Vampires, Polar Plunges & Petroglyphs

Took the long way back to Virginia. Tampa Bay, FL to North Georgia

I didn't know Georgia had a North.

WHEN: Week of 1/15/2024

WHERE: Covington & Blairsville, Georgia

WHY: to see where the vampires go when they leave New Orleans

SHELTER: Airbnb in Blairsville

PERKS: a dipping creek right off the back porch

REGRETS: not allowing enough days, we need to come back and camp

This little adventure all started when my daughter Emma insisted that we visit Covington, GA. We didn't know why and we actually fought the idea quite a bit. It was way out of the way back to Virginia and we have rules about that. If it isn't on the way we need to stay at least 4 days. But we only stayed 2, we paid for an overbudget (our usual budget is $40-$60 a night) Airbnb and then skedaddled back to Virginia. While we had discussed camping; so glad that we didn't go that route...

...when we left Florida it was 64 degrees and upon arrival to Covington, it was 70. Perfect, right? After a quick run around Covington, we headed deep into Northern Georgia in hopes of beating the sunset. We failed. We drove the foggy winding roads of the Chattahoochee National Forest in very low visibility to the cutest little cabin in Blairsville. By the time we got there, the temps were dropping fast, and by morning it was 26 degrees and by the next morning, it was 6 degrees and up to 10 degrees when we hit the road back to Virginia.

So now that we talked about the weather let's get to the meat of this adventure.

Welcome to Mystic Falls!!!

Wait!?! Isn't that in Virginia? No such place in Virginia...it is actually a movie set town in Covington, GA for Vampire Diaries. Like I said before we didn't know why we were taking the long way home but the excitement in my adult daughter's voice required us to go along on this adventure. A cult show that she had been watching since she was a tween and she knew all the details and had been waiting for this moment to line up for her to visit Mystic Falls.

Yes, she was super happy. We were quite surprised at the mass of other fans devouring the town's historical pop culture sites. Turns out that Covington is known as the Hollywood of the South which includes films such as Cannonball Run, Jason Lives: Friday the 13th, VI, Sweet Home Alabama, and our personal favorite My Cousin Vinny. And a ton of TV shows as well: Dukes of Hazzard, Sweet Magnolias, Sleepy Hollow, In the Heat of the Night just to name a few.

All that being said, a few hours in Covington isn't enough to take all the tours and see all the history. These 'two yutes' will be back.

Someone on Vampire Diaries died here...so we had a little re-enactment.

All over town you can buy vampire goodies.

Ok, enough about vampires...let's move on to that polar plunge.

Here is the amazing creek that lies right out the back door of the cabin we rented. While it would have been a perfect swimming hole in the summer we couldn't wait until then. So the ladies of the house went for a dip. Sorry, no photos since there was some skinny dipping.

No, we didn't leave Cody to the vampires he happily hid out in the cabin loft while these newlyweds headed to TrackRock. The awkward picture was taken by a worried mom (that is me) as they were quite underdressed as they headed out for a winter hike. Remember it is 26 degrees and dropping. And we just came from Florida...with mostly our Florida clothes.

One thing we have learned is to always tell each other where we are going, what car, what road, and get a good recent photo of clothes last seen in just in case. And yes we have lost the kids sometimes.

Yes, Mom was right. Their hike was beautiful but it was so cold that the moisture on the trees created this constant frost. As the day went on that same frost on the trees was finding its way to their lungs and luckily they made it back to the cabin just before sunset.

They didn't get to see the petroglyphs because some of the world's worst people destroyed it in 2020. They can not be repaired. 
Gone forever.  Hers is an interesting read about the petroglyphs that have been thought to be Cherokee. But the Cherokee say it wasn't them...so what people left their mark?

The next morning before we all headed back to Virginia Emma and Cody headed out into the 6 degrees to film a little video for Emma's upcoming women's retreat that she is hosting.

video by Cody Mausolf of The Liquor Portal