Welcome to Axemurder, Georgia!

In our eternal quest for good coffee shops, our next stop was where we'd find two promising ones: Blue Ridge, just on the border of Tennessee and Georgia.

It turns out, the coffee shops were a bust. One was actually a bar, and the other one didn't have indoor seating anymore. Such sorrow!

Our conclusion? The best thing to come out of Blue Ridge is the road to Ellijay!

So this is a post about Ellijay, GA which is just twenty minutes down the road. We loved Ellijay!

Blue Ridge felt like a place that out-of-state tourists came to... very fake, bright colors, very cheery. Ellijay felt like the place that Georgia locals came to. This was the real place to be on weekends.

There was a restaurant on a roof! I imagine at some point, someone said "I'm sorry, the only real estate you can afford is on top of Ted's roof." and someone else said, "Perfect, lets do it."

It also had a giant coffee shop that basically had an entire living room. Glorious!

Our AirBnB there was the most adorable place you have ever seen. They called it "Ole Mexico" and there was not a single square foot of wall that wasn't covered by some sort of mexico-themed decoration. I'm fairly certain that they made this extra little house just as an excuse to decorate.

Ellijay was a scary place though.

Out in the Georgia country at night, the forest and roads are so hushed and dark and spooky, you just know that you're going to get murdered. We saw a few people by the side of the road, and we simultaneously said, "He's definitely an axe murderer."

Every night, we heard footsteps outside, and footsteps on the roof. Sometimes, there would be scratching. Probably just bears.

As we walked down the hall of the little house, we could even hear a ghostly wailing. It turns out, that was the sound of the wine glasses. When we walked past their shelf, our footsteps caused vibrations which spookily resonated with the wine glasses. Took us a while to figure that out!

While we were here, we visited Amicalola Falls, a state park at the very start of the appalachian trail. Beautiful!

10/10, would definitely go to Ellijay again, perhaps in the fall when they reportedly have good apple picking!

Favorites:

• Favorite restaurant: The Roof
• Favorite coffee shop: Ellijay Coffee House

Marietta, GA

 This was a brief stopover before flying out of the Atlanta airport. It was okay but still felt like a big city. You know what? We've had enough of big cities. The drivers are chaotic, the people are impersonal, everyone is busy and in a rush. We're South Dakotans after all, we're use to smaller towns and lots of wilderness mixed in. There's no herds of deer in people's backyards here in Atlanta for sure!

We did stay in a pretty cool Airbnb before flying out. This place is from the 1800s and had serious Winchester House vibes, complete with Stairway to Nowhere.

The best restaurant in the area (maybe closer to Cartersville) was The City Cellar and Loft. We got the spinach dip appetizer and this has to be the best spinach dip anywhere! Even comes in a little cast iron pan. It was closer to delicious fondue than your typical spinach dip and that made it awesome.

Favorite places:

Cellar and Loft - loft part is a bar, cellar part has good food 

Wei Sichuan Authentic Chinese - super good Chinese food, excellent soup dumplings 10/10 would recommend 

First Pet Sitting Gig in Georgia

 Okay okay, so traveling as full time nomads seems normal now right? Old hat. A ton of people are doing that. Boring. So, let's throw some more crazy into the mix! What if... we were traveling nomadic pet sitters! 

 

So that's what we did.

We just finished our first pet sitting gig with one of the sweetest kitties in the world: Ember!

We arrived and the cat was nowhere to be seen. We just got settled when all of sudden she was there, wanting to know who we were, why we were there, and most importantly did we have treats??

She had a toy carrot, and the second that was wiggled tantalizingly all the questions ended. We were accepted and welcomed home. Worst. Guard-dog. Ever.

 

Ember was a hoot. She wanted pets constantly and was thrilled to chill with us on the couch or in the backyard. She loved us so much she wanted to repay the favor of us taking care of her. On the last day she hopped up in the window asking us to let her in so she could give us the mouse she'd caught! We thanked her profusely and traded mouse for carrot, swiftly disposing of the "gift" outside. Thanks Ember, you shouldn't have.

 

She was a great companion, and partied right up until bedtime. Sweet dreams Ember!