The RoVing Coles: North Carolina and Beyond

Well, it seems to be well past time to update you on our activities of the past few weeks. I don’t have many photos to share, but I’ll give you the rundown on things we’ve done.

In general, we walked anywhere from a mile to 2.5 miles when we felt like it, or when we had time. We hung out and relaxed a lot. There was a lot of reading and napping in the month of August. Then there was happy hour most afternoons by the creek. We got to know several really great people by joining in with that group. And what’s not to like about having a drink and the occasional appetizer in the shade of tall trees right next to the creek? Trust me; it’s a great way to end a day.

We went to the casino several more times. Our luck was never as good as the first two trips up there, but we really did enjoy it all. And in the end, we didn’t spend all we had budgeted, so we can’t complain at all.

We went to the Farmers Market in Asheville a couple of times. There’s great fresh produce there plus lots of fun snack items you don’t find in your local grocery store.

We gathered all our expenses regarding the accident in July and sent the information off to Blue Ox to see how much they’ll pay us. Julian talked with them a week or so ago and learned that the paperwork has gone to the desk of the president for final decision. So we’re hoping to hear on that in the next few days.

I spent an afternoon with my friend Stacy helping her make some note cards. She had a number of photos that she wanted to put on the fronts, so I helped her choose paper colors and assemble them. She was SO happy with them when done. We had a great time and it’s about the only card making I’ve done since leaving home.

We had lots of lunches out and a few dinners out, too. We had some great and some not so great. We visited several small towns and enjoyed them all. Here’s the view we had while having dinner one night outside of Maggie Valley.

I went to a church “Christmas in July” sale and bought a couple of things. One of our friends from “happy hour” belongs to the church and suggested that next year I sell my cards at this same bazaar. So I left my contact info with the lady in charge and we’ll see what happens.

We went to a couple of other “fairs” in the area. Maggie Valley had a craft fair over Labor Day weekend. The same weekend was the “Apple Festival” in Hendersonville. There were several blocks of craft booths and vendors selling their apples in every form you can imagine. We bought a fried pie and a caramel apple. We had lunch in town and bought an apple dumpling (something I’d never had). All of it was totally delicious.

On September 8 we moved to Georgia. We spent four nights at R Ranch, about 10 miles north of Dahlonega. It’s a really beautiful campground. All of the sites in our section are huge with very level concrete pads. That always makes the set-up process go so much easier. Anyway, here we are at our site.

It’s a good thing that there is all this beauty around us as we were totally cut off from the rest of the world here. There was no AT&T cell coverage. There was no wi-fi except at the Lodge near the front of the park. There was no cable available at the site. We finally got the antenna and converter running, but the signals didn’t hold very well and popped out from time to time.

We spent a day walking through and enjoying the downtown area of Dahlonega. Their claim to fame is having the first gold rush in Georgia. There are still several mines where you can visit and maybe get some gems. We had a great lunch and a really good time.

The next day we went to the Cabbage Patch Kids Babyland General Hospital. What a fun time we had there. They really play up the whole birth and adoption process. I’ll be making a separate post on that cool trip.

Our last day was spent in Helen. It was like being transported to a mountain town in Bavaria.

After walking up and down Main Street, we positioned ourselves for the parade. It was part of the 40^th Annual Oktoberfest. It is the longest anywhere, running from September 9 through October 31.

This band was huge! They seemed to just keep coming. And they could really play, too!

It wasn’t a particularly long parade, but it was a lot of fun.

After the parade was finished, we headed off to find lunch. We’d seen a great looking restaurant right on the river and went there. By the time we got there, a line had formed, but it moved quickly and we got in without any wait time. We shared a Weiner Schnitzel platter and enjoyed every bite.

We stopped at the Lodge at the campground to get some photos from there. It sits on top of the hill and we knew we’d get some great views. These mountains are beautiful!