Today we enjoyed a visit to the Serenbe Farms and village, an aspiring sustainable community developed around an organic farm about 45 minutes drive south west of Atlanta. First stop was their weekly farmers and artists market, then it was lunch at the organic cafe, followed by a tour of the farm. Unfortunately the farm tour was cancelled at the last minute so we were allowed to wander around freely and help ourselves to some freshly harvested produce! It was a lovely day out with the temperature rising to 30 degrees and this evening we enjoyed grilling all our fabulous organic produce for dinner on the balcony.
This weekend we were all active and making the most of the continued summer weather. Kerstin and Claudia enjoyed a weekend away with their Girl Scout troops at YMCA Camp High Harbor in North Georgia, while on Saturday Jonathan and I enjoyed a beautiful 6km lake and forest walk at Red Top Mountain State Park. On Sunday, Jonathan took part in the annual Three Gap Fifty challenge bike ride in the North Georgia mountains, improving his time over his previous two rides of the demanding route over 60 miles of roads and 6,385 ft of vertical climbing. Kerstin had a great birthday with the fun starting at the weekend when she had a party and sleepover with some of her school friends. Today she celebrated by sharing a giant 16 inch cookie cake with her girl scout troop at their monthly meeting! Then it was time to swing and chill in her new hammock! It has been an exceptional week here with almost all schools in Georgia ending up closed for three days due to a tropical storm as a result of Hurricane Irma. Schools and most workplaces were closed on Monday due to predicted high winds and heavy rain, then on Tuesday and Wednesday, closures continued due to power outages as a result of fallen trees and overhead power lines. Thankfully, we only lost power for a short while on Monday afternoon but many surrounding areas, including our school, lost power for a day or longer. This is not the first time that infrastructure in Georgia has seemed inadequate.
Today was Labor Day, so to finish off our adventurous long weekend we decided to visit some sights in the city which have been on our to-see list for a while; The rooftop Skyline Park at Ponce City Market, The Atlanta Beltline and the Historic Fourth Ward Park, all located near each other about 20-30 minutes drive away from our house. The Atlanta Beltline is a sustainable redevelopment project aiming to connect neighbourhoods via a 22-mile loop of multi-use trails and parks, using old railroad corridors encircling the city. We only experienced a small section of the trail today which was fun with city views and installation art, but also extremely busy with cyclists, joggers and strollers. This reminded us again that Atlanta desperately needs projects like this to provide recreation space which is severely lacking. We enjoyed our walk around the Historic Fourth Ward Park, a newly created landscaped urban park surrounded by apartment complexes and connected to The Beltline and Ponce City Market. This was our our second visit to Ponce City Market, but our first to the Skyline Park on the roof. The girls had fun enjoying the various amusements and we all enjoyed the heat and views across the city. Today we crossed the border into our closest neighbouring state. It took less than two hours to drive to our destination which was Alabama's highest point, Mount Cheaha which is situated in one of Alabama's State Parks. We enjoyed hiking three of the short trails with great views and sampled some local boiled peanuts!
We have been watching people float in tubes down the Chattahoochee River close to our house for the past two years and today it was finally our turn to 'shoot the hooch' as the locals say! I was in charge of logistics and photography while the other three drifted down the river in tubes, or a ducky (rubber kayak) in Kerstin's case. Two words we often use to describe the river when we walk by it and see the action floating by is loud and lazy: You don't have to be fit, and although an extra floating device for all your drinks and music system is not a prerequisite, it certainly helps make the experience truly American. The verdict from our Saturday drifters: fun, watch out for snakes and don't bring babies.
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AuthorsSusan, Jonathan, Kerstin & Claudia Archives
September 2017
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