Sitting Still in Northern Georgia
When travelling to your next destination you try to visualize what the new accommodation will look like and will the experience meet expectations. This stop takes us to East Ellijay, GA, the apple capital of everything apple. We arrived at Talona Ridge RV Resort just before Thanksgiving. Our first impression upon arriving was impressive. We were anxious to get checked in and find our site while Calli just wanted to explore the dog park. She loves finding the new dog parks at each campground and meeting new friends. Talona Ridge RV Resort is a gated facility which is very nice. Having the additional security and not having to put everything away when you go exploring is such a convenience.
Once check in was complete, we were escorted to our site on paved roads and a concrete pad for us to park on. For those non campers, having a concrete area helps you be level and keeps the INSIDE of the motorhome a lot cleaner than being on dirt or crushed stone. The spots are spacious and can accommodate both the RV and our Jeep with room to spare. The area surrounding each site is grass with an additional concrete space for the picnic table but in our case the dog fencing space! Our “Sitting Still” home for the next month and we chose a great resort to enjoy the holidays.
The resort has three loops on ascending levels as its built into the side of a mountain. The very top loop has awesome 360-degree view of the surrounding ranges and mountain tops and the best for star gazing. We are in the lower level facing the morning sun which provided early warmth as it got quite cold there at night. And we do mean COLD. So cold that we had to disconnect the water supply around 9PM, drain the supply hose and turn on the piping cabinet heaters. Frozen pipes are no laughing matter in a motorhome. Especially when it is your HOME.
The upper loop of the resort has an impressive gathering place called the Grand Hall. It has a large dining/entertaining area with fireplaces and a bar. There are outdoor firepits surrounding the outdoor patio and places to sit and enjoy the view. Next to the Grand Hall is the heated outdoor pool and hot tub and work out gym. There were always planned activities each day that you could join in. On Thanksgiving morning, we started off with us and Calli participating in the 3-mile Turkey Trot. Us along with several other fellow campers paraded through the grounds taking time to also get acquainted. It is was a lot of fun with prizes at the end. We didn’t win anything that day but we met several people that we enjoyed. There was weekly bingo night with happy hour, as well as a Holiday Ho-down and Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest which of course we participated in.
The surrounding area of East Ellijay is dotted with many wineries, cideries and craft brewers. We chose the dog friendly places to visit as Calli goes pretty much goes everywhere we go including hikes and food shopping. She has become quite the PAWLEBRITY. She is always so well behaved and we always reward her for it. Plus, she loves the attention she gets from interacting with the people we meet. To our surprise, the wineries and their wines were amazing. Additionally, many had music entertainment and food to enhance the experience. And of course, they all came with amazing views. But you must also work off those calories so making sure to incorporate exercise is important. Plus, we love being outdoors. The only difficulty we encountered was that the weather was super cold even during the day and extremely windy. This made for quite the challenge in being outdoors. Luckily, we had a few nice days where we visited the local town centers of Dahlonegna and Ellijay which were all dressed for the holidays. And Dahlonegna had Gustavos that was a pet friendly pizza place that had the absolute best pizza. Almost as good as NJ/NY. Several hikes to some magnificent water falls. Amicalola Falls State Park and Desoto Falls at Chattahoochee National Forest were the best.
Part of our traveling also brings us to places where many of our friends live. Some we have not had the opportunity to see in a very long time. On this leg of our trip, we got to visit with Latricia Golden and her two beautiful daughters. We went to her home and had such a fun time catching up and remembering many of our fun times we had had. We plan to make sure to visit again when we are in the area.
Since we were also here for Christmas, we treated ourselves to new local restaurant that had great reviews. The Falls at Blue Ridge. It was a magnificent place in a spot right next to its own little water fall. A very grand place that used to primarily be used for wedding and other events, but they now turned it into a restaurant. The food, drinks and extensive wine list really made for a fabulous evening. We enjoyed it so much that we went back again before we left the area.
As the days flew by it was getting to be time to leave. We loved meeting many of the staff, work campers as well as some of the owners. Everyone was so friendly and really took making you have a great experience to heart. We already know we will return there again late spring of next year.
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