Have you ever had one of this weeks where you are so exhausted when you get home that you don't want to look at your computer? That was my past week and the sad part is I only worked four days this week!
Anyways, last week was my amazing Mom's birthday! We took off Friday and Monday to make sure we could celebrate this occasion to the fullest! We started our adventures on Friday and headed up into the mountains to Blue Ridge, GA. Blue Ridge is typically a pace you will find us in during the Fall, but we have not been up there in over a year and felt the need to go. Since Mom and I live so far north in GA, it is only about a 60 mile drive to downtown. We left around 9 a.m. and had some of the most beautiful sights on the drive up, check them out!
The scenic views on the way up!
Our first stop for the day was Mercier Apple Orchards. Mercier is a family owned and operated apple orchard and is less than two miles from downtown Blue Ridge. They have a lot of land, a beautiful lake (which sometimes is home to a beautiful swan) and has an amazing market. Since it is currently not U-Pick season, we mainly went up to partake in the bakery. Nestled inside of the market they have a bakery, which during peak season is packed, to have one of their delicious apple fritters. Now, I am one of those people who don't mind fruits in food, but the smaller the pieces of food, the more I like it. These apple fritters have very small pieces of apples throughout and it is probably one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. We got our fritter, found a table, and ate it before we started our shopping excursion through the market.
Wandering through the market could potentially take you hours. They have housewares, local honey, soups, sauces, gifts and a whole room for locally grown produce and apples. One new thing they installed, since the last time I was there, was a sample counter where you can sample apples and other items from the store. Did I mention they also have a tasting room? Mercier makes hard apple cider, which you can sample there, but they also carry wines from local wineries.
The lake at Mercier!
The entry to the Market!
The bakery!
Our apple fritter! YUM!
The sample counter
One of the beautiful displays in the market!
Apples for sale!
I love this bench outside of the tasting room!
The orchard! Next time I see these, there will be apples on them!
Once we were finished at Mercier, we headed over to Downtown Blue Ridge to wander the unique shops you will find there. They have everything down there from clothing shops, gift shops, vintage book store to delicious restaurants. They are also known for the Blue Ridge Scenic Train, which will be another blog post when I do it again. We parked near the courthouse, which was nice because we were at the end of the street. We started making our way down the main row of shops and quickly found ourselves in a store that has items from Big Foot, Kraken and other creatures that are lurking on earth. It was a pretty cool store and come to find out there is a full museum of this, I will have to add this to my list of places to go. We made our way through the clothing stores, book store, cute gift shops and even stopped to try the new tea place. It was a great, relaxing, fun day away from work and the city!
After we parked we had to walk past the Fire Station...
who knew my initials were on the front of the truck!
Downtown Blue Ridge
I found Big Foot!
Inside of Tupelo Tea
They have a Blue Ridge Vanilla tea that is amazing!
The quote inside of the Blue Ridge Cotton Company!
Look at this cute face!
I found a Moose!
Look at this beautiful drive home!
If you are ever in North Georgia, you definitely need to add this to your list! I can't wait to go back and pick some apples! I'll see you in the Fall Blue Ridge!