Summer’s End: Our Trip to Helen, Ga

This past July we traveled to Helen, Ga for our “end of summer” vacation. Helen is this adorable little Alpine Village in the Blue Ridge Mountains where there’s something charming for everyone! We live within a few hours drive from there and decided on a four day get-away instead of a trip to the beach where it was sure to be overcrowded and unseasonably hot. So, we booked a room at a local hotel on the edge of town, planned our outings, meals, and local shopping must-sees/haves. We were ready to unplug for a little while and enjoy the great outdoors!

The Accommodations

We booked our hotel through Hotels.Com just like we have many times over. We found a great deal with a hotel that’s located on the main strip just as you enter the city. I won’t name the hotel since I don’t really want to make this a review for them; however, suffice to say, we were less than pleased with the multiple options that they gave us for a room and so we started our trip out by cancelling our reservations for a full refund.

Luckily, Maverick was quick to find an even better deal right in the heart of town. At the last minute, my knight in shining armor found us a condo available for rent for the length of our stay. When we arrived, the concierge was very understanding of the ordeal we had just dealt with and quickly completed our Check-In and gave us our key. It was a beautiful one room condo complete with a small kitchenette with a full size refrigerator, a full bath with a jacuzzi tub, and two french doors leading to a full balcony overlooking the Alpine town. The TV in the room wasn’t hooked up to cable or internet, so that helped with our need to unplug. It forced us to look for more stuff to do outside of the room, even to relax. The only downfall to the entire place was that there was only the one bed. That meant that the kids would be sharing the queen sized bed with us. Luckily for us, we love cuddles!

The Attractions

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and the first thing we did was go Gem Mining! The kids loved the opportunity to get super messy and play in the muddy water! They loved it almost as much as I loved watching them enjoy it! We found lots of really great gems and we look forward to getting them cut and set soon! The Outpost Gold & Gem Mining Co. sits right on the edge of town and has the friendliest staff running it! We could have stayed there talking to those guys for hours!

After we mined for a bit we went to check in at the hotel and all of that nonsense took place. At that point, all I really wanted to do was find something to eat and settle in for our week. We decided to take a drive through town to let the kids kind of scope out what they might want to do while we were there. Nicholas pointed out the many ice cream shops and various delicatessens; whereas Chelsea was more intrigued by the attractions like the downhill roller coaster ride, the horse and carriage rides, and the many stores for shopping. We agreed that Anna Ruby Falls was somewhere we needed to visit with the kids while we were there too. We made our mental notes about what to visit and retired back to the condo for the evening.   

Shootin’ The ‘Hooch!

The next day we opted to start our week of adventures with tubing! There are two different companies in Helen that provide the tubing experience: Helen Tubing and Cool River Tubing. Pricing is similar; however, each company has a little something extra that the other doesn’t. It’s worth checking them both out to decide on which company, pricing, and options fit you and your family best. That being said, we opted for Helen Tubing. We got the same tubing experience as the customer’s of Cool River Tubing and we paid less than them. It should be noted here that we ONLY purchased the tubing packages the entire time we were there. On the weekends during the summer they don’t sell the ALL DAY packages. This is due to the volume of people wanting to get on the river. Even if you were first in line that morning at 9am when they opened, by the time you ride the entire length of the river and then catch the bus back, & stand in line to get back on the river, they would be closing for the day! As I stated before, that’s due to just the volume of people there on the weekends. On Monday and Tuesday, we opted to pay the additional $2 per person to have the ALL DAY passes. Monday we rode twice and Tuesday we rode three times! Including Sunday, we “Shot the ‘Hooch” a total of six times on our trip.

The kids collected rocks while on our trip too! We must have brought back 30 river rocks! Pictured below you’ll see just a couple of the towers we saw stacked along the way! Chelsea was excited to collect the rocks so that she could stack some up at home.

Shopping

We visited just about every store in Helen during our trip. We did a lot of window shopping and I got a few ideas for DIY projects I want to do too. Some of which will include the rocks the kids brought back. We found a really cute shop that sells these Star Lanterns; unfortunately, the light fixture it came with doesn’t work in our home, so I will be ordering a new one soon. I didn’t get the name of her shop, but the lady there is so talented. She makes roughly 80% of the items she sells and she was so friendly to me and my little ones.

