The last few weeks have been a complete whirlwind. Work has been crazy, I’ve missed my family like crazy-just everything pure crazy. Michael and I had a few days where we could both get away and decided that after nearly 7 years together, it was due time to have a vacation-just the two of us. Alright, so it was a mini-vacation, but still-I’ll take 2.5 days over nothing! I asked around and got some recommendations from people I work with, and we decided to celebrate our very first solo-cation in Blue Ridge, Georgia.
To be honest, I had never heard of Blue Ridge. Being from Ohio, most of the time when someone wants to escape to a cabin in the mountains they go to Hocking Hills, so knowing there was something similar (side note: I say similar, I have no first hand experience because I managed to live in Ohio for 9304839 years and never actually made it to Hocking Hills) only 3.5 hours away from Nashville seemed perfect for a little getaway. We took a risk, booked a small cabin online, and prayed that the when we showed up it would look like it did in the pictures (it did).
We ended up renting a cabin called “Four Season’s” through A Blue Ridge Vacation Cabin Rentals. It was a perfect 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom cabin, and we really wanted to stay forever.
I mean, that living room-it was gorgeous.
We were surprised to find that the cabin had everything we could have needed-games, a Wii, a hottub-even a toaster and coffee maker.
Alright, so I’m no good at panoramic photos, but you get the idea. I would have loved to have a view of the mountains, but this view wasn’t anything to complain about! Plus, we saw a few deer eating their breakfast one morning, so I was happy.
We planned on going paddleboarding our first day in Blue Ridge. Neither of us had gone before, but found a great guy who gave us a lesson and a trip on Blue Ridge Lake. He and his wife (and two dogs!) taught us the basics and we spent the rest of the afternoon traveling the lake and taking in the views. All in all we were on the water over 4 hours (note to self: more sunscreen next time), saw some beautiful scenery and totally fell in love. Seriously, we’re already plotting how we can work a paddle board into our wedding registry.
If anyone is looking for a great paddle board instructor/people in general in the area, look up Chris at SUP Blue Ridge (surfblueridge-sup.com)-AMAZING. Afterwards we stopped to grab a bite to eat at Toccoa Riverside Restaurant. I’m almost ashamed to say it, but we ate Cajun Popcorn-read:crawfish tails-AND I LIKED IT.
Our last day in Blue Ridge, we knew it was going to rain in the afternoon and wanted to stay low key for the day. We also slept in until about 11am because my father decided he would have a “heart event” aka minor heart attack the night before (he is fine and at home now and doing great and told me not to come home to Ohio so don’t judge me), so we were up most of the night-anyway, so we decided to go to downtown Blue Ridge that afternoon and take it easy. And then I saw this…hellooooo moose shrub.
I also decided to break my 8 month stretch of being devoid of beer for just one afternoon, #thanksgluten, so we ventured to Blue Ridge Brewery and had some lunch and some local beers. They had a few beers on tap they brew in house, and they didn’t disappoint.
The rest of our time away was spent relaxing in the hot tub, tending to very burnt skin, and screaming at spider intruders. We didn’t get a chance to go hiking, which we are bummed about, but that just means we have to go back. Our vacation was short but I don’t think we could have picked a better location to spend a few days away. We will see you again, Blue Ridge.
Whiskey & Matches 