Weekend in North Georgia

Earlier this summer I came up with the idea to try to find an old farmhouse to rent for the weekend. The idea came about because I have really fallen in love with the thought of moving out to the country, but it's not something that can happen any time soon for a million and one reasons. So I figured the next best thing would be to see if I could find one to rent for the weekend. Our family has had a hard year, and I have been gone from the girls a lot since last August for a variety of reasons, and I was desperately feeling the need to get away and spend good quality time with them.

I didn't really know where to start, so I got on VRBO and just started looking around. I originally envisioned something fairly close to Birmingham, but once I couldn't find anything that fit with what I had in mind, I started looking in MS, TN, and GA. I just searched "farmhouses in Georgia" and ended up finding the Powell House in Dillard, GA that was built in 1885. It looked exactly like what I pictured in my head, although it was a little further away than I thought we would go, and it was in the mountains and not on a farm/lots of land. But it had the old house charm with modern updates to make it comfortable! I wanted to go in October when Curran had a day off from school because the house had a minimum of three nights you had to rent, but the weekend I wanted was already booked, so we decided to go the last weekend of September and just took C out of school on Friday.

We left Thursday as soon as we picked up C from school and hit the road for Georgia. We hit some rush hour traffic in Atlanta, stopped for dinner just north of ATL, and made it to the house at 9pm {gained an hour}. It was pouring down rain {and rained nonstop until Saturday morning!}, and the girls were nearly asleep when we got there but of course got a second wind when we went in the house because they were so excited!

We put on a movie for them while we unloaded the car, and they were asleep within minutes.

And actually SC fell asleep on the couch all three nights we were there, so bedtime was a breeze. :) They got up before the crack of dawn every day, though.

It was very chilly Friday morning, and we loved snuggling in blankets on the porch. I loved sitting out there with my hot coffee and a book. It was so peaceful, and I could hear a train in the mountains far off in the distance. 

I only buy healthy cereal at home, so SC was thrilled that I bought them "Rainbow Cheerios" as she calls them. They ate almost the entire box while we were there. :)

I loved the house...

On Friday, it rained all day long. We had a lazy morning at the house drinking coffee and playing games. I had impulsively bought these do-a-dot coloring books {we already had the markers} and they spent more time doing those all weekend long. It was the best purchase!

Later that morning we decided to drive down the road to the Dillard House where we planned to let them ride horses and see the farm animals. It was drizzling so we just walked around the barn and let the kids look around. They had a great time doing that, and not a soul was out. We had planned on eating lunch at the Dillard House, but it wasn't open yet, so we drove down to Clayton to look at the place where I wanted to hike if it ever quit raining. Then we came back for lunch. The Dillard House restaurant is all you can eat country cooking where they bring you everything on the menu that day, and you can get as much as you want. The food wasn't the best we've ever had, but it was definitely good and we enjoyed it. The onion rings were delish, and SC ate her weight in catfish! 

Some views around the Dillard House

They wanted to pose by these guys. :)

After lunch, we drove around a little bit and then went back to the house. We swung on the porch, played more games, read, and just relaxed in front of the fire. 

Some views from the house. The leaves were just started to change color.

 This was the upstairs balcony on the back of the house where we spent a lot of time.

 Loved swinging with my girlies. :)

Late that afternoon, we walked down the street to some antique/junk stores just to get out of the house even though it was still raining. That night we ate chicken spaghetti at home. I had cooked some meals and frozen them before hand, so it made dinner time easy.

On Saturday, we had another lazy morning as the rain was trying to stop. Finally the sun peaked through for just a second and we rushed to get dressed and get out the door!

{view from the back door}

We drove down a few miles away to Clayton and hiked Warwoman Dells to get to Becky Branch falls.

It was really wet and SC wanted to be carried most of the way.

the "falls." I expected a bit more. :) But the girls liked it. It was taller than it looks in this photo because that's actually a big drop off right behind them. 

SC walked for a bit at the end, but then slipped and fell and it really scared her. Then a huge tree fell not far away from us right off the trail, and it completely freaked me out. I don't normally scare easily, but we pretty much booked it back to the car after that. 

There were 66 very steep and slippery stone steps we had to go up and then come back down. I was proud of C for doing so well.

 Then we headed back to the Dillard House so the girls could ride horses. This was the prettiest it was all weekend!

 Curran would have stayed on her horse all day!

They loved feeding the farm animals! They had goats, chickens, a pig, donkey, llama, and a mini horse.

After we left, we ate lunch at a place called The Cupboard where we used to eat with the McNamaras as children! We enjoyed it, and it brought back lots of memories! Christopher, Elizabeth, and I spilled many drinks in that restaurant. :)

 Then we drove into North Carolina {just a couple of miles away} and got ice cream at the Spring Ridge Creamery. It was so good!

John wasn't feeling great so he took a little nap, and the girls and I explored in the corn field behind our house. It was lots of fun.

This child was entertaining herself by running and jumping off the porch yelling "cannonball!"

Then big sis had to see what was so fun about it.

We had a fun afternoon sitting on the back porch playing games. SC was cracking us up. She loves to play Go Fish, Candyland, and Bells, and she is at a fun age where she doesn't care if she wins. I'm enjoying it while it lasts. After a little while, we walked back up the the little stores near us and let the girls pick out a stuffed animal. We ate dinner at home again that night.

On Sunday we enjoyed a slow morning and then got cleaned up. On our way out of town, the girls wanted to go see the animals again, so we did that for a little while before hitting the road. 

A distillery from the late 1700's. I thought it was so neat!

Another view of the Dillard House

I really can't put into words why the weekend was so great. It's not what John would have picked to do, but he had a great time and never once complained or asked why I wanted to go. He knew it was important to me and was such a good sport. The girls had a blast and were just so easy and happy! I just loved being with my three favorite people, turning off my cell phone, and focusing only on them. I hope we can make this trip an annual tradition! This morning while SC and I were sitting at the kitchen table coloring, she randomly said, "It was SUCH a great trip." My feelings exactly, sweet girl.