Relishing Rabun! (Rabun County, GA)

Relishing Rabun!

On my way into Clayton (in Rabun County, GA), I stopped at my “go to” place for caffeine (Coca-cola, never coffee!), bathroom breaks, and wi-fi: Micky D’s (McDonalds!) Then, I picked up the August issue of Georgia Mountain Laurel magazine, at the magazine’s office in downtown Clayton. (You can now read the magazine online by clicking HERE. )

I’d seen an article in the Georgia Mountain Laurel’s online version about the Orianne Society, which is an organization dedicated to conserving reptiles and amphibians in the wild. Having never heard of them, I called to see if they are open Saturdays. Upon finding they are not, I stopped briefly by their organization’s headquarters on 441, across from the United Community Bank. I spoke with some very nice people, and saw several venomous snakes, a venomous Gila Monster, a tortoise, and a majestic Eastern Indigo snake, which is listed as “threatened.”

I called Annie’s at Alley’s in Lakemont to see what time they closed, and to make sure they had some pimiento cheese. I slid in, just before 5, to pick up bread and pimiento cheese. I don’t care much for hot and spicy foods, but Annie’s pimiento cheese has a nice “kick,” and is almost addictive! All their sandwiches and soups are good, as well. Annie’s is now open on Sunday afternoons, starting at noon!

Be sure to try the pimiento cheese!

While having a snack at home, and enjoying the long-range view of the beautiful mountains of Rabun County and beyond, I happened to look behind me, and saw a baby bear, about the size of our puppies, playing in the grass! I’m estimating it was about 30 pounds. (Our property adjoins National Forest land, and has bountiful wildlife trails crossing it.)

Baby Bear!

My friends, Jean Jones, and her daughters, Kelly and Shannon arrived about 9 p.m. for the weekend. We caught up, and then had a “midnight snack,” which included more of Annie’s pimiento cheese!

First thing Saturday morning, I saw a beautiful sunrise! When everyone else got up, we watched wild turkeys and deer. Hoping for another bear sighting. No luck! We went to Tiger Food Mart and split a biscuit and cookies, to hold us till lunch. Tiger Food Mart is where I get my "sweet tea" caffeine fixes! (Sweet Treats and Antiques was closed for vacation. I was disappointed, since that is my favorite dessert place!

My "Mountain Cathedral" (with thanks to Dan Fogelberg for the term.)

Next on my regular agenda: Goats on the Roof. Shannon and Kelly earned their Goat Ranger Stickers by feeding the goats. Kids of all ages enjoy feeding goats!

Kelly and Me

The Jones Girls with a Goat Friend!

We crossed over into South Carolina, to go to the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River. We walked down to watch rafters and kayakers at Bull Sluice. Jean and the girls walked down to the beach and rafting put-in point. We worked up an appetite for lunch at the Dillard House, which was our next stop! I can't believe we forgot to take pictures there! Shannon went crazy over the Butternut Squash Souffle and biscuits!

Bull Sluice Rapids on the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River

After lunch, we stopped by Sylvan Falls Mill for some freshly ground cornmeal. I bought blue cornmeal to try! We continued on to the lake in Black Rock State Park, where we walked off some of our lunch, on the mile-long trail around the lake. I enjoyed taking wild flower photos.

Sylvan Falls Mill Grinding Machinery

Lake and walking trail in Black Rock State Park

We stopped in at the Foxfire Gift Shop, where I saw my friend, Laurie Brunson Altieri. Laurie is back with Foxfire, after living in Virginia for 35 years. She was one of the "Foxfire kids" in the 70's, and worked for Foxfire after college for a couple of years, too. Laurie is a great story-teller, and I know she’s an asset in her new job! She really whetted our appetite for a tour of Foxfire’s 22 reconstructed historic buildings! We didn’t have time to complete the self-guided tour Saturday, but I can’t wait to go back to explore some more!

