After leaving Asheville on the next leg of our Journey Of A Thousand Miles, Britt and I rode through some beautiful mountains. The leaves had not changed colors but we didn't care. Mother and daughter greeted each breathtaking scene not with squeals of delight but with the sighs and moans of a lover and with respect and reverence. This is the same daughter with whom I spent Wednesday walking the beach with her new chihuahua, Ponch. We are women of nature and are both refreshed and strengthened by drinking it in.

 

We had planned to stay north of Blairsville which was our next destination but had trouble finding a motel. There was a sign for a motel that said it was at the second light ahead. It wasn't exactly on our route but if it was only two traffic lights away that shouldn't be bad, right? Wrong! After driving about ten miles with nary a traffic light in sight we decided to turn around and get back on track. So I stop to turn around and there's another billboard with the same message. We must be getting closer. So, what does Sharon do? Why, of course, she doesn't give up easily and decides to forge on a few more miles. This time I wasn't going to be so stupid so I only went about five more miles before turning around, both of us laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation and wondering just where the hell those traffic lights could be, probably the suburbs of Atlanta we decided

 

So, we stayed in Blairsville and headed out bright and early the next day for the Sorghum Festival which is a combination craft show and sorghum syrup making event being held in a city park. We were directed to a parking lot and told there was a shuttle to bring us back to the festival but when we got out of the car it was obvious that we wouldn't be taking the shuttle. The path leading back to the main area ran along a creek so we took our time and had a lovely walk. 

 

 

I love how these trees are hanging onto the bank and wonder if the next big storm will take them over. I hope not! Aren't trees amazing how resilient they can be at times, bending and hanging on by the roots when you're sure they could fall at any minute? I find such beauty in a twisted, gnarled tree!

 
The sorghum making process at one time started with the sorghum cane being crushed by a wheel pulled by a mule. You may refer to the mule pictured below as Token.

 

 
Now the cane is crushed in a machine.

 

 

 

The juice comes out here, flows through pipes

 

 

and is collected here.

 

 

A fire is built under the trough holding the juice.

 

 

The juice is then boiled and stirred until it thickens into a golden syrup. Since it was going to be quite a while before they actually started to cook the juice off and we couldn't stay that long we bought syrup made the day before and headed on our way to the apple orchard.

 

 

We stocked up on apples and cider and Britt bought a bag of boiled peanuts. I'm not ususally a fan but she loves them if they're the small peanuts, not jumbo. These were actually pretty good and not very salty.

 

Our plans had been to spend some time in Atlanta socializing but Britt really wanted to see Amicalola Falls so plans were changed and off we headed. As we neared the park, traffic slowed to a crawl and the dread set in because I really didn't want to sit in this mess all the way to the falls.

 

 

Do you know where these people were headed? A pick your own pumpkin farm. The back up lasted for about a mile and the place was so big they had two parking lots and people in the street directing traffic. Amazing! Insane!

 

The full 729 feet of Amicalola Falls can't be seen all at once so we drove to the top for this view looking down. The road up was a 25% grade!

 

 

Returning to the bottom we walked up a trail for a view of the lower falls where Britt sat down to rest and dip her feet into the icy water.

 

 

 

 

 

We didn't make it to the middle section since Britt has a heart problem and I wasn't feeling well at that time and the climb was very steep. We have decided to make another trip when we're both fresh and ready for the trek up the trail to the main falls.

 

Wearily we headed for Jacksonville and stayed somewhere south of Macon for the night. 

 

Monday as we traveled the boring highway home we had gone through most of our CD's and needed something to cheer us up. I had brought along a few that I realized I couldn't listen to right now. You know it's funny how a song that can make you so happy one day can bring tears the next. I think that will be a subject for another day. Anyway, the supply was running short and I kept seeing a Bob Marley which I wanted to listen to but didn't think she'd like. Finally, I mentioned that we could play it and if she didn't like it we could take it out. 

 

"Oh, I love Bob Marley. I've got a three CD set."

 

God, I love my daughter!