60 - "Mooching for Dummies" Done Right

We left South Carolina and headed to Tennessee so I could meet with one of my clients.  Pedro dropped me off and headed to Rock Island Falls.  He'd planned to kayak and fish but the cold weather convinced him to just fish from the shore.  While the fencing didn't allow him to get very close to the falls, he still got a pretty cool view.  I'd love to come back and see it one summer!

In keeping with our usual practice of avoiding direct routes whenever possible, we left Tennessee en route to Florida and made a stop in Blue Ridge, Georgia on our way.  Our friends Terri and Roger had been inviting us there to visit their mountain cabin and this seemed like the perfect opportunity for us.  However, they could not make it.  We felt a little guilty using their house without them (not enough to think twice about it, mind you).  However, Terri assured me that it would make great content for my book "Mooching for Dummies" that I've been threatening to write for years now.    WOW!!!  The house is absolutely amazing.  It's nestled high in the Blue Ridge Mountains with spectacular views.  It's gorgeous and comfortable and all of the things a cabin in the woods should be. 

The house is located just a few minutes outside of the town of Blue Ridge and within an easy drive of so many amazing places to hike.  Since we only had a few days, we got recommendations from both Terri and Roger and our friends Joel and Jamie who are building a house in nearby Blairsville - future mooching opportunities for us!  Our first stop was a hike to see the Toccoa Swinging Bridge.  The 270-foot long bridge is touted to be the longest swinging bridge east of the Mississippi River and while the drive up to the parking area was an adventure in itself, the hike and bridge were completely worth the effort.  Next, we found nearby Fall Branch Falls. The waterfalls, while not flowing to their full glory, were still beautiful and the hike was gorgeous.

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The next day we drove a little farther and found the Amicalola Falls State Park.  This stunning 729-foot waterfall is the highest in the state of Georgia.  The hike was gorgeous and lodge for the state park was gorgeous too with amazing views and it was perfectly decorated for Christmas.  We used the 2-mile round-trip hike up the top and back down as our excuse to stop at the local brewery on our way home.

Our all too brief stay was over and it was time to head back to Florida.  Again, at the recommendation of Jamie and Joel, we made one more stop on the way at Brasstown Bald.  Touted as the highest point in the state of Georgia with views of four states, the mountain does boast amazing views and the steep hike up and back was the perfect exercise to break up a day of driving.  Speaking of driving, the drive through the mountains was an attraction all to itself.  I certainly see the draw to this part of the country.

We arrived back in Florida and headed straight for Cocoa Beach where we'd volunteered to puppy sit for Frenchie and Pery's grand dog and stay in their wonderful beachside condo. We arrived just in town for the sunset and fell in love immediately!  Meeko is an 11-year-old Havanese who could not be any sweeter.  We had a great week with him and he happily went everywhere we went including fishing with Pedro.  My sister Julie, her husband Jim, granddaughter Gemma, sister-in-law Terri and brother-in-law Bill, all joined us for a wonderful day at the beach too. 

We left Cocoa Beach and almost a week to the day after vacating in their fabulous mountain home, we boarded Terri and Roger's amazing new yacht "Bella Mia".  This yacht was to be our home for the weekend.  We cruised up to St. Augustine for our annual Christmas get together.  It was so great to again be on a boat and this group of people are some of my most favorite.  It had been close to a year or more since we last saw them so it was another reunion also.  

The weekend we chose was also the annual Christmas boat parade for St. Augustine.  We declined to participate - too much work - but enjoyed watching it from the shore.  It was an amazing weekend and I just hope we'll get invited back.

While we were on the boat, Terri got a call from a Georgia neighbor talking about major rains in the area and asking if they had anyone to check on their mountain cabin to make sure there was no damage.  Well, being the great friends (i.e., Mooches) that we are, we volunteered to drive up there on our way to our next adventure in Rome, Georgia to check it out.   So, we disembarked from their yacht and headed back to their mountain cabin.  Thankfully, everything was perfect but we'll fill you in on that next time.

Until next post!