Last weekend, the hubs and I were able to sneak away for a quick overnight trip to Helen, GA. My in-laws kept the kiddos and we enjoyed having some kid-free time to explore and relax! I’ve really been needing a break lately from the monotony of motherhood – the never-ending clean, drive, play, wipe, cook, argue, repeat!
Helen is a cute, quaint little German-themed town in North Georgia. It was a bigger tourist destination back in the 80’s, but these days it’s pretty quiet. Although it still can get crowded during the weekend! We love Helen because it’s a quick drive from Atlanta, and it has some beautiful scenic places to explore along the river, along with a few great places to hike.
After dumping…er…dropping the kids off with my in-laws, we headed up to Helen and checked in at the hotel. We’ve stayed at a few places around town, but this time we tried out the Hampton Inn. It was clean and newly renovated, and we had a beautiful view of the river from our balcony!
Another thing I love about Helen is that it’s small enough that you can pretty much walk everywhere. After checking in the hotel, we strolled through town to one of our favorite places to eat, The Troll Tavern. It’s the perfect place for a cold drink and some tasty German food. We love eating here during the summer. If you sit outside, you can watch people tubing down the river. The perfect spot for people watching!
After dinner, we stopped by Paul’s Margarita Deck. It’s another great place to sit, have a drink, and watch the river roll by!
Once we finished our drinks, we strolled around some more and watched the sunset.
We ended the night with ice cream and more people watching at King Ludwig’s Beer Garden, where they have live music, drinks, and dancing.
The next morning, we walked over to one of our favorite breakfast spots, Hofer’s Bakery and Cafe. We ate a hearty breakfast since we knew we’d be hiking later.
A trip to Helen wouldn’t be complete without stopping by Hansel and Gretel’s Candy Kitchen. We grabbed some fudge to take home with us, and a couple of stacked gummy lollipops for the kids.
We also popped into Betty’s Country Store to browse.
We noticed that Betty’s has a new outdoor bar area right outside. How cute! We’re going to check it out next time we go to Helen.
After checking out of the hotel and changing into some hiking clothes, we headed over to Anna Ruby Falls. It’s an easy, paved 1/2 mile hike up to two beautiful waterfalls. Since we had time and needed the exercise, we hiked all the way up and down twice!
We drove back into town for lunch and grabbed some delicious ribs and pulled pork at Rib Country BBQ.
Before heading back to pick up the kids, we stopped by Nacoochee Antiques to see what kind of neat things we could find. We’d also planned on checking out the Habersham Winery, but didn’t realize they were having a Wine Festival that day! (Which would have been super fun, if we had known about it.) It was packed with a bunch of people, all dressed super cute for the festival. I was still wearing my hiking clothes and had thought that the winery would be a good place to change back into regular clothes. Bad idea! I had to stand in line next to a bunch of girls in pretty sundresses and cute hats, praying that I didn’t smell too stinky from the hike and the BBQ. 😆
Josh grabbed a coffee and Jumpin Goat Coffee Roasters before we reluctantly hit the road to go pick up the kids.
It was such a great little getaway!
Where do you like to escape for a kid-free weekend?