When we first started A Friend Afar, “research” took us on day trips from Atlanta to North Georgia to go vineyard hopping and share with you in this post. We’ve since returned to the North Georgia mountains again and again to discover new places to taste wine. It’s the perfect way to spend a Saturday with the girls, a date, a family outing, and celebrate special occasions. Actually, any reason will do! Here are five more of our favorite North Georgia wineries to visit from Atlanta!
Spring has sprung, and it’s time to get outside and explore on the weekends! We love living in Atlanta because Georgia just has so much to offer! Head north, and you’ll reach the Blue Ridge Mountains. Head southeast, and you’ll hit beautiful beaches and barrier islands. There’s something for everyone! Here are a few of our favorite Georgia getaways along with our favorite places to stay and things to do.
Wow we can’t believe we’re already a quarter of the way through 2016! We thought it would be fun to provide an update on our 12 trips in 12 months effort so far and our plans going forward. We’d also love to hear from those of you joining us in the challenge on where you’ve been and where you’re planning to go.
If you missed our original #Take12Trips post, be sure to check it out. Our New Year’s Resolution is to travel more often and travel differently, and it’s working!
Stephanie started off the year in Florida visiting the Florida Keys and Everglades National Park. Later in January she also took an overnight trip to the Chattanooga area with a fantastic stay at the Chanticleer Inn.
Meagan’s January trip took her to the beautiful and delicious Beechwood Inn in Clayton, Georgia.
We took a fun girls trip to coastal Georgia! First we went to St. Marys where we stayed at the lovely Spencer House Inn. Then we hopped over to Cumberland Island for a night at the stunning Greyfield Inn.
March took Stephanie on a brief trip to Phoenix to catch a spring training game with her husband Ed. Meagan & Ryan did a weekend trip to Macon to stay at the 1842 Inn!
We both went to Irvine, California for the Women in Travel Summit (WITS) 2016! Read a little about our experience there on our new friend Lindsay’s blog I’ve Been Bit. The night before we flew back home we went whale watching with Captain Dave’s and saw 5 grey whales. It was pretty exciting!
Meagan is more than a little in love with her day job. The Carter Center just held a staff retreat in Plains, Georgia, home of President and Mrs. Carter, and Meagan and her husband went to check out the small town. It’s the perfect example of a tiny southern town. The shops that you see above are all that make up downtown Plains, and that’s incredibly charming. Naturally, there’s a lot of President Carter pride there.
Stephanie is headed to Dubai and Durham, North Carolina for work in April! She’s hoping to have a bit of time to explore both.
[Photo credit: Ulrich Latzenhofer]
Meagan and her husband are heading to Istanbul for the first leg of their trip and will be there on their 5th wedding anniversary. They’ll be spending nights on both the Asian side of the Bosphorus in Kadikoy and the European side in Sultanahmet.
[Photo Credit: Kasbah du Toubkal]
Stephanie is dreaming about a domestic National Park visit for June but doesn’t have definite plans yet.
Stephanie is in the early stages of planning an epic Sound of Music tour of Austria, visiting WWII sites in Germany and maybe a visit to Prague in the Czech Republic.
Meagan has too many ideas, but none of them are concrete. Does anyone have a ticket to Hamilton that they’d like to share?
We’re both headed to Ireland with our husbands for the Georgia Tech versus Boston College American football game in Dublin! We can’t wait to explore the city and also see some of the iconic Irish countryside. If you’ve been, please give us your tips below since we’re still planning our trip!
At this point we just have ideas but nothing firm planned! Stephanie is dreaming about celebrating her three year wedding anniversary at Big Bend National Park in October. She also wants to visit Biltmore Estates in Asheville in December to see it all decorated for Christmas!
Meagan wants to take the Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad through the North Georgia Mountains and is also looking at a trip with Georgia Conservancy.
Where have you been so far this year? Do you have any exciting trips on your calendar? We’d love to hear all about them in the comments below.
If you have tips for any of our upcoming destinations, we’re all ears!
We’ve been on a mission lately to find great weekend getaways from Atlanta for you. Recently, we visited the Beechwood Inn in the North Georgia Mountains, the Chanticleer Inn in Lookout Mountain, the Historic Spencer House Inn in St. Marys, and the Greyfield Inn on Cumberland Island. We traveled from the mountains to the sea, just one of the reasons we love Georgia, and now we’re taking you just two hours south of Atlanta to the 1842 Inn for a historic Macon Bed & Breakfast.
