Autumn in the North Georgia Mountains

You may remember that recently I was visited by my grandparents as part of a stop on a road trip up to the mountains to see some fall colors and scenery. Well, last week I was visited by my parents also looking to spy some fall color and partake in various traditional fall festivities.

 You may be noticing a pattern here.

 Well, let me tell you, for people from Florida, in order to be aware that fall exists outside of a slightly less hot pumpkin flavored summer that is punctuated by children sweating through costumes you actually have to leave the state. 

So onward they come to the Great White North of Georgia!

The first place we headed to was B.J. Reece Orchard and Apple House in Ellijay, GA to pick a peck of apples to use for all our apple needs for the rest of the season.

We unfortunately, happened to make our trip on the busiest weekend of the season it appears. The orchards were full of families coming to get their apple fix. But even with the crowding it really wasn't too bad and we were able to score a peck of apples without bumping elbows with anybody. besides the orchard B.J. Reece is also the home to a petting zoo, apple cannon and a store full of all your apple, pumpkin and autumnal needs, including their delicious fried pies.

One of the nice parts about the orchard is that you're left alone pick apples in leisure without any kind of time limit on how long you can hangout amongst the trees. I saw a couple of families that had brought blankets with them and were having a picnic in the orchard. We however, did not have that much foresight and instead took a seat directly on the grass and munched on a few apples before waving goodbye to the orchard.

After leaving the apple orchard we made a stop at Amicalola Falls State Park, which was absolutely packed to the gills with people who seemed to have the same idea we did. We actually had a really difficult time finding parking so my parents ended up dropping my sister and I off at the top so we could walk down the stairs and have them pick us up at the bottom.

And yes, we did have to rest before we made it to the bottom pool of the falls. That's a lot of stinking stairs, even if you we were only going down!

The pool at the bottom was looking exceptionally reflective and picturesque that day, with two tree lines and colorful fall leaves floating in the pond.

Luckily by the time we got down to the bottom a parking spot had opened up and my parents got a chance to have a little look at the falls before hitting the road again and wishing the mountains adieu before heading back into the city, where the trees weren't quite as colorful and the air not quite as fresh.