March 16 High Falls, Georgia

Monday:  We said our good-byes last night to our family after the funeral dinner for Asher. David and I decided to take a few detours on our drive back to Florida. I perhaps haven't mentioned it yet, but the roads in Georgia are VERY challenging. They are mostly 2-lanes, very crooked, curvy roads with ZERO shoulder--NONE. I was truly thankful I was not the one driving. Plus, a lot of people in Georgia drive very S L O W. David is not one to drive beneath the speed limit--me either, for Pete's sake! There were many folk in Georgia who like to "stroll" as they drive.

Anyway, somewhere in the early part of Monday, we arrived in High Falls, Georgia--the highest waterfall south of Atlanta in the United States! I LOVE waterfalls! So does David! I took a crazy amount of photos here, even though it was lightly raining most of the time we were there. And did I mention how COLD it was? BRRRrrrrrrrrrrr kind of cold (I think it was 51--but it felt like 30)! And windy too!!! We ended up having to buy hooded sweatshirts in the gift store, just so we could stay outside in the elements!

But ... oh my--such BEAUTY!

We walked along the "Historic Trail" which is an elevated trail which runs right along the Towaliga River, cascading down into rapids and whirlpools, and all kind of loveliness.

I was crazy (almost) with the beauty of this place, and I was so happy I was practically skipping ... except I am too old to skip, so I just walked in a happy fashion instead. David was happy to be here too.

I kept saying, "Come on!" as we would turn a corner and stumble onto more beauty. We are now walking along the "Falls View Trail" which runs lower and closer to the river itself.

Do you want to know HOW MANY cards I will make out of these photos?! I can hardly wait.

There were warning signs all over the place about not swimming, not walking on the rocks, not crossing barriers, you might drown, etc. Encouraging, all of them.

I could have stayed here for hours and hours and hours ... except it was quite constantly raining. We were rather wet and soggy.

Look at these cool roots!

It was right about here at this location on the trail that something jumped under my feet and ... it was a little bitty darling FROG. I've named him Felix. I figured he must be male--look at his grumpy little face!

I was very careful not to squeeze Felix very hard, and I put him in some soft grass as I set him free. Every couple of feet or so, I would see another little frog jumping along. I didn't bother to name all of them (!!).

We crossed back over High Falls Road to get a closer look at the wider falls. I think these are pretty, but not nearly as beautiful as the lower ones.

We bumped into some very talkative ladies who offered to snap our picture ...

I grabbed a brochure about the place on the way back to the car. It seems that High Falls Lake (where there are camp grounds with cabins, yurts, boats, playgrounds, and a host of other cool things), spills into the Towaliga River producing these rapids and falls. There are a bunch of different trails. David and I stuck to the trails that ran along the river because ... we love water ... and who wants to go to a waterfall place and not be near the waterfall? I love these pictures and I loved our time here.