Take the long road

Last weekend I decided to go on a search for fall foliage. So I packed up my camera bag, filled a water bottle, grabbed some snacks and hit the road. I plug in my first destination and off I go. It takes me on surface streets all the way there. Now, Atlanta is notoriously known for bad traffic and because of that I didn’t think much of not going on a highway. It added to the adventure and it was a beautiful day so I didn’t really mind.

My first destination was Georgia’s smallest state park, up in the mountains. While it has a beautiful lake overlook, it’s mostly a giant campground. I circled the campground then went to a trailhead across the street where I follow a single lane dirt road to where it says a waterfall is. I park, get out and hike to the waterfall – success, fall colors found! I get to the waterfall, enjoy the view and hike back to the car. From there I follow the twist and turns of the road to a scenic overlook to stop by where I get out, take some pictures, eat a snack and just simply enjoy the view before plugging in my next destination: Brasstown Bald, Georgia’s highest peak. More twist and turns as I head to the mountain, and even more as I drive to the top. I park at the trailhead and prepare for the “short but steep” hike to the summit, a very accurate description from the range. I walk around the observation deck, take more photos and admire the view.
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I twist and turn down the mountain, stopping at the bottom to plug my home address into the GPS. It starts on more backroads and surface streets, and it’s still a nice, early evening so I don’t mind. Now, even with Atlanta’s bad traffic, by the time I reached the metro area it was late enough to not have to worry about it, but the GPS still said to avoid the highway it had just put me on, so I got off thinking it was avoiding a crash and would put me back on. After it missed several opportunities to get back on the highway it occurred to me, I had turned off the “highways” option for work. I couldn’t be angry about it and just had to laugh, and honestly, I’m glad it took me the long way because it let me see the fall foliage that I was searching for.