Helen, Georgia Trip by Ruth Paget
On our last trip to Atlanta, Laurent and I drove to Helen located in Northeastern Georgia in the Appalachian Mountains. I wanted to visit Georgia’s Wine Country along the state’s agritourism trail.
The agritourism route to Helen goes through the Chattahooche National Forest and the Unicoi and Smithgall Woods State Parks. Wine tasting rooms line the way along with inns advertising live music in the evenings.
Cherokee Native Americans were Helen’s original inhabitants followed by gold miners and lumber industry workers.
The Chattahooche River runs through Helen, which is built to resemble a Bavarian town. There is plenty of paid parking, which prompted us to eat at the Troll Tavern and Restaurant for its free parking.
The Troll has a terrace right beside the Chattahooche River that rushes all the way to Atlanta.
During the day, you order at the counter and a server brings you your order. I asked Laurent for a Wiener Schnitzel combo platter like we used to get when we lived in Germany.
Laurent went to order and came back to photograph Bavarian flags in the distance and the river.
The server arrived and placed a combo plate in front of me: a hot dog in a bun, potato chips, and coleslaw. Laurent smiled at me, knowing he was being a troll at the Troll Tavern.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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| Ruth Paget Photo |
