Amicalola Falls

Yesterday we took the kids on a day hike to Amicalola Falls the tallest waterfall in the Southeast, United States.  From Murphy, North Carolina it took an hour and a half to get to the northern Georgia State Park.  The drive through apple orchards and green pastures was beautiful. The 400 foot waterfall was amazing!

 It cost $5 to park our car for the day.  At the entrance there was a visitor center with a reptile exhibit and information about the area.  We received a map that gave us information on different hikes we could choose from.  We chose to take the mile hike to the top of the waterfall.  On our way several young men passed us who were on their way to the head of the Appalachian Trail.  (Maybe someday)

 The two older kids were able to do the hike and we carried Zoe in a pack.  Of course, chocolate chips are a good incentive to keep them walking.

 After reaching the top we ate our lunch and headed back down.  (From the top of the waterfall you really couldn't see much.)  After enjoying watching the kids play at the playground we drove up to the halfway point of the waterfall where there was a paved walkway taking us straight up to the waterfall where we could get a good view.  Here there was a nice bridge where we took pictures.  There was also a stairway for those that wanted to climb either to the top or bottom of the Falls.

Another fun part of our day was an owl exhibit going on.  We heard that they only show this exhibit twice a year and we just happened to come on the right day.  We learned a lot about several different owls.  Here is a picture of a type of Screech owl.  We also got to see a Barred Owl and a Barn Owl.  Sawyer was a little to intimidated to have an owl "sit" on his shoulder, and Zoe was too excited about petting the "babies" which was not allowed.  We only got some pictures of Ever Joy with the owls.  The Screech owl was her favorite, his name was Gizmo.