Every now and then, I'll get a wild hair up my rear that makes me want to go do something or explore areas that I've yet to explore. Mid-June, I had one of these moments and the desire to explore North Georgia was set on fire.
My friend Lesley went to Tennessee and North Carolina on a vacation and was telling me about her trip. She mentioned that they went to "Goats on the Roof" on their way to NC. I had no idea what she was talking about and then she sent me some pictures. I immediately wanted to go and knew that Gus would love it.
I asked a few friends if they wanted to go with me, and they said they did, but on the day we were slated to go, two of the three backed out. Thankfully, we were still able to go and meet my friend Rachel with her daughter Sara (Hugh's bff) and then her sister was in town, so she and her daughter came too.
We met at GOTR and it was quite the hike. My GPS said 1.5 hours, but it ended up being two. By the time we arrived, Hugh had had enough of being in the car. I had asked Steve to make him forward facing for the trip, and I'm glad I did, because he was at least able to face forward while traveling such a distance.
GOTR was awesome. It's exactly what it sounds like. A place on the side of the road, in the middle of the North Georgia mountains, with goats on the roof. Here are my pictures:
Hugh and Sara
You can pedal a bike to send up a cup to the roof. In the cup, we bought an ice cream cone that was filled with goat food. Gus was very excited to send up some food to the goats on the roof!
Across the way, there was another way to send food to the goats-- a line attached and you pulled the line and it sent the bucket over and dumped it out for the goats.
After we had lunch, we decided that since we were already in North Georgia, we'd drive over to Cleveland and hit up Babyland General. You know me, I can't pass up a chance to go to Babyland General, so we agreed to follow Rachel and we headed to the home of Cabbage Patch Kids.
It was about an hour from Tiger, GA to Cleveland, GA, but the drive was all back roads, and it seemed a lot faster than the drive up. When we arrived at BLG, it was very dark and I was sure it was going to start raining.
He was less excited this time than he was the last time we came and he stood in the box
Hugh was excited though!
Gus loved playing with the dolls and the hair station
He especially enjoyed a push-pop on the porch while sitting in a rocking chair and watching the storm roll in
I wore Hugh thinking that he'd fall asleep (it was after his usual naptime) but he didn't sleep until we got in the car
The clouds were dark, but there was a break that was small, and lit and looked like Heaven opening up!
We had a great time exploring North Georgia, but it taught me something very valuable. At the current age that Hugh is (18 months), he cannot handle being in the car for more than 2-4 hours at a time. He was losing his mind as we headed to Tiger and then the whole time we drove to Cleveland, he was crying.
As a result of his tears and misery, I told Steve that I think our trip to Michigan and Indiana needed to be pushed back. When Gus was 18 months, we moved from NC to GA and it was a rough ride. I remember him being too antsy to travel long distances, and Hugh was miserable the whole time. I can't do that to him, and it wouldn't be fun for anyone in the car either.
We decided that we're not going to head north this summer, and instead we'll just see about going up next year. I'm sad to miss seeing friends and family, but it's what's best for our family.
