Monday, September 21, 2009

Willkommen zum Mustang-Rollen

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Rural roads wind the rolling hills of north Georgia providing a nice blend of cultivated fields, country homes and a scattering of charming tiny towns. On this first day of April under a brilliant blue sky we thus made our way toward Helen, Georgia. We undertook this bit of investigative touring having seen an ad in the SC lowcountry's " ISLAND LIFE" which showed a sketch of the place. Obviously, we need little if any provocation for hitting the bricks.

Good weather, open roads and the budding florets of Spring made the day. Changing gears with the gentle twists, turns and easy inclines came as smoothly as the fluid sweep of an old fly fisherman.

Suddenly we are met by a phalanx of bumper to handlebar car and bike traffic. Around that last turn, Helen presents as " Little Bavaria ", an entire town made in the image of a German village. It is a set piece which seems to have required unanimous consent of every owner of every patch of land to cooperate in the making of this fantasy. We imagined their Board of Architectural Review handing down stern decisions, " Sorry, not German enough. We want a little more gingerbread on those gables ".

This happened to be that one weekend during which everyone came to Helen. We had the feeling that everyone in the world was on Helen's e-mail list except Windveil. Babies in strollers, elders on walkers, fraternity boys crawling, everyone was there in a three generation array. You can't get some of the worst brats to eat bratwurst so there is a Wendy's for the unwilling.. Pommes-Frites mit dem?

The Hantzel and Gretel Candy Kitchen and Chocolate Factory caught our eye. There could have been a thousand or more people in Minideutschland at that moment so we took a pass on the H&G, but we managed to scatter some bread crumbs as we left in order that we might find our way back once the crowd cleared. That's as much GPS as we care to have.

AUF WIEDERSEHEN, HELEN

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Helen was created after they ran out of room in Gatlinburg, or was it OberGatlinburg? In any case, the crowds are the same, the traffic is just as bad on a minor scale, and the scenery more alike than not. My suggestion is that Windviel fuel up and head for Solvang, CA, a town with the same themes but not as many t-shirt shops, fast food joints, and putt-putt courses. Be sure to eat at the Hitching Post(made famous in Sideways). Alas, Michael has left the country, but you can still visit Neverland.

12:49 PM  
Blogger Windviel said...

Danke, Agricola,

Helen sans Hellions would be much nicer especially where the river runs through it. I can't be too hard on them as we in SC have the cross of Myrtle Beach to bear.

The Slovang alternative sounds promising. If only it could be as exciting as " SIDEWAYS ". While Neverland is in our never plans, sampling Sonoma is on the long range map, but I fear that we might get hung up in Tennessee at the Jack Daniels facility en route to California. Your comments are always welcome.

3:57 PM  
Anonymous Ron Voelker said...

love your photos....could you send me an email to discuss obtaining your permission to use them in a youtube song video? Thanks, ronvoelker@att.net

10:29 AM  

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