Today was Small Business Saturday. I am happy to report that we did, in fact, patronize a small business. We decided to go hiking on the Appalachian Trial. We drove to Habersham Winery in Helen, GA. Kristen and Linda sampled some wine. We bought a couple bottles. This was the riskiest place I’ve been to during COVID. It was fairly populated. Similar to most places, not everyone was wearing masks. We are maskers so we were wearing them of course. They drank the samples outside on a patio, socially distanced. Kristen and Drew even sat at a separate table from us while they drank.
We then drove to Dick’s Creek Gap to hike the Appalachian Trail. We had Buster with us. I had the kid carrier on my back for when Annabelle got tired. We were in the mountains. It was a beautiful drive to get there. We were hiking up a mountain. Kristen held Buster’s leash. She went ahead of us a ways, so that we didn’t always have to wear masks. Buster has this need where he has to be in front of the pack, so Kristen took him. Drew went off on his own to summit the mountain.
We saw a waterfall, it was fairly small. I think that was Annabelle’s first waterfall though. We also crossed paths with a couple bow hunters. I asked them if they saw anything but they said just squirrels. A while later we came across a guy hiking by himself with a pack. I asked him if he was camping on the trail. He said not now, but later he would. He hurried on his way. I can’t put my finger on why, but coming across these people really made the trail special to me. It just embodied all the type of people that can enjoy a natural resource like the AT. On our way down, an older woman and her son passed us. The kid must have been 18 or so. His mom told us that 15 years ago, he was the one in the kid carrier. That made me happy, too. Just to think about how families, young and old, can enjoy the outdoors together. I am not sure why, that is nothing new to me, my family still enjoys the outdoors together. Three generations are coming camping every year now.
We saw some interesting features on the trail. There was a section where vines grew into a canopy over the trail. It was very green. Reminded me of something out of a novel. Another part we saw where a large amount of water ran down the trail, causing erosion. Yet another section brought us a bit of apprehension. Annabelle and Kristen were wearing their masks as they hiked holding hands. Kristen had Buster. The trail had a very steep drop just off the side of the trail. It was a long drop, too. AB did pretty good though. I think she got a bit concerned, probably because I inadvertently said something to make her apprehensive about the situation.
We hiked further and debated whether we had time to summit the peak. We realized we were racing daylight to some extent. It was hard to tell when the sun would set. With the mountain obstructing the sun’s light, we would run out of daylight sooner than the sun would set outside the mountains. We decided to turn around.
I had AB in the kid carrier on my back for a good portion of the hike back down. Particularly for the section with the steep drop off. I was saying things in a deep, concerned voice. I didn’t realize what was happening at first. But Linda pointed out that Buster was distracted by my intonation. It was making it difficult for Kristen to hike. So I stood there as best I could momentarily. Just tried to be quiet so Buster would behave and Kristen could hike past the steep drop off. I readily admit that I did freak a bit. My only child on my back, trying not to look down that sudden drop over my shoulder. After things settled we started moving again and made it past that part.
We drove home and stopped at Kroger for some groceries. Kristen and Drew picked up some pizza for dinner. It was a flat bread style pizza, a bit more unique. It was good – had a chewy aspect to it due to the crust. Less sauce and cheese on it compared to other places. The pizza was from Varuni Napoli. Kristen told me that they had a brother company Antico. Back in Bay View where we grew up, there was a similar thing that happened with a family pizza joint called De Marinis, where two brothers split apart to run rival pizza joints.
I picked up a cookies and cream cake to share. I put a big slice on a plate to share with AB. We ate it together, taking turns. It was very endearing. After we ate, Annabelle was bouncing off the walls. At her request, we played “tag – you’re it”. We also tried to climb Kristen’s tree. Drew had some light up boccie balls from his sister in law that Kristen and AB were playing with too.
