Hey adventure friends, we’ve missed you! Life got a little crazy up in here, so we set aside our adventuring for a few weeks to tend to our wild schedules. Today though, we threw our adventure hats back on and hit the road for one of our childhood favorites, Helen, Georgia!
Helen, Georgia is a small Alpine inspired village tucked away in the North Georgia Mountains. Popular for its charming shops and cozy cabins, Helen is the perfect weekend getaway destination for you and your family! Fantastic dining, shopping, hiking, miniature golf and even a new mountain coaster are just some of the attractions Helen has to offer.
We grabbed Starbucks early this morning and hit the road to Helen! Our first stop, the beautiful Mount Yonah! An awesome, slightly strenuous hike to the summit will lead you to some pretty incredible views. It’s about 2 1/2 miles up so we suggest you take some water and maybe a snack. Depending on your kiddos, it may or may not be kid friendly. We have hiked this trail with our kids, but they were very active 9 year olds at the time, so it may not be the best trail for the little ones much younger than that.
After working up an appetite on the trail we headed into Helen to a sweet little country store we frequented as kids, Betty’s. We love Betty’s y’all. They have just about anything you could want/need in the way of groceries and a whole bunch more. We settled for croissants and mimosas today, but back in the day we would always get a giant pickle from the pickle jar and a bottle of root beer. Betty’s has as much charm and character as it did 25 years ago, we’re so glad it’s still around. If you’re in Helen, you better not miss Betty’s!
After reminiscing on Betty’s porch for a little while, we headed across the street to Hofer’s Bakery and Café for a German inspired lunch. We should mention, Helen throws a HUGE Oktoberfest and it was still going on today while we were in town. It’s a giant month long party and it brings in loads of visitors from all over the country. So we thought it only fitting that for lunch we indulged in some delicious German beers and a giant pretzel, of course, as well as a super yummy Ruben sandwich. We didn’t try anything from their bakery, but everything looked awesome!
After lunch we walked around the fun little shops and swung by another childhood favorite, Hansel & Gretel Candy Kitchen for our beloved caramel apples with peanuts. I’m just going to assume everyone has tried this goodness, but if you haven’t, get your behind to Hansel and Gretel’s immediately! You can thank us later.
On our way out of town we HAD to try the newly opened Georgia Mountain Coaster. Y’all. SO fun! A little pricey, but totally worth it for the giggles and thrills. The kids will love this new attraction. There’s also a couple of miniature golf courses and in the summer river tubing is a must!
Our last couple of stops were conveniently across the street from each other. Habersham Winery is a popular winery on the edge of town. They have a great wine selection and a wonderful patio where we enjoyed our refreshing wine slushees. Fun fact, we got to keep our glasses and we got $2 off refills! That’s a really good deal and the slushee was pretty fantastic! We probably could have stayed there all day, but we headed over to the adorable Jumping Goat Coffee Roasters where they have a huge selection of unique and tasty coffees. It was really busy and we were in a bit of a hurry, so we didn’t get to explore the shop as much as we wanted, but y’all won’t want to miss it!
We grabbed some boiled peanuts from a little roadside stand as we headed out of Helen. We love boiled peanuts and the sweet people who were serving them today. I asked the man if I could take a photo of his stand and he was more than happy to let me as long as I “put it online!” Well, here you go sir!
A couple of places we didn’t visit today while in Helen were Unicoi State Park and Anna Ruby Falls. Both beautiful and both definitely worth a visit, we just simply ran out of time. They are located right next to each other so if you visit one, you really should visit the other!
We adore Helen. It’s a special place for our family and we hope that it’ll be a special place for yours. Head up to Helen and have some fun, y’all!
Georgia Sisters Adventures 