Ellijay, Georgia

Sept. 20, 2003  

Well the picnic has come and gone. But the fun times and friendships made will stay with us all. As Moon Pie put it. Hotel room with a beautiful mountain view: $55/night, Two tanks of gas: $31.50 , Meeting new friends: PRICELESS !! 

I must mention a few names, but before I do let me thank every one who came brought items, made goodie bags, set up, put up signs, swept, cooked, cleaned,  served shared stories ,and  helped in too many ways to mention. I guess what I'm getting at is all 57 people worked together to make this picnic work. Thanks to you all.

  But the one person who had the notion to have this event was  itsme. I must say that she did one H%&# of a job putting this one together. She planned, delegated and followed up with phone calls and e-mails. She worked long and hard on this and she is the single reason this was such a success. This gathering of 38 Georgers and their families and friends, totaling 57 people one cat and one dog, was the largest WG event ever. My hat is off to her ,thank you itsme!!

 Of the many people who pitched into help  no one contributed  more  than WaHo Glenn! He also celebrated his 65th birthday with us . Happy Birthday to you Glen,  and many more. You sir are a class act. Thank you.

On a personal note, I would like to thank all of you who thanked me for this little web page. My efforts pale in comparison to others. If this page helped in any way  I am glad to have been of assistance. It was truly MY pleasure.

Well anyway a great time was had by all. We had a Get to know your SE Georgers game by Willy Wonka Fan. With prizes for the winners. WWF also doubled up as the emcee for the event. Food, we had so much great food. And birthday cake for Glenn and a George Anniversary cake for Manic Mechanic. If anyone didn't leave stuffed it was their fault! I think I gained 4 pounds that day alone. The weather was super! Low 60 that morning and 87 sunny degrees that day. 

Please check the South East forum for the wonderful comments that all shared. Fogette has another of her superb photo pages up so please visit .

The rest of the site I left so new visitors could see the names, pictures and the park. There is one more thing ......... if nothing else just scroll down to the bottom and look at the countdown clock. 

First, the basics:

What

This proved to be the largest, and definitely the best Georger get-together EVER! ( OK so I'm a little biased ) We had folks from 10 states. A South Eastern BINGO with Ohio in to boot. LA,MS,AL,GA,FL,SC,NC,TN,KY all represented.

Where

The large pavilion at River Park, Ellijay, Georgia ( look for the large group of folks gleefully waving money around, err...actually look for the signs) 

Here is a link to a city map, Yahoo map (interactive to obtain driving directions), homemade map for those coming from the south ( Atlanta and beyond), and homemade map for those coming from East Tennessee along Highway 411 ( Maryville , Knoxville , etc.). And, WaHo Glen is generously providing signs so we can all get lost (JK!). 

Here are the signs to look for, they are green on white.  

When

12 Noon- we celebrate sunrise with hash browns at the WaHo ???

Saturday, September 18,2004

Who 

Well the picnic is was to all Georger's, their families and friends! The more the merrier!

Here is the latest list ( as of September 15th) Please contact  itsme to make any additions or deletions. 

Attendees

Fixing's and Stuff

Well this is the latest from istme on what people are bringing. Please contact her via anon e-mail to update this list . Just make sure you bring yourself!

Let's have a look!

I went to Ellijay  Wednesday the 27th and shot a few pictures to share with all and to gather a bit of information.  Now I live in Marietta on the NNW part of the metro area.  It took me just over an hour to be right in downtown Ellijay. I found the park with no problem. It is right across the street from the hospital. 

Here is the pavilion. Nice fenced playground for kids!

Another view. Lots of room !

The park has very nice baseball diamonds and tennis courts right next to the pavilion! There are plenty of tables and 4  HUGE grills!

WOW ! 4 grills enough for  WaHo Glen, Willy Wonka Fan,  Manic Mechanic and me to have one apiece!

The park has bathrooms  at the pavilion and  new ones a short walk away at the park office.

They call it River Park for a reason!

It's right on the Coosawattee River

Now Other Stuff

The Pink Pig !!  

Well Moon Pie and family ate Friday night at the Pink Pig and enjoyed their meal. She even gave me a stuffed Pink Pig, which was very sweet of her.

    Moon Pie was wondering about this BBQ place. SO I went there yesterday. The staff was very friendly, as all people that I've run across in Ellijay are. Good food, good portions and good prices. I paid $6.50 for a Pork Plate with 2 sides. (the Brunswick Stew was great) The Iced tea was very good. Yes former President and GA Governor Jimmy Carter, Senator and former Governor Zell Miller and  Former Governor Lester Maddox all were /are regular guests here. Well here is a look at it and here are the hours. BTW they only accept cash or checks no credit cards. They have a web site too.

Not to be outdone is Pooles BBQ and they are right in Ellijay. Poole ’s is much closer (right behind Bi-Lo’s on the I-515 access road), they have had/do have a lot of famous customers, and their “Pig Hill of Fame” is world famous.  Guess what? They are on the web too!

The apples crop is in and  being picked as we speak. I bought some Jonagolds and they were great. The rome will be in next week. Be sure to get some North Georgia wonderful apples while your visiting.

I took this shot from the Best Western Parking lot. I wonder if the leaves will start to turn in 10 days?

WaHo Glen look close here , there is a Waffle House close by.

Also folks there is a Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly, Bi-Lo's Ingles and a Super Wal-Mart Mart 

Several Georger's wanted to know about recreation in the area so here is the Chamber of Commerce's list.

And a link to the City of Ellijay site.

Motel !!!!

The wonderful  Haley  of the Best Western Motel gave us group rate ! Here it is. There 'is even an  INDOOR POOL! About 17 Georgers stayed there at the motel and all enjoyed their stay. Thanks to Haley and the staff look forward to seeing them next year.  

Don’t forget, this is APPLE country and several varieties will be in season by September 20th. Also, many quaint antique shops in Ellijay and just down the road in Talking Rock (be sure and look for the funny face tree in front of the Darnell House Tea Garden).

There are more links for accommodations, area events (e.g., concerts, music fests, apple festivities), and things to do and see (e.g., scenic rail ride, old-fashioned drive-in movie theater, fishing, shopping) in the North Georgia area at this website.

Geo Caching

Geocache Listing on the web!!!!

  Here  is the link to see it!! the cache is named "George's Big Day in Ellijay". 

For all you Geo-cache types or those with a GPS the coordinates  for the park is  N 34 40.732   W084 29.529    1215 feet ASL. BTW if you do Geo-cache , I received permission from the park dept to hide a cache on the grounds. So Willy Wonka Fan and I have put together a cache. Here is what it looks like.  http://www.geocaching.com  for all Geo cachers to find. We will be glad to show this sport  where " YOU are the search engine ",to all.  Well we had a cache at the pavilion for all to look at. 

Well that's all for now!!  I had a wonderful time. Thanks for stopping by.

Tom in GA

Looking forward to seeing all of you then!!!!