Fall leaves.

The past couple of years we've driven up to North Georgia to see the leaves. And they were past their peak both times.

I was bound and determined that would not happen this year!

I've been keeping a close eye on the Georgia Leaf Watch website, and knew that this past weekend was the weekend to go, or risk seeing past-peak-pretty-empty trees. Again.


Be prepared for a bit of picture overload, since I can't choose which ones to leave out (well, I did leave some out, just so you know):

 Our first stop was Desoto Falls. It was so pretty! There were two short hikes--one to the lower falls, and one to the upper falls. Don't you just love the warning on this sign?!

 The Lower Falls

 

  

And the Upper Falls (And us - not sure why these pictures are so blurry. Frustrating.)

 

Yeah. Those two crazy guys left the trail--the same trail with the "Do Not Leave the Trail Because You Could Slip and Fall To Your Death" sign. The one guy's wife just shook her head.

 Next we stopped at Vogel State Park. We didn't hike there, but we will next time! It was so pretty too!

 Loved the purples on this tree!

 On the way down the mountain, we stopped at the beginning of the Appalachian Trail (which goes from here to Maine). Beautiful view!

 The resident cat. I hope he's careful - it's a long drop from where he's reclining. :)

 This is a great little shop (the view and the cat are behind it), where you can buy pretty much any hiking-survival-in-the-woods stuff you'd need.

 I saw a sign for this shop from the road and just had to check it out. It was the cutest little store with lots of fun stuff for camping and hiking. A man and his two kids were in the store talking about wanting to go and find some bears to see (there was a "Beware of Bears" sign close by). I told John, "I'd love to see a bear! But not too close up."

We left the store and continued driving down the mountain and not too far from the store, we saw bikers and cars pulled over looking at something...do you see it?

 

It's a little baby bear!!!! He was so cute! I made asked John very nicely to turn the car back around so I could take some pictures, and of course, he did. Smart man! As I was walking back to the car (because I didn't want to spend too much time looking at the bear cub, because where there's a bear cub, there's a mama bear), he actually sat up and started looking around.  So cute!

This is the Original Courthouse in Cleveland, Georgia. They built the road around it. I love this part of Georgia - the historical buildings!

And since we were in North Georgia, we had to stop at Jaemor Farms on the way home. Of course!

We got some very yummy apples with names we'd never heard of before, and John got a chocolate fried pie and Kailen got an apple fritter. I got some peach ice cream. All were quite tasty!

It was an awesome day, and it was so nice to get away from "life" for a few hours and enjoy the beautiful fall colors and scenery.