We also found a great little antiques market there too! My Mom LOVES Raggedy Ann & Andy Dolls. She’s a bit of a collector. I saw this booth there that was filled with them! There are all kinds of great booths there with something for everyone!

On our way to one of the stores, Nicholas found an ancient artifact… a PAY PHONE!! He legitimately asked Maverick and I what it was and then followed the answer up with, “Why’s it outside?”. Mav and I couldn’t help but take the opportunity to photograph the moment we realized just how old we really are!

Horse Drawn Carriage

While we were out window shopping, Chelsea asked if we could ride in the horse drawn carriage. I have honestly always wanted to do this and just never had the opportunity, until now. We hopped aboard this adorable carriage and just as the coachman was about to start our ride. Chelsea mentioned to her how she’s been taking horseback riding lessons. The coachman then asked Chelsea if she wanted to sit up front with her. To say that Chelsea was ecstatic would not do her response justice. She leapt at the chance to lead our way through Helen via horse and carriage! The smile on her face was just the sweetest part of the experience, for me anyway.

Old Tyme Photos

When I was growing up here in Georgia, every trip we took to Helen was earmarked with those Old Tyme Photos. I used to love dressing up as a saloon girl and having my picture taken! I was so thrilled to be able to share that tradition with my kids too! Nicholas is so serious as a rough n’ tough cowboy and Chelsea adored dressing up in satin and lace with pearls and a revolver to boot!

The Eats

We took a rather large cooler with us so that we wouldn’t spend so much money eating out. That being said, we agreed to eat out once a day. The first morning, we had Huddle House for Breakfast. Our server was amazing! She kept the kids smiling and laughing the whole time.
The next day we had some really tasty pizza at Slice of Helen. I couldn’t find a website for them but you can see their menu here and their Google Search is here. That pizza is some of the best brick oven pizza I’ve ever had! The service was great too!
Our last meal out we had in Helen was at this delicious German Restaurant called The Heidelberg. I had the Rueben House Special with Fries. The shaved corned beef and sauerkraut are still making my mouth water. The upstairs dining area has hand painted murals on the walls and the most beautiful views of Helen as well. That’s definitely one place I look forward to returning to on our next trip to Helen.

The Georgia Mountain Coaster

We took the opportunity to ride the Georgia Mountain Coaster. Unfortunately, they have you put all of your personal belongings in a locker. Since I didn’t have a GoPro to take video/photos of our experience, I don’t have any images to show you. That being said, it was AWESOME! It’s a short ride, but it is so much fun barreling through the trees hearing the sounds of nature all around you… in addition to the screaming child sitting in front of you! It was an experience everyone should have! I highly recommend it!

The “Down” Time

We had such wonderful experiences in Helen; however, it was nice to be able to relax by the pool back at the condo while the kids ran out the rest of their energy. We had a nice little picnic out there and sunbathed in the latter part of the day. I enjoyed having a few laughs with my husband as we watched the sun set behind the mountains.

Anna Ruby Falls

On the last day of our trip, after we checked out, we drove up to Anna Ruby Falls and hiked to the waterfall. The kids were loving every minute of the hike. They stopped to watch the river flow around us, to listen to the sounds of the birds in the trees, to read the informative plaques scattered throughout the trail and of course for pictures! When we got to the top, we all stopped to admire the beautiful falls and catch our breath of that cool mountain air. I remember hiking up that same trail as a kid and stopping in the same spot for a photo. I may not have that photo today, but I still have the memory. I hope our kids take theirs’ to that very same spot for those memories too.

Heading Back Home

We were sad to see our vacation come to an end; but we were so happy to have been able to have all of the experiences we did. We went tubing (a lot), we shopped, we ate, we walked (a lot), we were silly, we cuddled, and we were unplugged (for the most part). It was a great way to make some wonderful memories with the family and enjoy the great outdoors. We will definitely be planning another trip very soon.

Planning Your Trip To Helen? Start here to learn more about this adorable Alpine Village!