen, which was changed to look like an Alpine village sometime in the 60's to boost tourism (it worked too - apparently around 1.2 million tourists visit each year), was hosting a Christmas market, and the boys got to wave to Santa Claus who paraded the street. We had a great German meal at the Bodensee restaurant, and then spent the night at Super 8 (I know, fancy us!).

The next day we drove up to the Raven Cliff Falls trail head and spent the day hiking one of the most beautiful hikes we have experienced here in Georgia - five miles of waterfalls, wood and nature's beauty all around.

It's fall in Georgia

Since Abe, our four year old, has a cold, we didn't go on a long hike this weekend, but drove up to Morgan Falls Park, which we had heard was nice. It was packed - a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon - but there was still space enough for us to enjoy a quiet fall walk (the trail is about a mile long) and some wonderful colors.

Hiking and exploring Northern Georgia

One thing that we have been looking forward to experiencing in the US, is the freedom a car carries: to be able to go on day trips, visits, hiking or just to a special park somewhere. Combined with the large number of parks in and surrounding Atlanta, we are very excited to have begun our exploring in this department. So far, impeded by illness at the beginning of our life here in Georgia, we’ve only managed to go on a couple of hikes, but we look forward to many miles more. I borrowed a couple of books from the library on hiking in Georgia, and the internet, of course, has an abundance of information and pictures on interesting hikes.

Last weekend we hiked six miles in Sweetwater Creek State Park on Saturday, and went to the zoo on Sunday. The hike was exhausting, but oh, so enjoyable. The boys complained a bit during the last two miles, mainly because we ran out of water, but I had a really good time. It was sunny in the low 80's with a nice cool breeze, and the woods were green, the creek vivid, rushing past next to us throughout most of the hike. There's something about being out in nature like that, that makes you feel great, don't you think?

The zoo was busy, not as large as we had thought, but nice. The animals seem well cared for (last time we went to a zoo was in Cairo, Egypt, and let's just say that we are all still scarred from that experience), and the park was fun to walk through. We got a yearly family pass - it was the same price for our family as entrance for one day - so we can come back as much as we want, whenever we want.