Our First Week in Northern Georgia

With Camp Hope as our base we have ventured out to explore the area around the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The first place we visited was the town of Dahlonega, which is located about 11 miles north of the campground. On Friday, April 4 we drove in for dinner at the GrapeVine's Italian Restaurant with familiar dishes served in a convivial relaxed neighborhood dining room.

According to their website, "Site of the first major U.S. Gold Rush and the Heart of Georgia Wine Country, Dahlonega offers an authentic, mountain getaway only an hour north of Atlanta. Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Dahlonega offers expansive mountain vistas, roaring waterfalls and bubbling streams, postcard-worthy wineries, and an abundance of entertainment."

On Saturday afternoon we drove south to take in a baseball game at Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves baseball team, at 7:15 PM. It took an hour to get there and we arrived early enough to explore the area around the ballpark and determined the best place to park the truck. We parked about a mile away from the stadium at a nearby shopping mall and walked to the ticket window at the stadium in about 30 minutes. Our 1/2 price tickets were behind the visiting team's dugout at press box level. Before entering the stadium complex we took in the sights and sounds of the surrounding restaurants and shops. Once the stadium was opened, we ventured in and walked the field level concourse seeing what kinds of food options that were available.

 This statue was created and unveiled by Atlanta-based artist Ross Rossin. The statue captures the moment on April 8, 1974, at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's long-standing 714 career home-run record.

 Behind the statue is a sculpture made of 755 baseball bats in honor of Aaron's career home-run total. A video screen plays an Aaron biography.

Truist Park is a baseball stadium in the Atlanta metropolitan area, approximately 10 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta, in the unincorporated community of Cumberland in Cobb County, Georgia. Unlike the old Brave's home at Turner Field, Truist Park does not have a stand-alone Braves museum. However, a well-appointed space in the main concourse behind home plate called Monument Garden displays many highlights of franchise history. The focal point of Monument Garden is a statue of Hank Aaron. Other statues will be placed throughout the stadium. The bat and ball from his 715th home run are displayed in the Hank Aaron Terrace above left field.

Opened in 2017, previously named SunTrust Park, the ballpark was renamed after SunTrust Bank became Truist Financial in 2020. We found our seats about an hour before game time and settled in for another professional baseball game. This was my 17th ballpark on my quest to visit all 30 professional stadiums in MLB. The game between the Miami Marlins and the Braves was a so-so affair and we decided to leave after the 7th inning and walk back to the truck.

Monday morning, April 7 the men started working on installing vinyl laminate flooring in two of the girl's cabins. The women did some needed cleaning of lodge rooms, that included cleaning walls, vacuuming and carpet cleaning. The men completed the flooring assignment in three days and we broke up into two teams to tackle a water fountain installation by the camp pool and metal awning covers over four cabin porch extensions. By the end of Thursday, I was ready for a three day break from crawling around floors and climbing ladders.

Friday was our team field trip day to the 173-acre Hardman Farm located in historic Sautee Nacoochee, just south of Helen, Georgia. It is best recognized by a gazebo-topped Indian mound and cow pasture. The house, built in 1870 by Captain James Nichols, is a grand example of Italianate architecture and was originally known as "West End" because it was at the west end of the Nacoochee Valley.

We enjoyed a guide tour seeing the house, its 19th-century parlor and large dairy barn. The last owner was the family of Dr. Lamartine Hardman who was Governor of Georgia from 1927-1931. The Nacoochee Indian Mound is a burial site and was probably used long before the Cherokees inhabited the area. The Indian Mound with its little gazebo is one of the most recognized landmarks in Georgia.

After our tour we drove into Helen, Georgia for lunch at the Old Bavarian Inn. I had a Sauerbraten dinner served with delicious Rotkohl red cabbage and Spätzle. "Das Essen war Bombe!"

Helen is best known for its annual Oktoberfest festivities, when revelers dress in traditional attire, lederhosen and dirndls, while dancing to the polka and enjoying German food and drinks. Helen is a charming Bavarian town that brings German flavor to Northern Georgia. While the area is small and quaint, there are plenty of fun activities for couples, friends and the entire family, making it a great day trip destination or even a road trip stop.