Our Last Days in GA

  On Day 6 (Thursday), we got up at 10am like we had been all week, and left just after 11. This was another day that we couldn't check the weather on the Wifi, so we had to check it the old fashioned way.. by standing outside! It was 41-46 degrees all day according to my car thermometer, and rainy off and on. Michael wanted to drive to Cleveland, which is maybe 5 miles south of Helen, since it was the last town on the hand drawn map that the guy from Blood Mountain cabins gave Michael on the first day. 

  We didn't stay too long- all the towns are pretty small- but we parked and went into three shops: another outfitters that had bandanas and necklaces tied around the animal heads hanging on the walls, then to a crafty looking store with lots of soaps, necklaces that had dried flowers inside, and coffee. We got a few things there, then Michael asked if we could go into the Nix Hardware & Furniture store. I think he was looking for metal rings or tubes for the "two tubes" part of their Star Wars costumes, but I told him we could go wherever since I was going to be texting my friends while we had cell service. I followed him around the store and eventually he walked to the area with kitchen tables and chairs. He has mentioned the past few months about wanting a kitchen table to put in that blank space area by the patio (since he doesn't want to be feeding Emma in her high chair in the dining room), and we saw one that we immediately liked. It was a square with a medium dark brown top and cream colored legs with areas that had been purposely sanded down, and two chairs to match. We made the decently priced splurge and the employees took the legs off so we could fit it into my car. I wondered how Sasha would be comfortable on our drive home a couple days later, but she handled it well!

  We had lunch at Creekside Deli, a place that looked good since there weren't many other food choices and a lot of cars were parked there. They had sandwiches for five dollars that came with a pickle and chips. I got roast beef on sourdough bread and Michael got a cheeseburger with super good curly fries. Michael commented on how he liked that we were finding new small local places to eat rather than stopping at fast food chains just because they were familiar. There is no fun in that- we can eat at Zaxby's anytime we want. Vacations are for trying new things!

 After that we made plans to hike up to another one of the falls since it was on the way back and only a little bit rainy. Not rainy enough that he ever had to use the umbrella, although he still carried it the whole way. I laughed when he called it "Ravenclaw Falls" since that is a Harry Potter term, but then he asked what it was really called. "Raven Cliff", I told him, reading it off of the handdrawn map. I read that the round trip was 5 miles and wasn't sure if I was up to go the whole way, especially since it was so cold. I even thought about wearing leggings under my jeans and at the beginning of the hike really wished I had.

  Michael liked seeing all these "zen rocks" stacked up when we went on trails, so we stopped to make our own. Can you see the little one he's pointing to? Shortly after this point I was ready to turn around since there were other areas we had passed that had waterfalls, but at the same time really wanted to see the cool waterfall that was described on the board at the entrance as a waterfall coming out of a cliff. Michael convinced me to keep going and we asked a couple coming down how much further it was. They said 5-10 minutes and kept saying it was worth the walk. "You won't want to miss it!" the girl my age added with big blue eyes. So we trekked on and Michael kept me distracted with good conversation. When we got there I was really glad we kept going.

   On the way back Michael was telling me about a book he really liked that his mom read to him when he was younger in order for him to write a book report for school. He said it was about a young teenage boy who ran away from home and lived in the woods and then befriended a hawk who helped him scavenge for food. I told him that I wanted to read it now since he made it seem so interesting. He said it might have been that book that got him so interested in exploring and spending time enjoying the woods. The book is called My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George and according to the link, it says it's a trilogy. Michael said he only knew about the first one.
  We drove back home to take Sasha out since we didn't bring her on very many trails with us, then went to Jim's BBQ for dinner. It was between there or Junior's Roadkill BBQ, but we found out that place was only opened on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, while Jim's was opened Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Michael wondered how places like that (and ones in Helen!) stayed in business when they were not open many days. The sweet potato fries with brown sugar and cinnamon were so good, and my ribs literally fell right off the bone!

