#222 Nomad Diary. 18-24 January 2025. Helen, Georgia at Loreley Resort.

 

Driving North in Georgia to Helen on a Rainy Day

Darrell Making Pancakes in Our Condo Kitchen at Loreley Resort in Helen, Georgia

Inside Our Cozy 'Vintage' Condo in Helen, Georgia

View From Our Condo in Helen, Georgia. Most of the Place is Unoccupied

Waiting in the Longest Line We've Seen In Helen. Sunday Lunch at Hofer's Bakery and Cafe.

A Fun Screenshot While Talking to Grandson Owen, age 3 yrs and 5 mos

View from Our Condo in Helen, Georgia

Pot of Eggroll Soup Cooking with Darrell in the Background

Out for a Freezing Cold, Off-season Walk in Helen, Georgia.

Ornate German Decor in Helen, Georgia

Inside Helen, Georgia IGA

Across the River from the Local Grist Mill

Darrell's Delicious Pancakes are Now Made with Oat Flour. Lots of Toppings and Our Protein/Fiber Diet Approved!

Freezing Walk to This Historic Mill Near Helen, Georgia

No Heat Inside the Mill!!

Me with Former Missionary, Jim Lovell. His Family Lived in South Africa for 14 Years. During My Childhood They Visited My Family 2-3 Times as My Dad was a Preacher. He Has a Daughter Near My Age. She Found Me on FB Several Years Ago, and Then Her Dad!

Jim and Darrell in Dalonegah, Georgia. Jim's Home Now. We Drove Over from Helen to Have Lunch Together.

At The Top of Huge Amicalola Falls Near Dalonegah, Georgia. 

At the Bottom of Notable Amicalola Falls. They are Huge!!

Mural in Helen, 

Saturday. 18. We arrived and moved into our condo. It’s roomy, comfortable and what I call vintage. The decor is out of date. It’s an older time share property with owners and also renters like us who are choosing this over a hotel stay. 

Sunday. 19. Drove to a close town to meet for worship. Went to a Helen restaurant for lunch. The place was packed. The line was seated one table at a time and the dining room was filled slowly for pacing the cooks in the kitchen. The service was really good. The food was all German. It was pretty good for being in the US. We thoroughly enjoyed our German meals. Darrell got goulash and I got the jaeger schinizel. 

Monday. 20. - Friday. 24. We walked in and through Helen almost every day. We relaxed. The weather was so cold but we enjoyed the briskness. We cooked some meals and we ate out a few times. We continued our regular daily exercises before breakfast. We watched tv in the evenings. This week we watched some new episodes of Oak Island. 

Nomad Notes. We left our friends in St. Augustine, Florida on Friday after lunch. We drove north a few hours into Georgia and stayed overnight at a hotel. Our destination check in is to arrive on Saturday the 18th at Loreley Resort in Helen, Georgia. We arrived at our resort and moved into our 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo. It’s cold outside and in the mountains of north Georgia. There are a lot of hiking trails and outdoor mountain activities to do, but usually in another season. We are definitely off-season with very few tourists in town and many businesses shuttered for the month of January or longer.

We both like the off-season vibe with a few restaurants still open and easy to get into. There was no competition for the spa hot tub on the one day I went and soaked. We enjoyed grocery shopping and cooking in the US after a month-plus on a cruise ship and then a month in Brazil. 

We had come to Helen on a date in the fall of 1982. I vaguely remember it. I liked Darrell. I remember that. Darrell was in the Army and in a few weeks was going on his first assignment to Germany. I was not doing well in college and was trying to figure out my next direction. A year later with many letters and phone calls we married. We were newlyweds living in Germany for 2 years. We had our first son, Eric at Frankfurt Army Hospital.