We were up and ready to go bright and early....there was no way we were going to miss this. Many years ago I happened to just be in the right place at the right time to see a parade in Blairsville, Ga.....I was expecting this to be very similar...and it did not let me down. Small town parades have their own flavor....because the towns are small they don't have access to what big cities do, so, just about anyone can be in the parade....they are very colorful and highly entertaining....the town was already very busy, with lots of cars....but we fell into some "dumb luck" and parked right down from where the parade would start. We easily found a place on the street to watch and then it started....
A local church group and maybe the mayor
Had to have the local tractors and wagons.....
Drill team (maybe) and the High School Band......that only played when they stopped
The local Day Care...........and some more tractors
The Boy Scouts...................................and never really figured out what he represented
the local Youth Dance Club...................and adult men's Liar Liar club pushing old timey mowers..hum
Now that 4-wheeler could climb through anything
The band almost had on uniforms...tops/bottoms/hats all seemed to match...but shoes, gloves.....seemed if you just showed up that was good enough.
The Fire Engine was the end......it was a show for sure
With the parade over it was time to see what was at the fair. The majority of things were under tents on tables on the church grounds. Some few folks were set-up inside the church and there were PLENTY of folks set up in their own yards along the street....taking advantage of all the traffic. As we walked around the "booths" we were noticing that this was really more of a flea market or swap meet. Most of the "goods" looked to be what had been bought and saved from yard sales....it was quite the experience. We had been told for 2 days we had to try fried dough, so we were on a quest.
However we came across this unique idea for a "dunking machine"....seems instead of you getting dunked INTO the water...it gets dunked ONTO you....unique
Not sure I've ever seen animal hides/skins and antlers sold at a fair.....hummmm
And this was the Crowned Jewel....I know, (not even in Blairsville at the Sorgum Festival), have a I seen a pregnancy test booth at a family county fair.....yep, we laughed until we cried over this one. Seems you could take that stick into the port-o-potty and they could tell you in no time.....wow, who would have ever thought it?????
These guys were pretty good and were playing in front of the small church
These folks from the town of Underhill were making bread in cast iron pots with hot coals. They would cut it up for samples and you could buy whole loaves.....it was fairly good, but we passed on buying it.
The finished product for sale....
We spotted the sign....so we had to try it. I'm so sorry I forgot to get a picture, but think of a funnel cake without any holes. It was just a round piece of fried dough that you added syrup/cinnamon/sugar or whatever you liked to and then ate it, tearing it apart just like a funnel cake. We shared one, it was good...and we had finally had fried dough....check!!
We did some more looking and after a bit headed for the car....Karen wanted to see Boyden Winery and we wanted to see some of the many covered bridges.
While she did her tastings and purchasing I sat outside and watched a wedding under a big pavilion ont he winery grounds....looked lovely and they had blue skys...very lucky. After sitting a while, we got our lazy bones up and went to see some of the local covered bridges....
We had to drive to Johnson about 30min away....
The first one we came to you couldn't drive across.....but is was still neat, they had done, and were still doing construction on it.
Next was Scribner Bridge....you could drive across this one, but we didn't. It was at the end of a dirt road, so we just stopped, took some pictures, walked across and went to the next one.
Then down the road was Cambridge Junction Bridge .....it was over a very calm stream
The last one was Bryan Covered Bridge....this sign was posted on the wall inside the bridge. There used to be a gristmill here and we could see the remains... This bridge was right at a small park so we sat at a picnic table for a while, watched kids play in the gorgeous, but probably cold water, and watched some guys fishing.
Our last evening we went to 158 Main for dinner....it was packed. We sat at the bar to eat just so we didn't have to wait for a table. The filet was awesome and Karen said her chicken was very good. Then up the mountain we went one last time. We got bags packed and some put in the car, we had to start at 4am. We made our flights home, tired but happy. It had been a wonderful vacation.....Smuggs....we'll be back!!!!
