Growing up in a lower middle class family in Atlanta, I vividly recall the visceral excitement I felt every time I’d get some spending money from mowing my neighbor’s lawn. My buddies and I would hop on our 10-speed bikes and ride down to the neighborhood Milk Jug convenience store. There we’d excitedly grab fistfuls … Read more
When I was a young man working to pay my own way through college, I spent 5 years as a cook, manager, and delivery driver at a family-owned Italian restaurant in Atlanta. Those influential years at At’sa Pizza (which was owned by a similarly warm maternal figure) came rushing back to me as we dined … Read more
As a boy growing up near the North Georgia mountains, I tended to take the Appalachian food of my family’s roots for granted. Fortunately, traditional Southern food has come a long way over the last few decades, as has the culinary scene in little mountain towns like Blue Ridge, GA. When Mary and I first … Read more
The Expedition Bigfoot Museum is a uniquely intriguing roadside attraction in Cherry Log, GA. Located along Highway 515 just minutes outside of Blue Ridge, it’s truly a weird and wondrous must-see for anyone visiting the North Georgia mountains. You don’t have to be a diehard believer in Bigfoot encounters to get a kick out of … Read more
Visiting Blue Ridge, GA in the ’90s (and even as recently as 2009), there was little indication that this tiny town would soon become a tourism hotspot. Spanning just 2.6 square miles, with a population of less than 1300 people at the time, it felt like any number of other sleepy towns in the Blue … Read more
There’s something about exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains that always takes me back to my childhood, growing up in North Georgia. When I was 5 my grandparents bought a trailer on Lake Hartwell, where I first fell in love with nature. When I was 12, we helped build their wood house near Winder. When I … Read more