  After an early dinner we made one last trip to Ingles for hot Apple Cider. Michael had been craving it since he ordered it in Helen, complete with a cinnamon stick. Our total this day was 16,000 steps reaching 7 miles. All day it felt like it would be the last day for both of us before going home, but then we still had Friday to enjoy. But for future vacations I would say five full days is the perfect amount. 
   Out of all the vacations we had been on over the past (almost) six years since we have been married, we realized that this was the very first "just us" vacation we had been on!! Before I always went on vacations with either my family or his family, and often they help us out with some -or all- of the cost. So this one felt really "adult". I say it was our second trip, the first one being flying out to Los Angeles for a week in November 2012. Michael's dad made the arrangements for our hotel and rental car, but I'm pretty sure we paid for all of that plus our plane tickets out of savings (?). Michael's not sure. However, that vacation was a smidge more "business related" since our main point of the trip was finding a place to live before we moved out there six weeks later.

~ ~ ~

  Babymoon Day 7: On the way to Helen I had seen signs for the Applachian Trail going from one side of GA 348 to the other and told Michael that I'd like to hike some of that at some point, so that's what we did on Friday morning. The temperature that day was between 51 and 53 degrees and windy. I was in a whiny mood that morning, but Michael, as usual, remained his super gem self that I don't deserve, which made me feel emotional as if I might cry. (Although I also felt like I was going to cry last night when I picked up two boxes of Kellogg's cereal because they were marked BOGO at Publix, but didn't ring up that way.) He gave me his jacket after I kept huffing about being too cold, so all he had on was a short sleeve shirt, and even offered to carry the backpack for me. He still mentioned how perfect the weather was and wouldn't let me take the jacket off because I needed it "to keep Emma warm". I would have been fine if Michael wanted to leave this day, but he never suggested it. When I mentioned it later in the day he said he wouldn't have left anyway since we already paid to stay in the cabin that night.
   He talked about how he would love to bring Emma here when she is older, and the four of us (including Sasha.. or the next dog) go hiking along the trail and actually camp in a tent, hiking 50 miles over four days. He kept saying "in five years", when I quickly dashed his dreams by asking, "You think a five year old would be able to hike 12 miles each day?" Who knows, maybe she will become super athletic at a young age. I suggested we go for his 37th birthday instead, because then Emma would be eight by then and Michael thinks my "niece" Jordyn who is almost nine now would be fine hiking that long if they went. I really did like this part of the trail though because it was wider and mostly just a dirt path. No muddy areas and not too many rocks or roots to climb up and over.

   Since Michael was fine with us turning around whenever I was ready, we hiked a total of 3.7 miles/ 45 floors/ 8,194 steps. I napped from 3-4:30pm, then read while Michael napped for another hour. We drove to Desoto Falls at 6pm to get one last hike in for the trip. The Upper Falls were 3/4 mile and the Lower Falls (which we had to climb up a lot of steep areas to get to) was 1/4 mile away. Our ending total for the day equaled 5.7 miles, 14,000 steps, including 57 floors. I noticed that I didn't "feel pregnant" these past two days. I had no intestine cramps, heavy feelings, or issues while hiking, but I continued to feel the baby inside of me moving around. However I did get the cramped feeling last night and currently have some right now, like I needed to take a few Tums. Michael thinks it all has to do with how she is positioned. I also just weighed myself and was surprised to see that my weight today is the same as it was the morning we left (125 pounds). I guess even with all the donuts, cinnamon rolls, and ice cream I ate, it still evened out nicely with the amount of calories we were burning on the trails.

  That night he packed up all of our things that we could put in the car, including a couple dresses that I never wore, since it was too cold to do the pregnancy photo shoots that I wanted to do. I actually packed too many outfits, but they would have been used if the weather had been warmer. I told Michael that he could put my big jacket in the car since it was supposed to be 76 degrees on the day we left, but he kept it inside. And boy was I thankful! It was only 37 degrees when we left the cabin at 5:45am, and it didn't get back into the mid 70's until we got back to Orlando. Michael is so good to -and for- me!

