Chris’s Virtual Vacations – North Georgia Mountains: Day Two

Day Two: Helen (Again), Dahlonega, and Amicalola Falls

After a free continental breakfast that consisted almost entirely of miniatures – little-bitty muffins, croissants that were about one-third the usual size, bagels the size of those little chocolate donuts – we checked out of our room and headed back to Helen. Our mission: to acquire our wedding candle.

During another trip to Helen earlier this year, we had seen someone in the Kandlestix store making an elaborate cut candle. It was neat to watch, and the results were beautiful. Anna decided back then – and that was before we were actually engaged – that we should have such a candle as our unity candle. Once in the store, it took us a few minutes to pick out the exact design we wanted, and a few more minutes to choose just the right colors, but once we did the candle was done within 10 minutes. In fact, it had to be done within 10 minutes, the young woman who cut it for us said, or the wax would harden too much to work with.

We killed a few minutes walking around town while we waited for the candle to dry, then returned to Kandlestix and picked up our candle and headed away from Helen. We stopped at the West Family Restaurant in Clevland for lunch, gorged ourselves at their Sunday lunch buffet, and set out for Dahlonega.

Dahlonega
Dahlonega was the site of the nation’s first gold rush in 1829, a good 20 years before the California Gold Rush of 1849. Between 1838 and 1861, the U.S. Mint in Dahlonega created over $6 million in gold coins. Today, the little town commemorates its heritage with its Dahlonega Gold Rush Days every October, drawing hundreds of thousands of people annually. You could say that tourism is Dahlonega’s current gold.

We didn’t find gold in Dahlonega, but we did spend an hour walking around the square, browsing in various shops. All we bought, however, was some candy at the candy store – I got some of those buttered popcorn jelly beans that I like so much; they’re almost as good as gold to me. Then we headed west towards Amicalola.

Amicalola Falls
Amicalola Falls is Georgia’s highest waterfall; in fact, it’s the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi. The Amicalola Creek forms the falls in a series of seven different cascades which total 729 feet, after which it feeds into the Etowah River. Amicalola Falls State Park is one of the main entry points to the southern end of the Appalachian Trail. If you’ve read Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods you may remember that he spent the night in the lodge here before he and his friend Katz started their walk. Anna and I are staying at the lodge, too, though we have no ambitions about walking the AT, since we both have to be back at work on Tuesday.

We didn’t see the falls on our first day at the lodge, but we did see some spectacular views of the mountains. It wasn’t raining and the sky was fairly clear, so the view from our room in the lodge was fantastic. After we got settled in, we went down to the porch and sat in the rocking chairs for a while. Anna painted with her new watercolor set. I walked around and took pictures, then sat and read Silent to the Bone, the new novel by E.L. Konigsburg. It was nearly dark, and quite chilly, by the time we went back in.

We had dinner at the lodge restaurant, an all-you-can eat buffet, then went back up to the room to feel stuffed in peace. Around 8:30 I went outside to walk around and look up at the night sky. As I rounded a curve along a sidewalk at the front of the lodge, I saw a young deer, not 15 feet ahead of me, munching on flowers. It cocked its head and examined me cautiously; I stayed still until it went back to its meal. On my next step, however, it ran up the hill towards the parking lot. I followed it around for about 10 minutes before it got tired of me and headed back into the woods.

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