Helen, Georgia

When I googled places to see in Georgia I saw a lot of things on Helen, GA.  When we moved here, Helen seemed to be the place most people suggested we go.  It sounded like a fun time so one weekend we headed there to check it out.  Helen is a German inspired town in Northern GA.  It truly didn't disappoint.  I wish I had gotten a shot of coming over a hill and seeing a town of buildings just like the one in the picture above.  I really did feel like we had just driven into some German town. The place was just oozing with charm and novelty, which I am finding in abundance here in Georgia.  I am definitely a fan.

 The first place that I had seen was a "must see" is Charlemagne's Kingdom.  It's the "world's largest alpine model train museum."  It was definitely different than I expected, but very cool.  McKay was happy enough with this Thomas the Tank Engine set up in the gift shop.

 The boys however, were more impressed by this enormous and totally detailed model.  There was the cutest couple that had spent years building it together and their attention to detail was unbelievable.  You could literally look at it for hours. 

 This fair was my favorite part of it. 

 The candy kitchen if I'm being honest was the place I most wanted to see.  I am a sucker for a good chocolate factory.

 The best thing about this place is that we could watch the workers making the candy.

 Homemade taffy is my very favorite. 

 Another recommendation that I found was the Troll Tavern.  A German restaurant on the banks of the Chattahoochee River where we could watch everyone tubing down (we had dessert before lunch...whoops!)  

 It was definitely yummy.  While the boys got traditional kid food, I decided to try the brats and German potato salad.  So good!

 After lunch we stopped to a little shop that we could watch them blowing glass.  It was so interesting and we were pretty mesmerized by this man bending the glass into different shapes.  He talked as he did it and told us all about how he did it.  His family had been doing it for years.  It was so neat to listen to.

 This German band was so fun.  They were playing traditional music while I might add, wearing awesomely traditional German clothing.  They even had a few couples dancing in front of them.

 Horses wearing hats, what more fun than that!?

After all of our sight seeing, we met two families from our ward to go tubing down the river with.

 The boys had a ball (we all did)!  It was the last weekend the tubing companies were going to be open, so it was pretty packed.  Luckily the river was shallow, because our oldest three were on their own for most of it.  We tried to stay together, but would get separated for a bit before we found each other again.

 Josh McKay and I had our tubes tied together so we wouldn't lose each other.  

 I think the boys liked the independence.  

 There were so many rocks in the river and Josh was a champ to make sure that McKay and I didn't get caught on any of them.  I am pretty sure he was sore the next day.  It's a good thing for the sticks we bought!

 We have loved exploring Georgia so much, there are so many things that I still want to see!