So, it is Doug’s birthday and we had a nice day planned to go to a surprise destination on a road trip. Since I have known Doug, I have never been disappointed by riding around with him to see the sights. Even though I didn’t know where we were going, I knew it was going to be wonderful.
We headed out around 11am after he took some people up to Unicoi Gap. We started out on a twisting, turning road with nice scenery on each side. We took a quick detour to cross over a creek and take a couple of photos.
We then continued on and, after a while, came upon a super awesome place, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and turned in. It was amazing and full of troll and gnome houses, chimes, and other decor. I ended up buying a super cute frog windchime and some fairy dust. The place is Sleepy Hollow in Blairsville.
We continued on our journey and stopped in Blairsville to get a bite to eat. We found an interesting looking restaurant right in the downtown square called Hole In The Wall. The sign said it had been there since 1931. We decided that this seemed like the kind of quaint restaurant we were looking for. We decided to dine upstairs and we were the only ones up there with a view out into the downtown square. We ordered drinks and some fried pickles and then the Hole Burger. While waiting for our burgers to arrive, I began to give Doug his birthday gifts one by one. I had accumulated a collection of five gifts over the past several weeks that I was so excited and anxious to give to him. It was so fun watching his reactions to them all! After we ate, the waitresses came with cake and ice cream with a candle in it and sang happy birthday. That was super cool. I like that he enjoys sweets (although the cake was huge and he took some home for later).
We then continued on our journey and I still wasn’t entirely sure where we were going. Soon, though, we ended up in a town that is actually one town, two cities and in two states. McCaysville, Georgia and Copperhill, Tennessee. There is actually a blue line through the town that separates the two states and it goes right through the buildings. Even the river has a different name as you cross it from one state to the other. We stopped in to a local bottle bar to have a drink and, although the place was pretty much empty, it ended up being very entertaining. A lady at the end of the bar was quite the talker and QUITE the redneck. She went on and on about all sorts of topics and goings-on and she was not shy at all about her vulgarities! Doug and I both said that it felt like we were in a movie.
We hung out in this twin city town for a bit and took some photos and then headed on to Blue Ridge, Georgia to get a hotel and spend the night. After checking in, we went downtown to the Whistle Stop Grill where we heard they were doing Karaoke. After sitting down and ordering a drink, Doug grabbed the song book and picked a song to put in. He ended up singing three songs while we were there. We once again met a very interesting, and very drunk, older woman who was also not shy with her vulgarities and somewhat aggressive flirtations. She was funny and as she apologized to me for coming on to Doug a bit, she reassured me I had nothing to worry about by saying, “Honey, my parts are so closed up you probably couldn’t get a finger up there”. It was a good thing I hadn’t just taken a sip of my beer as I didn’t quite expect her to say that and I just choked and laughed.
We headed back to the hotel, hung out for a few hours talking and other fun stuff, and then got up the next morning to shower and head back to Helen. On the way, we did some sight-seeing and stopped at a few places. It was a spectacular time and I hope it is the first of many wonderful birthdays that Doug and I share together.
