In our limited edition series, the editors of Sarasota Magazine share the highlights of their summer vacation this week. Here’s where our editors went and what they did – from music festivals in Michigan to mountain adventures in New Hampshire to snorkeling in the Bahamas.
During certain times of the year, the small towns in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northern Georgia and western North Carolina can appear like Sarasota North.
In late July, my wife and two sons and I spent a week in Ellijay, Georgia, in a vacation rental owned by friends in Sarasota. Weeks earlier, my brother-in-law and his family lived in nearby Blue Ridge, Georgia, as did other friends for the summer. While we were there, we encountered many Southwest Floridians while hiking, including a man wearing a Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium t-shirt. And when my wife posted something about our trip on Instagram the day after we arrived, we got a surprise message from close friends who were in the same town at the same time, just across the creek that runs next to the property where we were staying.
It makes sense. As my wife said, northern Georgia is home to what is probably the closest real mountains to Sarasota, and summer in Florida, who doesn’t dream of escaping the heat and humidity?
Not that Georgia wasn’t hot. As we climbed the 600 or so steps that led to the summit of Amicalola Falls State Park, my sweat poured out like I was back home. But in the evening, when we sat down on a veranda shaded by tall trees, the temperature dropped, the insects began to sing and life melted into pure sensation: the rustling of the pages that turned in my paperback, the smell of wet leaves, that gentle yielding when I turn on a mint oreo and the scratching, scraping the insides out with my teeth.
“The relaxing part of the vacation is not lying on the couch, but listening to the quiet sounds of nature,” my 6-year-old told us without being asked.
Not all sensations were so calm. My boys’ favorite discovery was the Tumbling Waters Trail on nearby Carters Lake. The trail is short – just a long shady trail that leads to a footbridge that spans a wide stream. Once you’ve crossed the bridge, descend to the bank, where the water rushes in a series of small waterfalls for about half a mile.
Even in a bright sun, the water is cold enough to take your breath away, especially if your kids challenge you to sit right under a ledge where a gush of water pours over your entire body. I endured the cold water as long as I could (maybe 45 seconds), then my wife and children and I climbed up the waterfall and carefully stepped on rocks that were covered in thick grass and offered firm hold until we reached a point of we agreed that we had “conquered” the river. At the base of the falls, we ate turkey sandwiches and rested on dusty rocks that warmed up as the afternoon wore on. We liked it so much that we returned two more times within a few days.
