Day 3

Day 3 of Mr. GV's Fabulous Birthday was the day we chose to spend some time exploring our natural surroundings. This is the front of the B&B where we stayed. Such a marvelous place, and I just can't recommend it enough!

Mr. GV wanted to visit some falls, so we headed out to the Helen, GA area. We stopped at the local winery, but the people at the store were unfamiliar with what was used for the clearing agents (some wines use fish bladder or egg albumin--not vegan obviously) so we went on our merry way. We checked out the antique store, which was chockablock full of goodies. Next was the mill, where we purchased a few items---corn grits and some jams with funny names to send in the nephew's care packages. Mr. GV stepped outside and took this picture behind the mill.

We then ventured on to the falls (Anna Ruby Falls) after passing through more of the town of Helen. We did not stop and look through any of the stores there, as it seemed more or less like another Gatlinburg, TN, with which we are both familiar.

I had brought along the picnic basket that used to belong to my parents, and was determined to get to use it on this trip, so even thought it was chilly and there was some rain misting, we found a pretty spot to picnic.

There's Mr. GV unpacking the picnic basket. Probably we should have had a blanket to sit on, as the stone benches were rather chilly!

We made the best of it though, and enjoyed the scenery no matter the weather. Mr. GV wore my gloves to keep his hands functioning enough to use the utensils.

And I had my scarf to keep my neck warm. Eventually we got smarter and started sitting hip to hip. Ahhh the warmth of sharing body heat with someone!

Our view from where we had our picnic lunch.

Towards the end of our lunch, it started raining much harder and we had to retreat back to the car. There we ate our dessert of cookies and decided we really didn't want to go to the falls that badly. Ha!

We went back to the room for a while and warmed up, then in the afternoon decided to venture out to explore the town square of Dahlonega. We checked out a few of the stores, including the general store where we bought fresh roasted, in-shell peanuts, and some coffee and jams for Mr. GV. The rain cleared out eventually and the sky was lovely. (I believe the gold tip is on a building of the university campus nearby.)

I love old courtsquares.

We saw this when we ducked into a little shopping alley. It gave me a chuckle.