Roadtrip through Georgia and North Carolina

16th May - 1st June 2010
To escape the oppressive heat, we headed north through Georgia and up to the Mountains as quickly as possible, making only one stop at Hard Labor Creek State Park.     By the second day of our trip we'd reached our first destination, Unicoi State Park, where we based ourselves for a couple of days.     Phil wanted to fish the beautiful Smithgall Woods State Park again and had booked a fishing spot for Wednesday.   Meanwhile we explored the area, visiting the neighbouring Anna Ruby Falls.     

Anna Ruby Falls

Fishing the challenging waters at Smithgall Woods.

The fisherman found a good fishing spot in the town of Helen.   This gave Christine ample time to explore the fake Bavarian wonderland this town had to offer!

Wednesday arrived and Phil spent his day fishing at Smithgall, whilst Christine and her (t)rusty bike explored the area.    The river swallowed up a second pair of Phil's sunglasses (must be a real-cool river!), leaving Christine to cycle all the way back to the RV for a back-up pair.    After this she walked one of the parks peaceful trails through the woods, past the old mine workings and shafts.     She was headed back to the bike when, on rounding a bend in the trail, she came face-to-face with mummy turkey and around a dozen chicks.    The chicks scattered in surprise, Christine quickly retreated some way and mummy turkey made it known she was very unhappy about the whole situation.     After facing several charges by mummy turkey, Christine decided to hurry onwards as soon as the path was clear of turkey and get out of the way, leaving the turkey family to regroup.     It wasn't really clear who was more alarmed but a full-grown turkey in a full charge is a terrifying sight!

Doesn't look too scary but look out!

Neighbours on the Tallulah River

Pyromaniac at work!

The fees at Georgia's state parks had gone up drastically since the previous year, so we decided to spend the rest of our Georgia time at a campground operated by the National Forest Service on the Tallulah River.    Our campsite was beautiful, right by the river and overrun by butterflies for some reason!     The fishing and pyromania kept us busy and even the vault toilets weren't too scary!   We were happy campers.

Next we headed to Little Switzerland in time to take over from house-sitters Bert and Tanya at our friends' house.     A couple of days later Chris and Vivian got back from their visit to Las Vegas, where they celebrated Chris' 70th birthday.

They didn't get much of a break before more visitors arrived, Vivian's aunt Verda and her family from Canada.    Now the house was becoming seriously crowded, it was time for us to take off for another camping trip.

We landed in Cherokee in the Qualla Boundary (Cherokee Reservation) land, where we found a great little campground.    Here at Bradley's campground we could camp with the luxury of electricity to run our much-needed airconditioning for only a dollar or so more than the primitive Great Smoky Mountain National Park campgrounds.    

Family dinner with Chris and Vivian.

Even more exciting was the great fishing river right through the campground.      Of course a visit would be needed to the River's Edge Outfitters branch in Cherokee for essential flies and supplies, including a brand new short fly rod.    There, we were surprised to be greeted by Chris, who we'd seen only the day before at the REO store in Spruce Pine, where naturally we'd picked up more essential supplies!

Phil tested out the new rod in the river right behind the store, three days in a row.   Here he hooked but failed to land the same, large trout, three days in a row.   The battle was getting personal!     Meanwhile Christine decided it was time to have a go at this fly-fishing nonsense.   Despite a distinct lack of training, she managed to land a trout, even if it was only the smaller brother of Phil's quarry!

 

We headed back to Little Switzerland, where we camped out in our friend's garden and enjoyed their company until it was time to head off to Greensboro for our flight to the UK.     During our stay Vivian was on a one-woman mission to get Christine into a dress and after a couple of serious shopping trips, she succeeded.    Christine returned with two designer dresses for only $20 dollars each.   They would look good with the waders!

Nothing to it really!

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