Three years ago my Dad, the
Island Girl and I went to Going Caching 2014, a
large geocaching event in Rome Georgia.
One
of the things on my bucket list is to visit the highest point in
every state so on our way to the event we went to Cheaha Mountain –
the highest point in Alabama and after the event we were going to
explore the mountains in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.
And
I regret my decision not to go.
So
this year we decided to do the same thing, minus the Island Girl, who
had classes.
We
left Wednesday morning and headed to Rome. The first part
of the event started at 6pm so we
left Gulf Breeze about 8am and wandered on up.
Once
we got into Georgia we got on the Appalachian
Highway. I've been to the
mountains a few times but they were all before I was even 15 so I
barely remember anything about them.
I
was in Hawaii in the 80s and definitely remember the mountains there
but they are quite different from the Smokies.
The
drive was beautiful. As I marveled at the mountains in the distance
they really seemed to beckon me and I knew right then that I was
going to those mountains – fear of heights or not.
We
stopped at an Ingles grocery store north of Blue Ridge to get a deli
lunch, planning to find a picnic spot down the road.
I
am not embarrassed to tell you that I felt like 'country come to
town' walking into that store.
It
was massive and at least a ¼ of the entire store was the “deli.”
Except, their deli was more like a buffet restaurant or a food court
in a mall. Every kind of food you can imagine was available.
We
picked out our lunches and as we were leaving we talked to an
employee who told us they are only in North Carolina and northern
Georgia. Very sad. I'd LOVE to have a chain of those here in
Northwest Florida.
The
best part was that we got quite a bit of fresh food for $12 – which
is cheaper than a fast food restaurant would have been. And the food
was really good.
Just
a few miles down the road we saw a sign for the Blue Ridge Dam and
turned down that way.
The
dam was a pretty spot with a picnic table and 2 fly fishermen out in
the reservoir.
Dad
and I enjoyed our lunch and after watching the fishermen for a few
minutes we decided it was time to get on the road again.
We
passed the sign pointing to Franklin Georgia – which was founded by
my great x3 grandfather. The Youngest Island Boy's middle name is
Franklin, after that side of my family, so we had to stop and take a
picture of the sign for “his” town.
We
grabbed a few easy geocaches as we traveled and we got into Rome
about 4pm.
We
explored some, visited the Myrtle Hill cemetery and then were off to
the first event.
The
event was basically to pick up our Going Caching 2017 event packages
and a time to visit with old friends and make some new ones.
After
a bit we were off to check in to our hotel and get ready for the next
day's activities.
Only
when we walked into the hotel lobby, the weather channel was on and
there was (at the time) Tropical Storm Nate – headed straight for
the Florida panhandle.
Damn.
The
Island King was home with my boys so I knew they would handle any prep
needed but my parents live right on the water and Mom was home alone.
Nate
was still a long way off so we decided to get some sleep and see what
the forecast looked like the next morning.
The
sun rose and set and day 1 of our 10 day adventure was a success.
Labels: Done
