Here's Nate and Maddie at the front porch and under the shadow of King Kong's butt. We joked about this last time, about the view here. Isn't it romantic?
We had a great meal there. It was a little busy, but that's okay. Maddie and Nate tried the peg game - unsuccessfully, I might add! They had three pegs left. Ah, the young. This was one of those newer peg games that doesn't outright call you an ignoramus for falling short. But I tell you, that's what fueled me to get this peg game mastered. No one is going to call me an ignoramus anymore! I did the peg game for everyone, a small masterclass on how not to be an ignoramus - and then the food came. It was good at always. We've been to this Cracker Barrel a few times, and it was nice. The store is always fun to walk around in, which was convenient, given we had a twenty-minute wait or so.
And then it was time to head home. We went over the Great Smoky Mountains at the peak of leaf season, and that's something we haven't really nailed precisely over the years, as it changes from year to year somewhat based on temperatures and rainy seasons and so on. But this year, we timed it exactly right. And sure enough, we had that dulcimer music in there playing as we rode over the mountain on a gorgeous, wonderful day, blue skies overhead and some of the most brilliant, dazzling oranges, yellows and reds high up in the mountains. It was the greatest display of color I've seen, with leaves cascading gentling down like snowfall all around us - it was a magical drive over the mountain. Add to this a bear sighting: traffic slowed down for a younger bear that was alongside the road.
Oh boy though. On the North Carolina side of the park, a large camper trailer had broken down and just stopped working... in the road! Nowhere to pull over, and let's just say we were glad we weren't traveling north yesterday. The line of traffic on that single lane road went on for miles and miles and miles down the mountains. But we moved along without incident, and just took in the wonderful fall scenery. I obviously couldn't take any pictures, as I was driving. And that's okay. We'll remember the spectacular colors of fall.
So we got to about Franklin, and that's where we made the decision to go home a different way. Sorry Clayton, Georgia. All that uncoordinated GDOT traffic mess cancelled our plans for us to stop in Clayton, because we didn't want to spend another two hours in traffic. We took a different route home, and I'm so glad we did - it was a really pretty drive, with so much more fall color to see, and gorgeous views from the mountains.
I pulled over at one viewpoint, and all of it was something new for us. We traveled west on 64, and then found the road down to Hiawasee, going past the lakes and looking up at Brasstown Bald from down below. The ride over the mountain to Helen was exactly as I remembered it, a crazy curvy road. And at the end of that, we decided to stop for a bathroom break, and to stop at Betty's Country Store. This is a new Betty's, or at least it seems new to me even though it's probably been in this location for over twenty years now. Regardless, I remember going to Betty's nearly every day, and every day getting a new unique carbonated beverage like celery soda, Moxie, and my favorite, "Jolt Cola." There were always sarsaparilla bottles and root beer, and really potent ginger beers. We reached into that same old-fashioned refrigerator cabinet that I was reaching into for decades ago, and the four of us got some cream sodas, a caramel apple soda, and for me an imported drink I've never heard of and had no idea what the taste would be, because it was all written in Austrian (which I only found out later at home). The drink was Almdudler, and it was on the pricy side, but I'm glad I tried it. I looked this up later, but Almdudler is popular in Austria, second only to Coca-Cola. It's a unique flavor, but I'm going to say it's not my favorite. It wasn't awful like Moxie or Beverly, but it wasn't great either. Still, I'm glad I picked it up, and we were glad to stop at Betty's. Maddie got her Cheerwine again - I think she likes it!
It was Oktoberfest there in Helen, but we drove right through - slowly of course. Lots of traffic building there. It was a beautiful day. So onward to home, right? Right!
Yes, we made it to Nate's and dropped him off and they said their goodbyes. Maddie and Nate had a splendid time together. We drove home, and there was something in our driveway, something big.
It's a new car! More on this teaser later on, but for now, let's just close up the day. Everyone's tired, and we were cleaning up and packing up and all of that. We didn't watch anything on television, just spent some time getting settled in. We did read tonight, a little, and after that, we said our prayers. It was a nice little fall getaway! Here are a few more pictures from today's adventure:
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