Fresh Aire II - And Some German Tapas

When I was getting ready to move to GA, a couple of my "outdoorsy" friends (rather, friends of friends) went on about THE GEORGIA MOUNTAINS. They were so excited about our opportunities to go the these mountains and do X Y Z. But I have to confess, being from the north, I only ever had a sketchy concept of what they meant. I have vague memories of civil war battles being fought "in the mountains" but really, I had no concept what they meant. Driving through the state on your way to FLA from the north, you get some hilly bits, and it's pretty. But you don't really get a big "WOW CHECK THIS OUT" sort of feeling as you head down the road.

This all changed last year when we went to Helen GA for a day trip.

Breathtaking in it's scenery, fun and touristy in it's setting we had a lovely time. So when my brother and sister in law decided to come down for the Tour de Georgia it was a great opportunity to drive up north to meet up with them.

We stopped on our way to Babyland General, where all real Cabbage Patch Babies are born. You see we've got some birthday shopping we're doing right now, and we though we might see if a Twin Adoption would be in the stars, for some twin boys we know. Jamil Cesar, who is Lil Satchmo's baby, came with us and got a special "Visitor" sticker to wear so that everyone would know he was NOT up for adoption, but was just visiting the place he was born.
He wore it proudly on his shirt.
It's such a fun silly place. The little guys had a great time checking out all the babies who were waiting for a home.

All the babies at Babyland General are available for adoption. They don't call them DOLLS - they are babies. On the wall in a place or two are some posters which explain the nuances and difference between the babies born there at Babyland and the Cabbage patch dolls you purchase at the store. But to their credit, they certainly don't distinguish when you bring your "store bought" baby in, they gave Jamil props just likehe was one of their high end hand made dolls made right there. Which really makes the magic complete for a little person who is fairly enthralled with the whole place.

We got to see a birth in the cabbage patch like last time. But this one was not a "private adoption" arranged specially for someone, rather it was just a regualr birth. The crowd got to name the baby, which was a lot of fun.

It's sort of odd and delightful to see even adults get excited when the new baby is "born" from the patch.

Lil Satchmo declared that he figured it was just a machine because there is no such thing as a "mother cabbage patch". I think perhaps he's been watching too many documentaries.

After we arranged our own adoption of a set of twins for OUR set of twins and picked up some new clothes for Jamil Cesar we packed it up for the mountains to meet Uncle Matt and Aunt April.

We stopped in at Charlemagne's Kingdom again to see the awesome train layout - geez this thing is amazing and then we all strolled across the street to try out this restaurant we had wanted to check out last time we were there. It's a German restaurant called Alstadterbut the surprise was, it was German TAPAS. Small plates. A little of this, a little of that. Fortunately, the beers were full size.

The food was freaking fantastic. I realize German Tapas SOUNDS like an Oxymoron but it was so much fun. We loved it.I had these things called PIG WINGS, pork apple butter bbq sauce- we also had sweet potato fries with gorgonzola cheese dip YUM!, we were ALMOST STUFFED when we left......but you know, with the Hansel and Gretel candy shop just down the street we had to stroll down there to check it out.

Eating delicious handmade candy in the fresh mountain air, seriously, the perfect end to a great day.


As a matter of fact, I have some pralines left that are calling my name right now. Why am I still sitting here?