We Love Exploring: Hike and Wine

Hiking and Wine Tasting – A Perfect Sunday!
(Next Hike & Wine)- July 28th 2013 @ 9am
http://www.meetup.com/www-welove2hike-com/

By: Nellie Umutesi-Vigneron

My day started early with an hour and a half drive to Raven Cliff Falls. For the day, I packed lunch and two bottles of water. At the meeting point, we took some time to introduce ourselves to one another. Everyone was very welcoming and excited about the day’s adventure. It was very exciting to meet different people from various geographical backgrounds: some people were from California, Africa, New York one lady I met was from Kentucky and a few were born and raised right here in Georgia. I also liked the fact there was a wide range of hiking levels, I would not be the only intermediate hiker! We started our 5.1 miles hike at around 10:30 in the morning.

The weather was perfect and the tall trees provided the perfect shade for this three hour round trip hike. We had several stops along the way to admire the various falls and a longer stop at the main fall, where we had lunch.

Some after lunch dipped in the water, took pictures and just enjoyed the scenery.

At the end of our hike, we got in our cars and took a short drive to Sautee Nacoochee Vineyards, nestled in the beautiful and historic Nacoochee Valley of North Georgia. I absolutely fell in love with the place, from its well-manicured lawn with sitting chairs for someone to relax under. To its friendly staff that took the time to explain to us a little about the history of the vineyard and the textures and taste of the different wines they produced on location. We were treated to three wine tastings and a glass of wine of our choosing!