Blood Mountain

Babymoon, Day 4: On Tuesday we had more great hiking weather, although I sure wish it had lasted! Before we left the whole week said it would be in the high 60's and low 70's, but after it rained, the temperature kept getting lower. One day in the 40's and one day in the 50's. However this day was lovely. We parked in front of the Byron Reese Trail, which is an approach trail to get to the Appalachian Trail, which we followed up to Blood Mountain. We hiked from 10:30-2pm, but we laughed at our disappointment of the route only being about 2 1/2 miles since it felt like a lot further, at least on the way up.

 This was where we came in, on the left by the sign and went North up the trail "behind the picture". The trail shown here would be heading South towards Neel Gap.

I laughed when I saw this picture and told Michael it looks like I have a beer belly! I kept wondering if people thought I was pregnant. I thought it was more obvious since my shirt was tight and my bump is getting pretty big now. One man who passed us on one of my breaks did make the observation, "Hiking for two?" Which I happily answered, "Yes!"

  Me being excited that Emma and I made it all the way to the top! We soon discovered, as we saw people coming from the North looking as if they were coming down another part of the mountain, that this was only the "first top". There were three tops, the third finally being where the shelter was.

   About ten minutes later we made it to the shelter. I saw two guys who looked like they were on the roof! But after walking around the corner there was just another huge cliff to the right of the shelter that they were standing on. Michael helped me up that too and there were about ten people sitting there. One guy said he was going to hike the whole thing and started on April 1st when most people start. That gives them seven months to hike the 2,190 miles before Mount Katahdin closes for the winter in Maine on October 1st. From the videos Michael has seen and things he has read, about 6 months is the average amount of time it takes. I whispered to Michael that if anyone asked, we should say we are hiking the whole thing too, but we're really roughing it and living off the land and all we brought was my fanny pack and one water bottle! Nobody asked. We sat in the sun for about five minutes until Michael said he was feeling crispy. He was very burnt by the time we got back. 

 ^^ LOVE carved into the window sill. A couple views from the hike back (below).
 Some of the "rock stairs" that we used to get up and down, and Michael standing next to the Byron Reese Trail sign, reminding us that it was 7/10 of a mile to get back to the car.

   On the way back I made the comment of, "I'm going to soak my piggies when I get back, are you?" Michael answered, "No, but I'm going to soak my face in some chicken pot pie!" He seemed to like that I laughed really loud at that comment and he gave me a big hug. This day he often said that he was proud of me for making it the whole way, and kept helping me climb on the big rocks, and around all the muddy areas (since it had rained the day before).  I told him that since we had a goal, which was to reach the top, I knew we would keep going until we got there. However, we kept finding out that there were higher tops than the first top we reached, so we kept going until we reached the Blood Mountain shelter since Michael really wanted to see that.
    At home we ate lunch and took a nap together with Sasha at 3pm. We went to Ingles again for a few more groceries and sunscreen, then ate dinner out on the patio. Michael tried to make a gate out of the green chairs for Sasha so she could be "naked" outside (without her collar or leash), but she still found a way to sneak through. However she was still really good as usual about coming back to "the safe zone" each time we called for her or said "Nooo" if she went too far. 

   We both talked to Michael's mom on the land line phone, then I watched the second half of "the Martian" while Michael kept sewing the knee pads into the Star Wars pants. Our total steps for the day reached 13,895 at 5.1 miles. It also said we had climbed 65 floors! Michael thinks we had climbed way higher than 650 feet, and according to his AT 2015 guidebook Blood Mountain's elevation is 4,458. But we don't know what the elevation was when we started. Maybe close to Neel Gap and the plaque there says 3,108 feet. So I say we hiked at least 135 floors?
    Another small success achieved by Michael this night was that he found the paddle fan switch in the master bedroom. The first few nights we just turned the air down, but he eventually found it in a random spot- behind my bedside table!! I also made a note to blog about how Emma was moving a lot this night. Today I read on my 27 week app that I will start to feel her moving more because since she is getting bigger, my uterus now has less amniotic fluid in it. I don't mind and I can often be found with my hand on my stomach to soak up all the kicks and rolls. When she kicks twice in a row I take that as her saying, "Love you!"

