Tag Archives: Dahlonega Georgia

Mother/Daughter Adventure Part 2

22 May

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Last week I wrote about our stop at Helen, Georgia on our way to visit Dahlonega, Georgia.

We visited Dahlonega briefly last winter and our daughter wanted to spend some time there exploring the shops and explore we did! I think we went into almost everyone. Sadly, I didn’t snap any photos.

After walking all over the downtown area we began looking for a place to get a bite to eat. I had spotted a British pub earlier and suggested we try it. Then my daughter opened the door and revealed a straight up long staircase. That was a hard no.

We walked on and came upon a cafe/diner. For the life of me I can’t remember the name. We both ordered the tomato basil soup combo. The soup was delicious. My daughter’s combo included a salad with fruit. I chose a bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwich with their homemade pimento cheese. I am a sucker for pimento cheese.

We had one more destination. A practical one. I needed a new pair of glasses and after using Grok to compare price and quality I chose Costco Warehouse. The down side was that the closest one was two hours from our home. But…it was only about 30 minutes from Dahlonega.

I needed new glasses for a couple of reasons. They were about three years old and pretty well worn out. They frames were constantly needing to be adjusted so that the progressive lens were in the right place. The other reason is a good one. At my last ophthalmologist visit the doctor casually mentioned as he walked out of the exam room that my vision seemed to have approved.

I set up an appointment with my favorite optometrist for an exam. To his surprise my vision truly was improved.

We retrieved our car from the pay by the hour parking lot and navigated to Cumming, Georgia and Costco.

I should mention that Costco Warehouse operates on a membership basis. We have a membership which is why I included the warehouse in my search criteria.

We were blessed to secure a good parking space. Parking can be a major pain there. To my delight, the optical department was located almost directly inside the warehouse.

I totally dislike choosing new eyeglass frames. I put myself in my daughters hands and said “choose a frame.” And she did. Since I already had a vision prescription we found a sales associate, paid and was told the glasses would be ready in a week. Easy-peasy. Or as I like to say, Bob’s your uncle.

The drive home wasn’t nearly as pleasant with rush hour traffic but it didn’t matter. I was with our girl and that is always a good day.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2025 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

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A Mother/Daughter Adventure Part 1

15 May

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

As usual, I am blown away by how quickly days and weeks fly by. My last blog was written in early April when we returned to the North Carolina mountains for the summer.

For years we rented a duplex cabin owned by our Florida neighbor. We usually were the first renters of the season and my husband would mow a path from the car to the house for us to unload. While our home doesn’t require mowing to unload the car, mowing the grass first thing has become my husband’s ritual. This year several days of rain delayed him and the yard was sporting the shaggy look.

My husband started the Japanese Maple as a small twig.

Aside from de-winterizing the house we began the carousel of doctor visits, round and round from one doctor to another.

Just as we were finishing the doctor rounds, our daughter arrived for a week’s visit. On her last trip to the mountains, we celebrated her birthday with a day trip to Dahlonega, Georgia. It’s claim to fame is the site of the first major US Gold Rush. People to this day go there to pan for gold. I think it might be more of a lark than real expectations.

On her birthday trip, the weather alternated between mist and rain. We enjoyed a meal at Smith House, but chose not to slog through rain to check out the rest of the town.

She was eager to visit Dahlonega again to explore the town and its quaint shops. Her dad didn’t feel up to the amount of walking that exploring would require, so we declared it a mother/daughter adventure.

As we were looking at the map app to decide on the best route for a two hour drive, we were delighted to realize that Helen, Georgia, was in the same area. We added it to our trip.

It has been years since we spent time there. Then the town was styled as a small Alpine village.The small village has grown tremendously. The original area is still there but now it has sprouted, with hotels everywhere. Unfortunately it didn’t expand public parking. We drove slowly looking for a parking place, and finally found several spaces at the Helen General Store.

I’m so glad we ended up at the general store. It had everything one could want except clothes including an impressive grocery section, a butcher case, a mini kitchen that serves breakfast and lunch sandwiches. Their selection of cake slices and muffins was enticing. We chose to share a Hummingbird cupcake and one of their enormous peanut butter cookies. The cookie was the perfect texture for dunking into the excellent self serve one dollar a cup coffee.

When we went to the front check out counter to pay for our purchases, I was fascinated with this wheel of cheese sitting on a cutting board.

I’ve run out of time to write about our time in Dahlonega. Until next time….

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2025 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

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Christmas and Beyond

2 Jan

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Where did December go? Wasn’t it Thanksgiving just a week or so ago? Surely I am not the only one feeling this way.

December was a busy month at our house. Our daughter invited us to join her on a week long Caribbean cruise during the first week of December and of course we said yes.

The weather was perfect, sunny with highs in the mid 70s. We had a very pleasant time. I did a lot of reading and sleeping. And of course eating. I think my husband had four desserts before we left the port.

Speaking of the port, we cruised out of Port Canaveral which is not only a cruise terminal but Space X launches from there.

The large vessel attached to the tug boat is the barge rocket boosters land on after launching. Three boosters are behind the barge. Space X reuses the boosters. As a side note, Space X launches Starlink satellites from here. After Hurricane Helene, Elon’s Starlink provided communication in the mountain disaster areas. He also provided reduced pricing on the equipment and gave service for free to hard hit areas.

A few of pictures from the cruise.

Made from a decorative throw at the botton of the bed. Cute
Private island Christmas decoration.
I liked the ornaments
I’m surprised they weren’t Mickey and Minnie snowmen.

After the cruise we took a day to rest then drove back to our place in the mountains to get ready for Christmas. Of course we had to throw in some out of town doctor visits just to keep life interesting.

And then it was Christmas and then it was our daughter’s birthday. It was a milestone birthday so we wanted to do something special. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate with any plans we made. Finally after checking and rechecking the weather projections we decided to celebrate on the day before her big day. Rain was supposed to hold off until evening. Except it didn’t. A cold, drizzle began shortly after leaving home and followed us all the way to Dahlonega, Georgia.

One of her friends had recommended a family style restaurant there. It did not disappoint. Beside being a restaurant it is also an Inn.

Love that Santa is the picture above the mantle.

We had not visited this cute town but we plan to go back in the spring. Want to know more about Dahlonega, here’s a recent article from The Detailed Traveler. An interesting tidbit, the town was the home of the first Gold Rush.

And then time spun away and our daughter returned to Florida and now it is 2025. The weather has been sunny, windy and cold. There is a possibility of snow over the weekend. One would think that living in the mountains we would get a lot of snow, but we don’t. I plan to drink coffee and hot chocolate, watch the snow (if it comes) and have a pajama weekend. And read, of course.

After thought, when visiting with a friend after Christmas, she asked what i got for Christmas. My mind went blank. That’s embarrassing. The first thing that came to my mind was this.

My friend was a little envious.

My husband had asked what I would like for Christmas and I told him Sharpies. After 52 years of marriage he realized I was serious.

I hope each of you had a lovely Christmas and I wish you blessings in this new year of 2025.

If we get snow, I will post the pictures.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2024 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

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