Cumberland Island National Seashore is one of our absolute favorite places in Georgia! Pristine beaches, wild horses, and a mansion in ruin are a few highlights of why we love this place! If you’re a nature lover like we are, look no further for your next unique beach destination.
There’s a whole lot of the natural world to see on Cumberland Island. It’s Georgia’s largest and southernmost barrier Island; in fact, it’s almost twice the size of the island of Manhattan! Cumberland Island hosts a variety of wildlife, and you’ll see numerous species even on a short day trip. The island is famous for its wild horse population. They tend to congregate in areas where there’s grass, so it’s not unusual to see them near the ruins and houses. The population of horses is usually between 150 and 200, so it’s very likely you’ll also see them along paths or in the sand dunes. You might also run into armadillos, rattlesnakes, white-tailed deer, wild boars and turkeys, and even the occasional alligator, not to mention all of the birds! We’ve even seen dolphins on the ferry ride over there, so don’t forget your camera! [Note: Keep a healthy distance from the wild horses. The photos below are an exception as this young horse near Greyfield Inn came up to us! We let her nibble on our sleeves a bit, but then we gave her some space.]
For our February trip of our Take 12 Trips Challenge, we began our weekend away at the Historic Spencer House Inn in St. Marys, Georgia. St. Marys is the perfect coastal town to use as a base for not only exploring Cumberland Island National Seashore (since the park ferry departs from the port) but also other surrounding areas including Savannah, the Golden Isles, Fernandina Beach, Jacksonville and even St. Augustine. At a little over a 5-hour drive from Atlanta, an hour and 45 minutes from Savannah, and 45 minutes from Jacksonville, it’s a great long weekend destination.
The Spencer House Inn was built in 1872 and was known as one of the finest hotels in all of southeast Georgia. It operated as a hotel until 1942 when it changed ownership and was run as a rooming house. In the 1980s it was renovated and used as a professional building until 1990 when it was restored again and preserved as the Historic Spencer House Inn. The current owners, Mary and Mike Neff, took over in 1995!
Since Lookout Mountain and Chattanooga are only two hours away from Atlanta, it makes the perfect weekend getaway! Whether you’re looking to be active, relaxed or to experience culture, this area has a ton of great options. For a beautiful, relaxing place to stay, look no further than the Chanticleer Inn, a charming Chattanooga area inn on Lookout Mountain!
For the first trip of my #Take12Trips Challenge, my husband Ryan and I wanted an easy getaway from Atlanta. As is most often the case with us, we decided to head to the mountains and check out some vineyards. This time, we made our way up to Clayton, Georgia to try out Tiger Mountain Vineyards and Stonewall Creek Vineyards. Wineries? In Georgia? Yes, and you can check out reviews for the other vineyards we’ve visited here. The vineyards were great, but our favorite part of our weekend ended up being where we stayed – The Beechwood Inn, a luxurious Georgia mountain bed & breakfast with the most amazing chefs!
Stephanie and I love living in Atlanta for many reasons. We have so many great opportunities for activities in town, from art museums to historic sites, and there’s always a new international restaurant to try. We’re also close to so many great places in the outheast that we have a huge variety of day trip and long weekend options. This time of year, we love taking as many trips as possible to the mountains in Northeast Georgia to see the changing leaves. While we’re up there we always stop by some of the vineyards and orchards. October is the perfect time for apple picking, and we can never get enough apple goodies!
Mercier Orchards is one of the best orchards for apple picking that we’ve ever been to! In fact, we’ve visited year round for strawberry and blueberry picking. It’s located in Blue Ridge just an hour and a half north of Atlanta, and visiting in the fall has become a tradition for us. They have almost forty different apple varieties. Their bakery and shop is just as impressive as their expansive orchard. We always come home with a gallon or two of their fresh cider and at least a dozen of their fried pies. Try their blackberry and pecan pies as well as the classic apple pies!
Mercier Orchard is really, really busy on the weekend, so you might want to get there early. I love pulling up to their orchard in the morning when the fog is still lifting and the sun is starting to shine on the farm. It’s especially magical once the leaves start to change!
Stephanie’s family recently visited BJ Reece Orchard in Elijay, just a little closer to Atlanta. Here’s what her oldest sister, Melissa, had to say about their gorgeous fall day of apple picking.
