One Last Scenic Hill Country Loop Drive…

With our time winding down here in the Texas Hill Country we decided to take one more loop drive. This hill country drive would include some better known sites but would be a bit longer than our normal loop drive.

The furthest point would be Fredericksburg, Texas and include stops at some of our favorite places. It would also include a few stops at new spots we haven’t been to. After lunch we hit the road and started our loop heading north on Texas 484 to Fischer.

After checking out the little town of Fischer we headed NW on Texas 32 to Blanco Texas. Blanco has a neat courthouse and little downtown area on the verge of being revitalized. It is also home to one of our favorite Texas Breweries called Real Ale. No visit for us this day as it was a bit early but if you are in the area check it out!

From Blanco TX we drove west on Texas 1888 along the Blanco river and then headed north on Texas 1663 to Albert, or Albert Freaking Texas. We have already visited so we didn’t stop this time around and continued on to Stonewall Texas on Highway 281.

Stonewall Texas is home to Burg’s Corner known very well for its hill country peaches. Back in the early 1970’s my mother would drive up from where we lived in San Antonio to buy a bushel or two of their peaches. I have fond memories of helping her can those peaches and remember very well her very delicious peach jams and cobblers. I just had to stop to visit for nostalgic reasons…

From Stonewall we continued on 290 to Fredericksburg a very quaint Texas town of German heritage.  It is home to Opa’s sausage and the Nimitz museum. Another fun stop is a little store on the main drag which has various food products for sale with tastes of most of them available. Here we tried such things as Agarito Jelly, Mesquite Bean Jelly, Jalapeno Peanut Butter and some seriously hot Hot Sauces. One I tried contained over 6 Million Scoville units. In comparison a typical jalapeño is from 2,500 to 5, 000 Scoville units while a habanero pepper ranges from 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville units.

After Fredericksburg we drove south on Texas 1376 to Lukenbach. This is a lively little honkytonk made famous by Waylon,  Willie and the boys. It was late enough to partake in a frosty adult beverage, Shiner Beer of course. A couple of strummers were singing some country music so we sat and enjoyed a tune or two before heading out.

While driving down 1888, turning right on Crab Apple Rd, a scenic back road, we spotted several large exotic Axis deer. Man they had huge racks. A lot of exotic animals can be seen in the Texas hill country as there are many hunting ranches with many different species.

The other day we were driving over to the very scenic Edge Falls in the hill country and we spotted a small group of zebras running around on a ranch. I should mention that going to the falls off of Edge Falls road right after a good rain will ensure the falls reward viewers with a good flow and provide a very scenic stop.

Well our last stop was at the Rough Diamond Brewery outside of Kendalia and then we headed back to the park. After some discussion we have decided rather than head further west we will instead return to College Station to work on our rent house. So we will be bidding farewell to the hill country for another year…

NOTE: We are back in our old home town until July 7th…

Blairsville Georgia loop drive to Anna Ruby Falls…

Blairsville is a great location for the lover of the outdoors. This mountainous area in the northern part of Georgia is surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. The scenery is breathtaking and even in the mornings when the fog and low clouds are clinging to the mountains the views are unforgettable. In addition we experienced some amazing sunsets making us more than glad we stopped here!

One thing we wanted to do was to explore the area surrounding Crossing Creeks RV Resort to see for ourselves what all it had to offer. One way to do this was for us was to drive a good portion of the Russell-Brasstown Scenic Byway. Starting in Blairsville our loop would take us to Helen and then to the Anna Ruby Falls. From the falls we would return a different route to Hiawassee then back to Blairsville. This encompassed about 85 miles of driving and we knew this would give us a good feel for what was here.

Our first stop was a small pull out that was on the Appalachian Trail.Although we didn’t see any hikers this looked to us to be a great spot for a nice hike on a very famous trail. From there we drove to Dukes Creek Falls Trailhead. We read on the signage that the hike was only 1.1 miles to the falls so we parked and made the trek downhill to the falls knowing it would be all uphill returning.. The trail was in great shape and was very easy hiking. Several wooden boardwalk type walkways with stairs made it easier to traverse down (and up) without causing a great deal of erosion.

Dukes Creek Falls emerged as a very nice end point to the trail and we sat a good while to savor the views while listening to the sound of the roaring waters.. I noticed the vegetation was a bit different that the typical vegetation of the southeastern forests as more species of plants normally found in higher elevations were scattered about. It appeared it was still late spring here as the area was extraordinarily vibrant green!

We drove from there down to Helen, Georgia which is a Bavarian styled town reminding us a bit like Fredericksburg in Texas. Helen, however, is much more touristy and was rather crowded so we didn’t spend a lot of time there. We did, however, stop at the local bakery hoping to score some nice pumpernickel bread. They didn’t have any but we  purchased a nice large soft pretzel with spicy German mustard instead. Yum!