We finished our day with some "rest and relaxation:" reading, napping, hot tubbing, and wildlife sightings! Everyone decided to turn in early, in anticipation of another fabulous day in Rabun County!

Sunday morning, Jean awakened me a little after 6:30 with these exciting words: “There’s a bear outside!” I jumped up, handed Jean my camera, and told her I’d go tell Kelly and Shannon. We saw a fabulous sunrise, and watched a fairly large male bear exploring our yard for almost an hour!

"The morning sun is shining like a red rubber ball...." From a song by Cyrkle.
It was really redder than it looks!

Medium Sized Male Bear 

After the bear left, since we were all wide awake, we decided to head out for breakfast at the Cupboard Café in Dillard. We all enjoyed our bountiful breakfasts, and were glad to have started our day early!

On our way from breakfast to Wal-Mart for some necessities, Jean spotted a sign for The Kudzu Factory in Mountain City. We were intrigued, so we stopped. We enjoyed the artistry of Joleen Oh’s and Cleve Phillip’a woven pine needle and kudzu creations. We sampled white chocolate Kudzu Candy and I bought some kudzu blossom jelly, which I love! Joleen and her mother also make beautiful cards out of kudzu paper!

Joleen let us in to the Promenade Arts and Craft Mall in Mountain City, located behind the Kudzu Factory, so we could peruse the wonderful treasures inside. The Promenade is located in Mrs. Rodgers’ warehouse, which for many years housed a mail order craft kit business. While I was growing up, Mrs. Rodgers was my grandparent’s neighbor across Johnson Street.  

After Wal-Mart, we visited one of Rabun County’s many waterfalls for some photo opportunities. After Shannon got into the falls, I got in with her! Then, Kelly and Jean joined in the fun!

The “Jones Girls” got to see bears twice on Sunday, and after they left, I got to see TWO baby bears with a male bear! I was stunned by how quickly baby bears can climb trees! What a blessing to be able to see such magnificent creatures in the wild!

TWO baby bears!

Here is a link to a previous blog about Rabun County, showcasing some of the MANY reasons I loved Rabun County as a child and why I love living here part-time! 

Whirlwind Rabun County Tour!

Whirlwind Rabun County Tour!

Late this past Monday afternoon, I drove up to Clayton, Georgia, and took a tour of Chevin Woodruff's beautiful event facility, Splendor Mountain. It's an ideal place for a small wedding, family reunion, or special retreat.  Here's one of the  many scenic views at Splendor Mountain.

I'm hoping to possibly partner with Chevin for some Christian retreats in beautiful Rabun County. My newest retreat topic, "JOY on the Journey," is designed to help women refresh their minds and bodies through retreat sessions and activities, restore their souls through Bible study, and rediscover the joy of their salvation, while meeting and interacting with other amazing women! Anybody interested in prayer and inspirational retreats, individually, with friends, or for groups, contact me!

A fortuitous phone call to my childhood friend, and neighbor from Fernandina Beach, Florida, Hugh Williams, resulted in a visit from his family while they were on the way to Tennessee. Hugh, his wife, Ann, and daughter Landyn arrived Monday night, for a spur-of-the-moment stay. We "caught up," made some tentative plans for the next day, and enjoyed the hot tub before bedtime!

Tuesday morning, we realized the coffee pot didn't work. No problem for me, since I don't drink coffee; but we piled into the car for a quick trip to Grapes and Beans for Hugh and Ann. Coffee, tea, and muffins fortified everyone!

We picked up the new issue of Georgia Mountain Laurel magazine at Grapes and Beans. It's always my "bible" for where to go and what to do in northeast Georgia and adjacent areas of North Carolina! The new online version makes it so easy to share stories, shopping finds, and restaurants with friends who're coming to the area!

While everyone was at Grapes and Beans, Cook's Computer Services, across Savannah Street, let me use their wi-fi to send some documents! They're very nice!