Dahlonega & Helen

  Babymoon, Day 3:  On Monday we left at 11am for Dahlonega. It was really rainy this day until 3pm. I had texted my cousin Jessica (who is due with her fourth baby in about 6 weeks!), asking about the town since she had lived there for a year or two when she went to the college there. She recommended we eat at Crimson Moon for lunch because she remembered it being really good, however, we didn't know until that day that it is closed on Mondays. We walked around under the awning, trying not to get soaked from the rain between going into the shops. We got 1/2 pounds of fudge, trying four different flavors. Tigerbutter is my favorite! Then at the General store we got rock candy, tea tree oil soap, and Michael bought bacon cheddar crickets for Brian.. yes, you read that right.. Gross! For lunch we ate at a little place called Picnic Cafe. I got the Georgia peach chicken salad on their cracked wheat bread (I wish they sold the loaves!) w/ tomato bisque, and we bought a slice of pina colada cheesecake to go.

   Back at the cabin we hung up and I started a puzzle that was on the shelf while Michael worked on the pants for his Star Wars costume. When I got tired of the puzzle, I went back to reading and rested while Michael took a shower before asking me to take pictures of him. We drove to the Helton Creek waterfall at the end of our neighborhood and took pictures there with Sasha, but that will gets its own post since we took those pictures on the Canon. After dinner I sat in the bed with Michael while he worked on the pants some more and I watched half of "the Martian". 
   As a pregnancy note, I told Michael that I was feeling crampy on the way back from Dahloega along with a few other times that day, but since crampy is linked to thinking something could be wrong with the baby, I described it more accurate by saying my intestines felt like they were being smashed since Emma keeps growing. I walked around inside and laid with my legs straight out, attempting to "uncramp" my organs. (Also we both agreed that its a good idea to keep asking the sonogram techs to check that our baby is still a girl. We don't really want to be surprised in that way in July.) Another note is that when I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (usually twice), once I lay down again, I can feel her moving a bunch. It makes me wonder if she just woke up or if she's moving all night but the feeling of her kicking or rolling isn't painful, so I don't notice it while I'm sleeping. 

   Babymoon, Day 5: (I skipped day 4 for the moment because that post has a lot of pictures) On Wednesday morning we stopped by Neel Gap outfitters again so Michael could get a shirt. His says "When I'm in the mountains, I'm home" (or something like that, but he never wore it during the trip and I forgot to remind him).  We stopped by the store called "Amish stuff" and Michael kindly took a picture of me next to the World's Largest Amish Chair. I bought a jar of strawberry rhubarb jam and when I pointed out an old fashioned high chair, he noticed that the one next to it was demonstrating how if you turned it so it was on the ground, it became a rocking horse! Those Amish people are so creative!

   We drove to Helen where it continued to rain until 5pm. We stopped at the Dollar General there so I could buy crackers for my jam and Michael picked up an umbrella since we had brought my car for the trip and I say umbrellas are for wimps. But it was helpful since we were walking around in the rain for a bit, rather than just running into one building. We ate at a place called Cafe International for lunch and shared the cheesy bratwurst with sauerkraut and Ruben sandwich. There wasn't much else for us to do there since most of the places were closed and we didn't want to visit the cabbage patch "doll hospital" called BabyLand (since my mom asked if we were going to go there).

 ^^ I had to take that one for you, best friend! ;)

  We didn't want to pay for parking, so we stayed close to the Wendy's that we parked at. We bought boiled peanuts from an old man in a wooden building, as well as candy from another tiny shop, and soap from other small places that were open. I was craving ice cream, but that place was closed too! So we went to Hofers instead and I got a glazed donut twist.

