North Georgia
On our last night in Pensacola, we were treated with a great sunset.
Into Alabama
Parked by a beautiful little creek in Auburn, AL.
We are going for food now, maybe a little trout fishing when we come back.
Out to Jim'N'Nick's BBQ for
Alabama BBQ ribs with baked beans and fried green tomatoes.
It rained while we were here
When we got back our stream was flooded.
No fishing tonight.
On into Georgia
more specifically, the north GA mountains and the Helen, GA area.
Our campground is at the base of Yonah Mountain.
After setting up, we took a drive around the area and found Fred's Famous Peanuts.
This area has a lot to see so I will save the town until last.
Dawsonville is the home of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame and "Awesome Bill (Elliot) from Dawsonville.
The City Hall, racing museum and moonshine still are in the same building.
Bill's son Chase has the first car you see. It was the one he drove for JR Motorsports owned by Dale Earnhart Jr.
Note the #9, That was Bill's number through most of his career.
Watch a 10 minute film of how NASCAR and Moonshine are related.
Very nice seats.
Bill's first car, owned by his father and sponcered by his father's auto dealership.
Bill Elliot was voted the Most Popular Driver 16 times.
Bill's 1992 Budweiser Ford
The 2000 McDonalds car's last race. It was taken straight from the Atlanta Motorsport track to the museum, still dented and dirty.
The #9 car was from Everham Motorsport that Bill drove for 4 years.
The Black Widow, driven by Buck Baker was the first Chevrolet to win the championship.
It won 10 races in 1957 and totaled $30,000 in prize money.
Bill's car after a Talledega wreck
He walked away.
In the same building, the Moonshine Still
It
On the outside wall there are 10 photos of "famous" moonshiners" from this area.
The middle one is the father of the cashier for the museum. She is 85.
Moonshine tasting,
Their still
They are experimenting with aging different types of spirits in the same barrels that bourbon distillers use.
They crush apples and leave them in these barrels to ferment for making their "apple pie" moonshine.
The bottling plant.
typical type of still the moonshiners used.
Habersham Winery
had one of my favorite signs.
There is an Indian mound here in the middle of a field. It is 2/3 the length of a foot ball field long and 1/2 the length of a foot ball field wide.
There is no access, it is on private property.
Near by is the Nora Mill Granary.
It uses a round stone driven by a water turbine to grind corn into grits and corn meal.
They were grinding when we were here.
Corn is fed, by gravity, into the turning stone and ground to the set coarseness then sent to barrels.
Roller mills were brought in to increase production but resulted in a less nutritiants in the product. This mill kept using the stones.
Th water turbine is under water here. It is more powerful than a water wheel.
The dam across the Chattahoochee River directing water to the turbine.
Northern Georgia Mountains was the site of the first gold rush in the country. There are still a lot of working mines here.
We knew it was a tourist thing but we had to pan some.
We bought a bucket of river sand, probably seeded, and panned until we got tired. We bagged the rest of the sand and will pan it out sometime. There was some gold there.
Helen GA.
Formerly a logging town that was in decline, the city resurrected itself by becoming a replica of aBavarian alpine town, in the Appalachians instead of the Alps. This design is mandated through zoning first adopted in 1969, so that the classic south-German style is present on every building, even on the small number of national franchisees present.
Visitors Center
Some scenes from around town
very touristy
lots of shopping
The buggy ride was only $10.00 apiece so why not.
pretty much the same as walking but easier.
still more shops
Cathy got to feed Nellie a carrot when we finished.
favorite dog
The Chattahoochee River runs right through Helen and tubing is a big thing here.
Did I mention the great German food here
The Hofbrahaus
great view of the river and tubers
escargo for an appetizer
Holsteiner Schnitzel: Pork Loin schnitzel with fried egg and anchovies and German potato salad and spaetzle for me.
Kaese schnitzel: Pork loin schnitzel with melted cheeses for Cathy.
The sign says it all
Cheese stuffed with ham, breaded and fried.
Hofer's Bakery and Cafe
Bratwurst, Knockwurst and Smoked Sausage with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes.
Now time to move on while we can still fit in the motorhome.
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