Fall & the Russell-Brasstown National Scenic Byway

During mid November, we took a drive through the Russell-Brasstown National Scenic Byway. This is recommended as one of the best fall color viewing routes in GA. The drive was about 150 miles up and down. The first drive of any distance that I took the Rav4 on. the time was co-incident with
the peaking of fall colors and it was worth it.

Other than the vibrant colors all along the way, the drive itself was mostly through sparsely populated woody areas which were very low in traffic. It was very relaxing and seeing only farms and mountain log cabins far apart you can almost forget that the thick of civilization is only an hour or so away.

We also noticed a number of backpackers hiking along the road through the woods. All of them were alone and they almost seem like some sort of nomads. The other noteworthy thing was bikers. Man, there were some high end bikes traveling along that route. It probably is the preferred way of enjoying the scenery. The whether being what it was, it must have been really pleasant riding on a bike.

We drove all the way to Helen, which is supposed to be an old German city, they maintain most of the old shops and such to maintain the looks of the city. Unfortunately I didn't find much photo worthy at Helen.

This is also the first trip I took with the new navigation unit. It seems to be doing it's job pretty well. I'm still getting accustomed to it so I took a couple of wrong turns, but I'm sure it's more my inexperience listening to voice directions coming from a little box rather than a flaw with the unit's software.