Georgia Peach Vacation

It is now August 1 so I am trying to keep the fabulous memories from our Georgia road
trip alive as the school year quickly approaches. Ah, vacation...

We flew into Nashville since my sister lives there and made this our start and end point of our Georgia tour. We rented a car and headed to north Georgia where Eric's parents have a cabin in Blue Ridge. What a lovely place! Each morning I would sit on the porch and drink strong coffee while listening to the music of the Appalachian woods. I actually enjoyed the humidity and rain knowing they were the cause of the lush green views I soaked in.

After a hike to a waterfall, stocking up on Georgia peaches, and wine tasting, we got up the next morning and headed to Thomasville, GA where Eric's parents live on a bird sanctuary called Birdsong.
Amicolola falls, north Georgia

Peaches, peaches, peaches!

Birdsong was probably my favorite part of the trip.
Their were miles of trails on the sanctuary grounds to explore and a swamp with an alligator. I want to go back, but maybe in the fall when it is a tad cooler. I love nature and there was wildlife wherever I turned. I went to a local bookstore and purchased the book, Ecology of a Cracker Childhood by Janisse Ray to learn about the local ecology. Spanish moss, crepe myrtles, long-leaf pines, and hundreds of other plants baffled me as I tried to identify them and wondered if they were native. One of my passions is birding, and unfortunately I got out of it after seeing all the birds possible in CO. On the sanctuary there is a bird window where you can watch numerous kinds of birds fly right up to you-all why lying on a couch in cool air conditioning. They were so colorful..finches, tanagers, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, blue birds, jays, cardinals...oh my! Sure, I did feel a bit guilty about marking off my bird list from a couch, but it was 100 degrees and 98% humidity outside, so I justified my actions. Here is Eric and his dad sitting in front of the bird window.
Birdsong bird window

Here is a picture of a very old oak in Thomasville. It was around when our country was founded!


I have been trying hard to overcome my fears, one of which is a severe phobia of germs, by eating sushi, allowing runny nosed babies (Erin) to sit in my lap, and working with prairie dogs. I unknowingly had another "immersion" experience to help get over these fears while on this vacation. While we were in Thomasville we drove down to the gulf. Eric and I hurriedly ran down to the water and started jumping the above average waves from the hurricane that was headed to Texas. I was having a blast and Eric decided to go out pretty deep while I took pictures.
Eric treading the waves

As dinner time approached, we tromped through the sand back to the car and noticed that all the other cars were gone. A sign that had been obscured when we pulled up now caught Eric's eye. He yelled over to me and read, "Advisory, Swimming Not Recommended due to high levels of Bacteria." I ran over and made him read the website listed and whipped out the iPhone to check out what kind of funk we had been swimming in.
Some of you have experienced my germ issues firsthand and know it can be obnoxious. Needless to say I went into panic mode, imagining myself vomiting, scratching myself raw from a rash, and contracting some unknown disease and suffering a painful death. Eric kept murmuring "shouldn't have mentioned the sign, stupid me" under his breath. We quickly changed into our clean clothes and headed to eat. My appetite was gone but I wanted to get to a restroom as soon as possible. I rushed into the restroom before the hostess could even ask how many in the party, and started scrubbing myself like a surgeon-fingernails, arms...and then realized I could probably take a pretty rudimentary washcloth/papertowel bath if I wanted to. So I did-from head to toe. My phobia lifted enough for me to semi-enjoy our seafood plate and when we got back to a shower I used a lot of soap.

After Thomasville we drove to Brusnwick to visit Scott, Lisa, and the kids. I felt better going to a doctors house, just in case my fears came true.
Lisa, Zach, and Abby on the washed down trees on the beach

Abby LOVED Eric

Jekyll Island Beach at low tide

After Brunswick we headed to Savannah and spent an afternoon exploring the coastal city on foot. It was hot but beautiful. Here is the square where the bench scenes of my favorite movie, Forrest Gump, were filmed. The bench is gone but it is a pretty big tourist attraction. Eric whistled the theme to the movie as we walked through...

We made our way back to the cabin for a relaxing evening and a day hike to Springer Mountain, the start of the 2100 mile Appalachian Trail. If anyone is interested in hiking this mammoth of a trail, let me know. Eric's dad has had a dream to do a thru-hike and some of you know that was my plan until I moved to Colorado. So we decided to try hike it at some point. I'm pumped!
Eric on Springer Mountain

We made our way back to Nashville to spend time with our nieces, Sam and Alyssa, and to make a quick trip to Huntsville to visit Eric's grandmother. The nieces adore Eric , and he lived up to his thrift store t-shirt purchase.
Eric and Sam helping Alyssa bowl

Eric and Sam relaxing at REI after bowling and lunch at Cheeseburger Charley's

Eric sharing his passion for cookies with Alyssa

Other highlights of the trip included eating barbecue, eating more barbecue, playing disc golf in Thomasville, seeing kudzu overtake the south, birdwatching on the coast, visiting Eric's mom's lab, and surviving Sam's girl scout troop that camped out one evening when we were there.

One more picture,
Eric and his dad eating in a Thomasville tradition called "All the Way Dog"