“BJ Reece Orchard has ‘pick your own apples’ during the week. Carey [Stephanie’s niece] said Reece had the best petting zoo she has ever been to. It had baby cows, lots of goats, kittens, puppies, rabbits, and pigs. It was $3 for the petting zoo and $2 for the apple picking, plus whatever you picked. You can do the activities a la carte or the have packages, too. We really liked walking through the orchard and picking the apples knowing they were fresh. They had jams, jellies, cider, apple pastries, veggies, pumpkins and of course apples at the store.”
They also visited Hillcrest Orchard in Elijay. It was similar to the first two in many ways, but it also had amazing apple slushies!
There are so many great destinations for day trips out of Atlanta, and picking apples is so quintessentially fall. Have you been apple picking? What are some of your favorite orchards to visit? What do you make with the apples you get?
There’s something about summer that makes me want to plan a domestic trip where I spend most of the time in the great outdoors. Last time I wrote about National Parks I focused on camping trips to parks out West. But the Eastern part of the US also has amazing national parks and seashores that are completely worth exploring.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the first national parks I ever had the pleasure of visiting. Cades Cove and Cataloochee are two of my favorite areas in the park because of the wildlife viewing opportunities, including deer, elk and bears, and their campgrounds. The park also has excellent hiking, biking, horseback riding, waterfalls, and historic buildings to see. If you love the mountains, start planning your trip to this park. As an added bonus, this is one of few parks that is absolutely free to visitors! [Great Smoky photos by Laura Brown]
Acadia National Park in Maine is such a unique and stunning park. Being from the Southern US, I love the rocky beaches of the park but of course found the water too cold for my taste. Acadia is perfect for camping in the summer since it stays cool, but Bar Harbor and other nearby communities also have other lodging options. You can wake up literally at the crack of dawn to watch the sunrise at Cadillac Mountain, which is the first place in the US to the see the sun each day (though technically it changes depending on the season). Other activities include hiking, biking and boating. I’m sure the leaves are gorgeous in the fall, but I’ve only been during the summer. [Acadia photo from Mainethingstodo.com]
Shenandoah National Park is easily reached from Washington DC if you want to make a side trip while visiting our nation’s capital. Although, there’s enough to see to warrant it’s own trip as well! There’s plenty of adventure awaiting you along Skyline Drive, the 109 mile scenic roadway that runs the length of the park. Across from the Harry F. Byrd, Sr. Visitor Center on Milepost 51, Big Meadows is perfect for rambling around and viewing wildlife. There are a lot of hikes in varying levels of difficulties, including Bearfence Rock Scramble and Viewpoint at Milepost 56.4, which affords you 360 degree views of the Blue Ridge mountains.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore is part of North Carolina’s Outer Banks and consists of three barrier islands: Bodie Island, Hatteras Island, and Ocracoke Island. The pristine beaches, fun lighthouse climbs, and hiking trails with wildlife viewing are all big draws. I have many fond childhood memories camping there with my family. There are four campgrounds to choose from and other lodging options outside the park.
The northern entrance of the national seashore is in Nags Head, NC, while the southern entrance is in Okracoke and can only be reached by ferry. The ferry between Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands are free while the ferries between Okracoke to the mainland require reservations. Riding the ferry is one of my favorite parts of the Outer Banks experience!
Cumberland Island National Seashore is my favorite beach in my home state. No cars are allowed on the barrier island, so you must take a pedestrian ferry that leaves from St. Mary’s, Georgia. Most people go to Cumberland Island as a day trip, but if you like camping, the gorgeous Sea Camp Campground is pretty amazing with its stunning shade from the live oaks that lean away from the beach. Try to make reservations well in advance since it’s a popular place, and keep in mind that you do have to pack all supplies in and out. There’s also wilderness camping available if you like backpacking.
Once on the island, you can either walk or rent bicycles from the ferry company. The beach is beautiful and unspoiled with white sand and decent waves for bodysurfing. The best part of the island is seeing the wild horses and the Dungeness ruins. The first Dungeness was built by Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene’s widow, while the second Dungeness was built by the Carnegies on the original foundation but burned down in 1959. Plum Orchard Mansion is gorgeously preserved in Georgian Revival style and is open Thursday to Monday. Cumberland Island made the news in 1996 when John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bessette were married in the First African Baptist Church in the Settlement, which is one site I’ve yet to see. Guess that means I’d better plan a trip back to the island soon! [Cumberland Island photos by Laura Brown]
If you’re visiting multiple parks during the year, think about buying the $80 annual pass! Also check out my posts 2 National Parks of the West to Visit, Camping Out West in the US, and A Quick Guide to National Historical Sites for more inspiration on which parks to visit.