We went to Warwoman Dell, and climbed the stone steps up to the old railroad bed, then crossed the road to climb up to Becky Branch Falls.

All the climbing and hiking made us hungry, so we headed to Tiger Food Mart for the world's best burgers and sweet tea! (And a BLT for Landyn.)

Since Tiger Food Mart didn't have their famous chocolate cake, our dessert was from my favorite dessert place: Linda's Sweet Treats and Antiques in Tiger. Fresh German Chocolate cake, and white cake with Chocolate icing were finger lickin' good! (When I get Linda's caramel cake, I want to keep eating it till it's gone!)

Next stop: Goats on the Roof! Landyn loved feeding the goats. She earned her "Goat Ranger" sticker by delivering goat food to the goats via pedaling a bike and hand pulling a clothesline-type delivery system. Landyn also cracked open a couple of geodes to discover what kinds of crystals were inside.

Pedaling to deliver goat food.

Mission Accomplished

Overview of part of the Goats' Rooftop Village

Geode Cracking Machine

Next on our tour, was viewing the Tallulah Gorge from the Tallulah Point Overlook, and, of course, doing a little bit of shopping! They have GREAT nature and children's books, toys, souvenirs, and nostalgic signs, furnishings, and foods!

Since Tallulah Point Overlook didn't have any boiled peanuts for Landyn, we went on the Indian Springs Trading Post to get some. There are lots of oddities and antiques here, and it's where I bought my bear bench for outside. We had our pictures taken with their indian and bear cutouts.

We made a quick stop at the Chattahoochee National Forest Tallulah Ranger District Office, north of Tallulah Falls, on 441, so everyone could see a taxidermied black bear, the size of one we'd seen at our house. We also picked up some brochures and area information.

Hillside Orchard is one of my regular stops. We sampled their peach and strawberry ice cream--both of which were delicious--and some of their jellies and salsas. Hugh and Ann stocked up on jellies, jams, pecan apple butter, salsa and honey! (We also bought some peach bread, which I used for French Toast with Praline Pecan Sauce, the following morning. Their breads make AMAZING French Toast!) After we finished shopping, Landyn and Hugh enjoyed feeding more animals at their petting zoo.

After a tour of the area near my house, we headed to another water fall to wade and take photos. I was trying to recreate the Raisen book cover photo below, by sitting on the rock, and letting the water massage my back. However, as you can see, the water flow was so powerful I was unable to even get close to the rock ledge! The further left I got, into the main flow, the more difficult it was to stand. The water was literally holding me away from the rocks! I asked Hugh to hold on to me so the force of the water didn't push me over headfirst, but I was unable to climb on the rock! (By the way, the water was probably about 60 degrees!)

As you can see by comparing this with the photos below,
there was a lot more water flowing when we were there!

I could stand to the right of the main flow, but as soon as I moved left and closer to the rocks,
the water started pushing me over!

Hugh was helping me balance as I was trying to back up to sit on the rock.
The force of the water is literally holding me off the rocks!

We called Mama G's to pick up pizza and Greek salad to take home with us for supper. Always delicious! 

Pizza on the porch!

After supper, we took a walk to a little waterfall near the house, and Landyn found several LARGE bear tracks! We didn't see any bears, though!

After a relaxing time in the hot tub, we looked at the photos from the day, and went to bed, tired and happy!

Next morning, after French toast, a little more local exploration by Hugh and Landyn, and packing up, we went to the Dillard House for their bountiful, family style lunch! Ed was happy! I brought the leftovers home for him! 

Sunrise--I love all the layers of mountains!

Sated, but not stuffed! 

We ran out of "available meals" and didn't get to go to Zeppelin's or the Clayton Cafe, which are two of my favorites. I wanted the Williams to see 

Reeve's Hardware, too, but we'd need a full second day to fit all those in! 

We tried to go to the Tiger Drive-In, but they're not currently open on Monday-Wednesday! Maybe next time!

Click HERE for more photos!