  On the way home we stopped by Dukes Creek Falls since it had mostly stopped raining. However, it started coming down on the hike back to the car. Michael continued to be so very chivalrous with the umbrella, trying to hold me close so we both fit under it. I made sure to tell him that I appreciated how nice he was being, but that I am anti-umbrella and much preferred just using my jacket hood to "shield" myself. Sometimes he says he feels like he can't do anything right (if I tend to be in a cranky mood). He didn't say it during this week, but I felt like that was a type of situation where he might feel that way, so I made sure to tell him that he was doing everything exactly right. I told him that I enjoying how nice he was trying to be, even though I preferred to not be under the umbrella. That it was more comfortable for me that way and I held his hand for part of the way instead.

   Back at home I took a short nap, then got on my phone while Michael kept napping. Although the Wifi wasn't working, I was able to edit all the pictures I wanted on Instagram. Even though they all "failed" to post, that was fine because I just wanted the edits saved, not for the app to post my favorite 38 pictures. When Michael woke up he suggested we drive to Wal-Mart in Blairsville to buy Star Wars: Rogue One (even though he's watched it at least 20 times in the past few weeks), and I agreed because I still wanted ice cream. I commented that we were "Wifi addicts" because once we had service in town we just sat in the car in the parking lot on our phones for ten minutes before going inside, updating ourselves on the world. We watched the thunderstorms on the way home with my favorite lightning- the kind that lights up the whole sky for a second. We sat and chatted for a bit while I ate my second ice cream cone, then Michael gave me a seven minute lotion massage since he promised that for me after I drove to Reynold's to pick up make up supplies for him last week.

Babymoon, Part II

   Day 2: On Sunday, April 2nd we went to Vogel State Park which was just about a mile down the road from where we were staying. When I saw the sign and it sounded familiar, I texted my dad (when we had reception) if that was where we had gone about 18 years ago with Bear Hair Trail. He said yes, so I suggested to Michael that we go there first. All I remember about that story was hiking with my parents and Zach and I kept asking "Are we almost there?" and our dad would keep responding, "Just around this turn." The sign said it was only a 3 mile loop after the approach trail, but Michael and I probably only went 1 mile- to wherever the wooden bridge is.

  We walked a total of 3.5 miles at Vogel State Park, between part of Bear Hair Trail, and the easier trail that went around the lake. Michael was a super gentleman/ such a sweet and kind husband/ future dad on the whole vacation, even more than he normally is. He always waited for me or slowed down if he saw I wasn't walking as fast due to wanting to take it slow while being pregnant. He kept asking how I was doing, or ask if I wanted to turn around. He'd help me down or pull me up over a steep area, checking that I was drinking enough water, and would sit on a big rock with me whenever I needed a break. On the way back Michael yelped as he pointed at a snake. It's always a tiny brown patterned one and I didn't even see it at first, but he has told me that baby snakes are often more dangerous because they have more venom in their teeth. I'm sure he hates every time I say, "Aw, he's so cute!"But they are so cute. I guess that one was an Amish snake, because once I pulled my phone out to take a picture he quickly slithered away. We went into the gift shop between the two trails and Michael bought a cool mug that had a water color painting of a fox on it. 

   After Vogel State Park we drove to Neel Gap outfitters which was also close by, but in the other direction. Michael had shown me a lot of pictures from there before. It's one of the first "stores" along the Appalachian Trail where people can restock on clothes and shoes. The main picture shown from Neels Gap is a bunch of boots tied together and thrown over the branches of the trees. This is because they usually don't get good enough shoes and after the first few days of hiking from Amicalola Falls or Springer Mountain, the shoes are already worn out and they need new ones. While we were there I bought a pretty blue shirt that says "Appalachian Soul". I told Michael to let me know which day he wanted to hike part of the AT so I could wear my shirt that day.

