Beginning of fall in north Georgia

We snagged a deal on one of those group coupon websites to get BOGO tickets for a corn maze up in north Georgia.  This one is touted as the largest one in the state -- at 7 acres of corn field (and 3 miles of trails).  One thing that was interesting about this one:  they had 6 stations throughout the maze that you tried to get to and stamp your card to "prove" you were at all 6 stations.  I know we didn't cover all 3 miles of trails, but we did walk for awhile & get outdoors.

We ran into some kids that go to Mercer's daycare about mid-way through.  We were all close to the edge of the maze, so we all stepped out for a few minutes to converse with some cows that were as curious about us as we were of them.  The boys were enthralled with the udders hanging down, the cows drooling, and going to the bathroom!  It was hard to peel them away, but cool that they were so interested in the bovines!  (Isn't this gorgeous rolling farm land?!)


A couple of highlights of the walk through the maze include Mercer playing "corn cob soccer" and giving a yellow flower to the little sister of his daycare buddy.  

(He originally picked two flowers & gave them to me.  He then took one of them back & ran to the little girl to give one to her instead.  It was so cute!)  We learned that he also draws pictures for her at daycare and gives them to her too.  hmmmm.....

After we all made it out of the maze, we hung out for a little longer at the farm -- taking a short hay ride & watching Mercer burn a ton of energy in the hay bale jumping area.  Honestly, he had SO MUCH fun doing this -- and it was so great because it's so low-tech!  There are so many terrific shots that Todd took of Mercer playing in the hay bale jumping area... here are only a few of the photos.

 

We went to lunch afterwards.  We ate at a local burger join that had a walk-up window and an outdoor dining area.  It was a little chilly to sit outside, but it overlooked a neighboring horse farm, so of course we had to eat outdoors.




 

We decided to take a more scenic route home and try to find a letterbox that had high marks for beautiful scenery.  Hmmmm... a hike along a river with rapids... ruins... sounds like the perfect afternoon activity for us!  We literally may have driven over this bridge and looked over the edge as we passed and said "that's nice, a river." 

But - the letterbox prompted us to get out of our car / know that there are trails and a boardwalk along the edge of the river / and give us a little history about the place:  the ruins in the foreground were for an old logging road covered bridge.... that this part of the Amicalola River was coined as the "edge of the world" by kayakers who brave this class IV rapids because the river seems to literally drop off over this bank of rocks seen... and that there's a place that you can walk out to / sit on some large rocks in the middle of the rapids. 

 

Spending the day together as a family and being surrounded by the beautiful scenery all around was absolutely fantastic... we made great memories this day.