Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia

Ah, Georgia. You’re so underrated! While my husband loves nothing more than a summer escape to the mountains, my daughter loves nothing less than being trapped in a car with her two brothers. So, in the interest of family harmony, we chose Ellijay, Georgia, for our summer escape to the mountains this year. I checked Airbnb and Vrbo for a great cabin rental, but ended up finding a gem with Mountain Breeze Cabin Rentals in their Bear Point cabin. For a three bedroom, three bath, three story cabin, it didn’t break the bank and we had plenty of room to spread out.

We decided not to leave the cabin more than once each day due to the steep roads. So, we embarked on a new adventure each morning and returned to the cabin each night to soak our muscles in the hot tub, reminisce about our adventures that day and cap off the night with some family bonding over poker or pool.

These were our favorite activities:

1. Apple picking and family adventure course at Mercier Apple Orchards in Blue Ridge, Georgia. Be forewarned that both the apple picking and adventure course are on the weekends only, so plan accordingly. Your kids can take a tractor ride out to the orchards and pick as many apples as they can fit into their $8 bag. These apples are tasty! Then, If your boys are big American Ninja Warrior fans like mine, they’ll love the family adventure course that ends with a messy mud run (that the adults can opt out of). After finishing the course, the kids begged to go for a second round.
2. Tubing down the Toccoa River with Toccoa Wilderness Tubing. We have done enough tubing to know that not all tubing is created equal! We had a great time with this company down a stretch of river completely appropriate for our crew. My daredevil daughter would’ve preferred something less relaxing, but her anxiety prone mother was perfectly happy with the class 1 rapids. Stop in the charming town of Blue Ridge (preferably during the week when it’s less crowded) for a bite to eat at Harvest on Main or Fightingtown Tavern (get the Havana sandwich!) when you’re done.
3. Gem Mining at Consolidated Gold Mine in Dahlonega. The 45 minute tour through the old mine gives you a real sense of the dangerous life of a miner and the kids get to wear hard hats! When the tour is done, splurge for a bucket and let the kids sieve for gemstones. We left with rubies, amethysts and emeralds! Afterwards, be sure to stop in Dahlonega for a meal at Spirits Tavern. The fried Mac-n-cheese, chili and gourmet burgers are all heavenly.
4. Zip lining near Helen, Georgia with Nacoochee Adventures. Our absolute hands down favorite activity was zip lining through the forest. You can start with the nice and easy “canopy tour” where you’ll zip across four shorter lines with a group of up to fifteen. Don’t chicken out when you’re offered the “Big Intimidator” at the end that’ll take you (for $30 more) 1/2 mile down the mountain at 45 miles per hour on a tandem zip. You will not soon forget it!

If you haven’t been to the mountains in a while, do yourself and your family a favor and head out to Chattahoochee National Forest. Don’t miss the charming towns of Ellijay, Blue Ridge and Dahlonega or the beauty of Vogel State Park (top photo). After some fresh forest air, you’ll all be feeling refreshed, renewed and ready to take on life again.