  Michael also said that sometimes people use Neel Gap as an ending point (especially if they are coming all the way from Mount Katahdin in Maine!), so they sign and date the shoes, then fling them into the tree. We went back home after that, had lunch, and took a nap. Then we drove to Dollar General to buy cleaning products since Sasha had gotten sick in the bed that morning. While the sheets were being washed, we walked towards the waterfall in neighborhood again since it was only supposed to be another 1.5 miles from our road, but after that distance we still weren't there so we turned around since it was starting to get dark and I felt winded. Michael gave me an "energy kiss" which turned me all giggly as I walked back up the rest of the hill behind him and Sasha.  I kept track of how far we walked each day (according to the Health app) and adding in Vogel State Park, we reached 6.2 miles that day which was 16,640 steps for me. A great goal!

Babymoon, Part I

   Shortly after we booked this trip at the beginning of February, Michael asked me how many weeks pregnant I would be at the beginning of April and if I was going to be bed ridden (?!). "27 weeks, and oh my goodness, no!" But just to be sure I'd be able to hike a normal amount, that's when I started making more of an effort to go for walks on some of my days off. Still, walking on a flat surface for 4 miles is a lot easier than walking up a mountain for half of a mile!! By Monday of this week, Michael was already talking about how the backs of his knees were hurting and was describing shinsplints, but I felt perfectly fine, so maybe some of that walking in Orlando did help me out. Our "neighborhood" was called Vogel Springs and has about 30 cabins. Not all of them are for rent though and only a few were pet friendly. According to the pictures on the website, the place looked huge (saying it could hold 8 people!) so it seemed a little crazy that we were renting such a huge space, but it was actually perfect since two of the bigger beds were in the loft that I was scared to go up to because the stairs were not as stable as I would have liked. We slept in the master bedroom that had a kingsize bed. When I took off the sheets the second night (because Sasha got sick- again, too much baby practice from a dog, ha!) I saw that it was actually 2 double beds pushed together. But that was nice because then when Michael moved around at night I didn't feel it and wake up. Here are the pictures I got of the cabin:

  The roads were very windy, and Sasha kept putting her paw on one of our shoulders depending on which way she needed to brace herself. I later counted and there are 53 sharp curves. I wondered if we bring Emma back in 5 years if she would get car-sick. Hopefully not!!

  The main "office" where Michael picked up the key and dropped off our trash before we left.

  The dining room table right when you walk in. I really enjoyed eating together, compared to eating in front of the TV like we normally do at home. This picture was taken a few days later when Michael was working on his Star Wars costumes (sewing the knee pads onto the pants for him and Brian). Usually when he was doing this, I would read Naya Rivera's book "Sorry Not Sorry". I finished it on the last night of the trip.

 Our phones didn't have service and although the owners left the Wifi password on the fridge with other notes, it barely worked. I never even logged into it, trying to maintain a semi-Amish vacation, but I checked the weather on Michael's phone when it was working. We made a few land line phone calls to our parents, but of course they didn't pick up at first since it was from an unknown number.

  Our little kitchen that never felt too small.

 The bedroom that we used, which also had an attached bathroom (not pictured). ^^

 Second downstairs bedroom with a pretty poppy theme, and the loft (shown below) which I bravely got almost to the top of the metal stairs to get the picture. Sasha was watching me nervously. There was also a basement, where Michael washed the sheets, but it was too creepy for me and I never went down there. I was meaning to during the day, but then kept forgetting/ didn't care enough.

  Our vacation began last Saturday, April 1st, six years after graduating from Full Sail! We left the McDonald's parking lot at 6:45am and arrived at the cabin "office" right at 4pm. The ride didn't seem too long, which was great! Michael checked in where the cabin he originally wanted was located, but none of those are pet friendly and we wanted to bring Sasha, so he found this house to rent for the week two miles North of the office. The house smelled pretty musty each time we came in from being outside (only for the first few days), reminding me of when Grandma Belva used to live in the mountains. After we looked around and brought all of our bags in, we drove to Blairsville to get groceries at Ingles, then walked one mile in the "neighborhood" towards the waterfall. We didn't make it all the way because I wanted to get back before it got dark. We saw a baby bat that kept flying above us on the way "home".