Helen, Georgia

 Our second state to visit was Georgia. We were supposed to go to Helen, Georgia with one of my friends, but I ended up having to work, and we weren't able to go. We decided to take a day trip while I had some time off work. We went during summer, and it was so hot! It reminded me of a smaller Gatlinburg, TN. There are trails you can hike, and you can tube down the river. 

The drive was pretty from our house. There were several pull off spots to take in the scenery.

We were ready to jump in with our clothes to cool off. 

This bridge reminded me of the Pont des Arts in Paris. I've never been to Paris, but I have seen the bridge in pictures and on tv. I would love to visit Paris someday. 

We ate at the Troll Tavern. We both enjoyed it, but thought the food needed salt. We sat outside and this was our view. 

I took a snippet of the menu. We both got the chicken salad sandwich. The heat ruined our appetite, and we really just wanted a drink. I saw someone ordered the burger and it looked and smelled good.  We would definitely come back here to eat.

My favorite store was the Christmas Shoppe. When we walked in it was like we stepped right into Christmas. Christmas music was playing, and all the ornaments were hung on Christmas trees. If I ever move to Helen, I may just have to work in the Christmas Shoppe.

We each picked out an ornament. Most of the ornaments did not have Helen, GA on them, so we picked out one more that did. 

After we visited the Christmas Shoppe, we were ready to head home. I still had to grab a few more pictures of the scenery along the way. I'm pretty sure Maddy was over it by this point lol.

Every place we travel, we always want to go back. Helen is no different. We would go back in a heartbeat. We still have lots of exploring to do, so it will probably be a while before we make it back.

Road Trip - See All Fifty States

 As I mentioned in a previous post we love to travel. In fact, one of the reasons I decided to start my debt free journey is so we could have more money to see the world. We got this fun idea to try and see all fifty states. Ideally, we would start in alphabetical order, but I knew I couldn't save enough to visit Alaska. 

Our first official state to visit was Alabama. We live about two hours away from Alabama, so it really isn't that bad of a drive. Thanks to Pinterest, we found Birmingham, Alabama had a free botanical garden to visit. I took my birthday off last year and decided to make the trip to see the gardens. Siri had difficulties in getting us to the parking lot, but once we finally got there it was pretty neat. It was really cold and misting a little. I would like to go back when we have more time to explore.

We were in a hurry to get in and I didn't really get a good picture of the map. I think we had an hour by the time we got there, and I wasn't sure how big it was.

It was really peaceful. There weren't a lot of people when we went, so we were able to take our time and enjoy the scenery.

Had it been warmer I could have easily sat on that bench for a long time.

I thought this looked neat.

Can we say beautiful?! This is when you first walk in, and I was in awe. I know this picture doesn't do it justice, but it was really pretty in person.

Had to take advantage of every photo opportunity.

As a Christmas person, I had to take a picture. 

This is on the way out. I think there was a lot we missed, and the time of year wasn't the best, but we still had a good day. 

We have lots of places to visit and are so excited. Our goal for the states we've already been to is to find somewhere we haven't been. We have actually been to Alabama before, so finding the gardens was something new. I'm hoping to document each and every place we go just for our memory's sake.