A Day at the Amicalola Falls

Recently, we just took a quick trip to visit Amicalola Falls in Dawsonville. It was about 45 minutes from our house. The trip was a really pleasant drive in the mountain with blue sky and colorful trees along side of the road. I was glad Mr. Rojo did the driving so I could enjoy the scenary. We went there with a couple of families friends. At first we stopped by at the pumpkin patch. After that, we headed to the Falls. We planned to picnic there and do a little hike to enjoy the leaves color in the mountain.

It was a really busy weekend. There were so many cars there but the rangers were very good at helping us parking and answering any questions. We parked and headed to the playground area. The kids were off to the playground and the adults digged in on the food. I love the Fall weather.. the cool, crisp air...

After a while, we packed up and decided to check out the Falls. We drove up to the West Ridge Falls access trail.. Ok.. We cheated, ok? We had 4 kids and 1 baby so we needed a little bit of an easy trail. This trail is perfect for any family as the trail is built with recycled tire. It was very easy to walk. There was pretty much no elevation at all.. We could even push the stroller on this trail. The trail was pretty manageable for small kids as well. I think it took us about 10-15 minutes to get from the parking lot to the viewing point of the Falls. Maybe next year we can try to hike from the base.. hehe..

Then we went up to the top of the Falls to check out the Lodge. It was a great place to stay in the park. It has an amazing view and a great restaurant with reasonable price buffet. We didn't plan to eat there but it was too good to pass up. But before dinner, we found out that the park had the Hayride every 15 minutes for free.. Did I hear someone mention 'Free'? Without hesitation, we all headed out to wait in line for the hayride. It was pretty neat ride. The ranger took us on the trail off road. The kids got a kick out of the bouncing up and down on the tractor and the fallen leaves.

Back from the hayride we headed down to check out the amazing view from the Lodge. Then off to dinner.. Food was great, friendship was even better.. We truly enjoyed our day out with our friends. It was one of the fun weekend trip we have had this year.

The park has different kinds of accomodation. There are hike-in Inn (as the name you can't drive there), the cabin, the hotel.. We really liked it there that we were thinking about vacationing there together. Now we just have to find the time that will work for everyone.