A month and a half after I returned to work for the new year, I took advantage of Presidents Day and headed back to Georgia to see its inland sites. I landed in the north eastern part of the state after a night in South Carolina and planned to circle the state clockwise over the rest of the week. By returning so soon after a vacation there, I had a sense that my full-time life was in Georgia; in between, I worked in Washington.
My first stop was at Tallulah Gorge State Park, a lovely scenic falls in the midst of the Chattahoochee National Forest. It was beautiful, but also very rainy with occasional fog. We attempted a walk under the canopy but the rain was soaking. The park was a one of the state’s first preservation projects, started by the widow of a Confederate general who had been forty years older than her. Despite the terrible weather, the park offered stunning views and a beautiful welcome to Georgia.
From there we headed to Dahlonega, which is the heart of the Dahlonega Wine Trail. I got lost a few times on this foggy, wet day in February, but I made it to two vineyards for tastings. The winery business was fairly brisk–in some cases crowded–because Atlanta is just over an hour away and it was a Sunday before a public holiday. Still tired from the day’s journey to get there, Tamu and I settled in early that night, happy to be warm and dry in Georgia.