Final Day Of Our RV Trip To N. Georgia

Day three in the N. Georgia was spent with the Hoffer’s on a tour of wine country.  According to one site – “The Southern Appalachians in North Georgia are ideal for growing wine grapes.  The elevation, the soil and the climate combine to produce wine grapes of the highest quality and subsequently, fine wines.”  Stu, Sandy, Meakin, and Sam (MyCarolina Kitchen) drove the 30+ miles down to the campground, met up with us, and we headed across the mountains to our first stop at Blackstock Vineyards and Winery for a tasting and lunch, or so we thought. 

Sam suggested this as our first stop because they opened at 10am and they served lunch but upon arriving and inquiring about lunch were told, “yeah, we need to update our website” – no lunch.  This was too bad as they had a magnificent place to serve it as you can see from these views.

The nice young lady poured us several wines to taste and we bought a few bottles and decided to head down to Dalonega for lunch at the Back Porch Oyster Bar.  Like many towns in the area, Dalonega, has changed into a tourist town and appears to be more successful at it than others.

I’m sure having the steady income brought in by a college helps with their improvement efforts.  None of us took restaurant shots, but several of the dishes were memorable – I wanted raw oysters, but refused to pay $24/dozen for them.  Two of us had their Hatteres Style New England clam chowder and Bev and I loved it and Stu ordered a Thai Chili calamari for all to taste and it was also a big hit.  The other memorable item that Bev and I got a taste of was Sam’s shrimp and grits and we all thought it was very good.  We would definitely eat there again if in the area.  Bev’s fish taco and my fried oyster sandwich were also good but not in the same league as the others.

After lunch and brief walk in town, we headed back North with a stop at Frogtown Winery and like the Blackstock Winery, this tasting room sits on a hill with a great view.

These are shots of the tasting bar and us at it.

This place is really set of for event hosting with large indoor and outdoor areas.

We got back to the campground, said our good buys and settled in to our outside chairs to watch the light rain – right before the serious thunderstorms roared through, followed by a long, steady rain – hey we’re camping and it nearly always does that.  It was fun, as always, to spend time with the Hoffer’s and we thought it was the highlight of the trip.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  Salmon Leftovers

Two years ago: Creamy Pasta Puttanesca

Larry

8/9/2012 event date