Karen Shinkins: Bring On The Mimosas

This past weekend I took a trip, with my friend Mike, to Amicalola Falls in North Georgia. After a long week of working and very little playing, we decided to spend some time in nature, or with nature, however the phrase goes.
We originally planned for a 10am departure, which was no problem for me, cos I am THE morning person. Mike on the other hand, is not THE morning person, so 10am turned into 11am, no big deal, except we had planned on grabbing brunch along the way, so I deliberately avoided having breakfast. As a result, we were only on the road about 40 minutes when the hunger pains were in full swing. At this point we were into the boonies of Georgia, so our restaurant options had become scarce and limited.
We did pass through this old railroad town that had a population of about 25 and saw a sign outside of a tiny building advertising “Breakfast All Day”. I swear it was no bigger than a train station ticket booth and we assumed it was no longer in business, but as we got closer we noticed a red and blue neon sign flashing “Open” in the window, just left of the door, so we thought “why not?” and in we pulled to get us some breakfast.

The place was small but bigger than it appeared from the outside. The staff were friendly and with very deep southern accents, referred to us both as “hon”, “What can I geecha hon?” The breakfast was great. Lovely big country sized portions of eggs and grits and toast. Perfect for a famished girl. Before we got back on the road, we decided to check with our server that we were headed the right way to Amicalola Falls. As soon as we asked the question she turned her head to the rest of the restaurant and yelled out, “Hey, any y’all know the best way to them Amicalola Falls?” All eyes immediately turned in our direction and instantly I was mortified. I tried to ever so quietly make myself as small and as invisible as possible by sliding a few inches lower in my seat in an effort to avoid all the gazes. But no need, everyone was more than eager to help the 2 city slickers find their way to the pretty falls.

We got there a little after 1pm and it was hot. Hot, hot, hot. I’m not kidding. We stopped off at the visitor center and got ourselves a map and then began our hike to the top of the falls. It wasn’t a far hike, just over a mile, but it was steep and add to that the intense heat and seriously it became not quite the hike from hell, but close enough, the hike from limbo maybe. We got to a viewing point close to the top of the falls and from there, if you wanted to enjoy the view from above the falls, you had to climb a further 425 steps. I know how many steps were involved, cos the sign told me so, and since we got this far, well, of course we opted to go all the way.

Once at the top we discovered there was a lodge. How perfect was that? A lovely air-conditioned place overlooking the Georgia Mountains where you could sit and drink or eat. And since both of us were close to dehydration, we made a beeline right for the lodge. We grabbed a table by the window so we could enjoy the view and immediately ordered a glass of water and a glass of sprite. Then as we looked a little closer at the drinks list we noticed they served mimosas. A mimosa, for those who may not know is a champagne and orange juice mix. I had never had one before but was of the opinion that if ever there was a moment when I owed myself the opportunity to try a mimosa, then this was it. And when I tell you that shit was good, I mean, that shit was good. Cold and citrus’y and bubble’y. Just fabulous. So we had another and then another. 3 in total. And for anyone wondering how the world looks through the eyes of a girl with 3 mimosas on board, the answer is, funny. Everything is just so damn funny.

We stayed there for about another 30 minutes, enjoying our mimosa buzz and then decided it was time to get some more water into ourselves and begin our hike back down. Obviously down was soooo much easier than up and we were back at the car and on the road to Atlanta in under an hour.