When Grandma Came to Atlanta---Part III

Saturday may have been my favorite day of my mom's visit. We drove north through rolling hills and beautiful green trees to Amicalola Falls State Park. We hiked to the top of the waterfall (more like stair-stepped to the top of the waterfall---600 stairs total) and were rewarded with a gorgeous view of the Appalachian mountains. I bet this view would be even more breathtaking in a couple weeks when the trees are showing their Fall colors.

at the base of the falls

The beginning of the trek back down

smiling at Grandma

After the hike, we continued driving to Ellijay to the Georgia Apple Festival. The festival itself is held at the fairgrounds and is basically galoads of vendors sell crafty things, fried things, and all things apple (caramel apples, apple cider and apple cider donuts, apple dumplings and fritters, etc.). There were also numerous local orchards open for U-pick, selling their apples and apple goodies and providing all kinds of fun events like hayrides and pig races.

Our Ellijay stay wasn't very long, because Pete had something to do at home. We quickly stopped at Hillcrest Orchard and got some apples. We decided to save the hayrides, etc. for next year, when Emery is older and will have more fun. Then we went to the festival itself at the fairgrounds. We definitely hadn't anticipated the traffic/parking situation there. People were parking miles away and being bussed to the fairgrounds---it was pretty crazy. We almost decided to just go home, because our time was running out, but then we miraculously found a parking spot only a short distance from the fairgrounds. By the time we got into the fairgrounds, we only had about 10 minutes before we needed to head for home. We didn't get to see much, but the three of us (my mom, Pete, and I) really wanted to try some of the food, so we decided to divide and conquer and then meet back up to share our southern goodies.

picking up a few apples in the craziness at Hillcrest Orchards

All in all, by the end of out trip to the orchard and festival, we had tasted delicious apple cider, fresh apple cider donuts, caramel apple, and fried green tomatoes (oh, and a corn dog, because out of all the variety  of southern food at the festival, Pete chose to buy a corn dog. This makes me laugh).

The rest of my mom's stay with us was a little more relaxing than the first several days. After church on Sunday, we did a little Emory campus tour and Pete and I took a 2 hour nap. (That small detail is blog-post worthy, because the last time I took a nap was, well...I don't remember. Months ago though). On Monday, my mom, Emery, and I went for a walk at Lullwater Park on campus, and spent time together doing other things I don't remember. What I do remember, and what I enjoyed the most about my mom's visit were the simple things: watching her and Emery play together, chatting and doing crafts together, laughing as we watch dumb shows on netflix, and doing lots of active stuff like walking and hiking. She helped so much with dishes, meals, Emery, etc. I threatened that if she didn't stop, I wasn't going to let her go home!

Nearly everyday since she left, either Pete or I make a comment on how fun it was to have my mom here and how much we miss her! We can't wait until December when we get to visit her and the rest of our families!