Friday morning Ray and I packed up and ate breakfast. I took the day off from work. He dropped me at a Whatever It Takes meeting, where I saw a lot of my favorite people, including Andy L. The meeting was a little aggravating. How many times have a I been in a room with lots of other caring and talented people, and been asked to break into groups and list the things I think need to happen to eliminate poverty in Athens? Twenty? It's all rah-rah, exciting and upbeat and earnest, but nothing much has come of it yet--except keeping Tim and others employed...We'll see.

Andy dropped me at Kent's office, where Ray met me. We waited a while for Becky. Then we transferred things from their car to ours and headed off, stopping briefly at our house, because I had forgotten my hiking boots. It was mostly on the way. We stopped in Gainesville for lunch and wandered around the square where there was a fair of some sort. I bought a neat thing to hold my hair up. I was really impressed by this young woman (and her male assistant/partner), who stood with her back to us and undid and redid her hair over and over. I didn't actually buy the fabric covered giant twisty she invented, but a more attractive (by my lights) contraption of wire and beads, the Flexi-8, that she sells as well. It did not seem like an easy way to get rich, but her enthusiasm did not waver.

We drove on to Amicalola Falls State Park and it was very beautiful. The Georgia State Parks cabins are lovely and well cared for. This one had two bedrooms with king beds and private baths and a big public dining and kitchen and living area, as well as a rocking chair screened porch with a view. It was sunny and warm, but not too warm, a perfect fall day. We walked a lot, including going down and up the 425 steps to the bottom of the falls. I had brought what I thought was lasagna, but turned out to be chicken and rice casserole (the same thing we had thawed for dinner Thursday night). It was still pretty tasty. Becky made a complex chopped vegetable and fruit salad...including pomegranate from her yard. She wanted my help with a knitting project and I was able to get her started and read a little of Barbara Kingsolver before totally crashing. I have not been so tired in years. I left my clothes on the floor and barely got my teeth brushed before falling into bed and sleeping for a good solid 8 hours.

When I woke up, it was dark and no clock, so I wasn't sure if it was morning or not...a car went by and I decided to get up--lo and behold, it was 6:30. No internet access, which was fine. I still spent some time on my computer. I am polishing up a couple job applications. Ray got up, Becky got up, Kent got up; we walked up to the lodge for breakfast--an amazing food but quite mediocre food, but the price was good. The sausage was pleasantly the best thing. Spent a little time in the gift shop, went back to the cabin and packed up. Stopped at the visitor center on the way out, where they had snakes on display. We drove toward Ellijay and passed a million places to get apples, with a million people there. Bought apples and some other produce and had to pack them around ourselves. Maybe we should have taken Becky's van...we were trying to be good environmental stewards, and it was mostly pretty comfortable. Becky and I were kind of in a giant nest in the back seat, knitting and food and other stuff packed in around us. We got out and walked around Ellijay, where I loved the antique stores. We didn't actually pay the $5 to go to the "Apple Festival" craft fair. Ray and Kent were patient enough as it was. Found a pretty good place for lunch, but it was awfully slow, maybe because of the crowds. Drove through Blue Ridge--lots of nice-looking shops there and along the very northernmost part of Georgia, looking for fall colors, that were just starting to be seen in spots.

We stopped again at Vogel state park, maybe my favorite. We talked some about hiking the Appalachian Trail, in pieces. We rented paddle boats on the lake for a half hour and it was very pretty. Walked some. Got back in the Prius and drove toward home, stopping for dinner at a fun diner in Cornelia. We really packed in the fun in less than 2 days! Looking forward to another outing in the future.


All was well at home and we again slept like zombies (wait, maybe zombies don't sleep well...). It was hot in the house when we got home, but we opened it up and it was pleasantly cool this morning.