The last attraction we wanted to see this day was the Anna Ruby Falls located near Helen. I must say this was the highlight of the day. Anna Ruby Falls is at the meeting points of Curtis Creek and York Creek. These beautiful twin waterfalls were named Anna Ruby Falls after the daughter of the discover of them. They flow into Unicoi Lake in Unicoi State Park not far from the falls. . The short hike up the trail to see these incredible scenic falls really is a must do when in the area.

We then drove through the state park adjacent to the falls and checked out the beach area. We would have stayed longer but with time passing swiftly, we knew we needed to make our way back to Blairsville. What a great loop drive under our belts we felt there was no better way than to end it than a stop at Copeland's Burgers and Southern Eats for a frosty adult beverage and some of their unique smoky hot wings! Yum !

As I mentioned before, we are so happy we decided to make a stop in the Georgia mountains.  Our short visit left us thinking a return visit might definitely be in our future. We want to do some more hiking and exploring because  we cannot get enough of the lush green landscape and gorgeous panoramic mountain vistas...

NOTE: We are now in Hickory NC for a few days then we will move further east towards Raleigh NC.

Columbia River Gorge Waterfall Hikes–Part 2…

After lunch the next day we headed in the opposite direction on the scenic highway. The first stop was Horsetail falls and we took the hike up the trail to view it in its glory. It was enjoyable to experience yet another beautiful waterfall in the gorge and amazingly there are so many…

 

From there we drove over to the “iconic” waterfall in the gorge Multnomah Falls. Even though it was a weekday in September there was still a large crowd. Nonetheless we made the trek straight up the hill to see where the falls takes the southern drop off the top of the Columbia Gorge. What an amazing falls this one is and we enjoyed it immensely with each step up and back down the slope.

On down the road we stopped at a couple more falls Wahkeena and Latourell hiking up to see them closer. Next we drove the winding road up to the Vista House for the panoramic views of the entire gorge.  From there we drove further to the Women’s Forum Viewpoint to look back down the gorge with the Vista House perched atop the cliff it was built upon. What a beautiful drive it was especially as the leaves are beginning to turn to fall colors.

   

With more daylight available we drove to the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery.  The Dam is an engineering marvel but the hatchery was where we spent much more time.  There were ponds and holding tanks scattered throughout the fishery where we could see baby fish as well as adult Rainbow Trout, Salmon and the mighty Sturgeon.  One sturgeon we were able to see was huge 10 feet long and 400 pounds.  There is an underwater viewing area where this sturgeon elicited many ohh’s and ahhh’s from the gallery. Amazing just how big this fish is!!! 

   

To celebrate our wonderful day coming to a close in the Gorge we went to Cascade Locks to Thunder Island Brewing company as we remembered it as our favorite brewery with a view.  It did not disappoint especially since while we were there a lady in a big pickup truck was giving away some just harvested russet potatoes!  What a great day!

SO glad we spent four nights in the gorge even with all the train noise we had to endure at the campgrounds… Now it is off to Portland for a week - a place we have visited several times before…

NOTE: We are currently in Portland Oregon where at the Columbia River RV Park where we will leave on Tuesday, October 4th.

Columbia River Gorge Waterfall Hikes–Part 1…

We moved only 20 miles from Viento State Park to what we hoped to be a somewhat quieter park for a couple of nights at Ainsworth State Park.It has indeed been much quieter than our two day stay at Viento State Park where a very close road crossing had trains often rumbling through with horns blaring.Trains run near this park as well but not anywhere near as loudly as in Viento.…

Our main goal for staying at this park was to revisit many of the beautiful waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge. The first day we focused on the part of the road going east on the old Columbia River Historic Scenic Highway. Our first stop was at the John B Yeon State Park to visit Elowah Falls. As we made our way near the cutoff trail to the falls I noticed a sign for another falls hike to McCord Creek Falls, further up the slope.

So straight up the hill we went and in about half a mile we came to McCord Creek Falls, and it is one we haven’t been to before. What a beautiful cascading falls and we were so glad we made the turn on the trail to this one…..what a beauty. After enjoying the spectacle for awhile we headed back down and took the turn to the Elowah Falls. This one is more of what I  would describe as a ponytail falls (long narrow waterfall). It is beautiful too but we really enjoyed the one nearer the top of the slope more than this one.

With it getting late we headed back home for dinner and to plan for the next day of waterfall hikes….  

NOTE: We are currently in Portland Oregon where at the Columbia River RV Park where we will leave on Tuesday, October 4th.