Blue Ridge, GA - Upcoming Meetup

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I can't begin to describe how happy I was to read a recent post by @enginewitty about an upcoming steemit meetup not too far from me and in one of my favorite places in the world! The meetup is planned from August 16th through August 19th, 2018 and I, for one, can't wait for it to get here. I am also extremely excited to meet some fellow steemians in real life and to put some faces and personalities with screen names. The only steemians I know in real life are my daughter and a co-worker who I on-boarded( the co-worker, @ericstotle, may be coming with me). The meetup will be taking place north of Atlanta, near the town of Blue Ridge,GA. My wife and I actually spent our honeymoon there and have visited several times since then. There are a multitude of amazing shops and restaurants in the area and it is a really welcoming and friendly town.

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^{Unique salt and pepper shakers we bought on our honeymoon at a eclectic art gallery on Main Street}

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The town is known for it's amazing beauty and being situated in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There are some really great mountain cabins to rent as well as a great selection of hotels to choose from. We have stayed at the local Comfort Inn. It is extremely clean, affordable, has a daily breakfast, and an amazing view over the parking lot of the mountains. I will most likely stay here during this meet up.

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^{It was like a dream come true!}

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^{It has recently moved locations, but I'm sure it is still fabulous.}

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One of the coolest attractions to me was an actual bigfoot museum just outside of town. I have learned that it has moved to the main street in the middle of town now and has expanded to be a supernatural/unexplained museum as well. When we visited the last time, we noticed the building next to the road and I looked at my wife like a little puppy and she agreed to let me spend an afternoon their...lol Expedition:Bigfoot was one of the best times I've had in a long time and I was surprised at how much time and effort were put into the exhibits. The owner takes his calling very serious and he is extremely knowledgeable on the subject of Sasquatch and his impact on the local culture. When we visited, he was planning on expanding to actually having local expeditions go out at night and look for signs of the elusive creature. He had night vision, parabolic hearing devices, and all sorts of other investigative tools.

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^{Sorry for the quality, I don't know why it is so blurry.}

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^{They had a little bit of everything here.}

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^{I see some family resemblance!}

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We also enjoyed all of the local specialty shops along the main street. There are art galleries, gift shops, ice cream shops, coffee shops, restaurants, candy shops, and too many other shops to name. The area is also home to several local vineyards if you decide to partake in some of the locally created spirits.

The highlight for me was an amazing restaurant named, Harvest on Main. It served the hands-down best burger I have ever eaten and I still have dreams about it from time to time. The team here specialize in locally harvested ingredients and truly embrace the farm to table philosophy of running their restaurant. In addition to phenomenal burgers, they had cooked-on-site smoked bar b que as well as locally pickled vegetables such as green beans and okra.

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^{Best burger I've ever had!}

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Trust me, if you are within possible traveling distance, I highly, highly encourage you to attend this meetup. I know it will be a great place to make new friends and experience a truly unique town nestled within the blue ridge mountains. If you are planning on attending, please let me know in the comments so we can get to "know" each other before the meetup and I will message anyone my contact information as the time gets closer.

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All photos and videos are my own creation unless otherwise noted.

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Animation By @zord189

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All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter,
Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
-Tolkien