A family tradition….our 6th year at Unicoi State Park

We spent the last week with Emily, Sean, and our grandsons, Soren and Sebastian, for our annual Labor Day weekend at Unicoi State Park.  Unicoi is nestled in the mountains of northern Georgia just outside of the quaint Bavarian town of Helen.

Emily welcomed us at the airport with hugs.

On our first morning at Unicoi, we went tubing down the Chattahoochee River.  This is our fourth trip down the three mile stretch of the river that ends in “downtown” Helen.  It takes about three hours to maneuver through the rapids, the placid sections of the river when we were becalmed, and to dislodge ourselves from the rocks and shallow shoals where we continually bottomed out.

It’s always a blast.  We floated down the river and finally arrived at Helen.  We were wet, exhausted, and very hungry!

So we ate at a tavern under a bridge on the river, aptly named the Troll Tavern.

Of course, we strolled into all of our favorite stores in Helen.  One of Sebastian’s favorite pastimes is to browse through a variety of touristy shops. 

We simply had to visit Betty’s Country Store and both candy shops so we could stock up on fudge—although, it was unanimously decided that I, Grandma Vicky, makes the best fudge of all!

Grandpa getting hugs from dear Soren…..lucky Grandpa.

And most importantly, while in Helen, we did the Family Cowboy photo experience that Sebastian has been excited about for several years now….

Sebastian took bow lessons for the sixth year.  He’s getting awfully good at hitting his target.  His lesson was cut short due to torrential rain, thunder, and lightning.

In past years we’ve spent an afternoon on Unicoi Lake with canoes and kayaks. This year we chose pedal boats and paddle boards.  

Good choice—it was lots of fun, as always!

Fred’s Famous Peanuts is a must see.  The dummies proved more entertaining than all the knick knacks and even the roasted peanuts.

Look at Sebastian and Soren posing with the same bicycle at the peanut shop two years ago….as every good grandparent says, “My, how you’ve grown!”

Every year we’ve rented the same cabin at Unicoi State Park.  It has a view of the lake and is right next to the 2+ mile trail that circumnavigates Unicoi Lake.  All day and night we can hear the cicadas and lake birds calling to each other.  It’s a very special place for all of us.

Lots of hugs on the deck at the cabin….

A special joy for Grandpa was helping Sebastian with his algebra!

Once again, Sean made delicious meals for all of us.  This year dinners were loaded nachos and tacos with every possible topping.  Thank you, Sean.

We had fun tricking Emily into taking a walk around the lake with Soren and Sebastian, so Sean and I could bake her surprise birthday brownies!

Bugs….

Crawdad hunting….

And, of course, our traditional stop at Babyland General Hospital (where Cabbage Patch babies are born), so Emily and Sebastian could get Christmas outfits for their Cabbage Patch babies.  

See the babies being born from the cabbage plants….

Looks like Soren is the Cabbage Patch King.

What better place to get ice cream, than at a creamery that has an enormous, giant cow.

And it was the most delicious ice cream ever….so good that Soren ate a pint and Grandpa ate a whole quart of Butter Pecan.

This was our first time stopping here for ice cream on our way home from Unicoi, but it is definitely going to be part of our future Unicoi Labor Day weekend tradition.  

We’ve already planned to add some fun activities to our Unicoi family vacation next year—ax throwing and zip lining across the lake….we can hardly wait!

I’m thinking that since I’ll be 75….3/4 of a century old, that I just may zip line for the first time in my life with our grandsons next year.  Hope we can talk Grandpa into joining us!