Anna Ruby Falls!

Finally, AB and I moved out of the house last weekend. We went to a waterfall near Atlanta, which is also a National Recreation Center, certified by the US Government called the Anna Ruby Falls. This falls is in Helen, Georgia. While the waterfall itself is fairly pretty, I liked the whole 0.4 mile walk upto the waterfall. We left at a leisurely 11 AM or so, blame it on late wake up time on a Sunday, and the traffic on the I-75 route (Ya, I must be the first person to complain of traffic in the US!) We reached there in an hour, parked the car and went on this 0.4 mile walk. It was scenic and full of informational boards about the Native American inhabitants who seemed to have lived in the nearby woods/forests.

Last time when I was in the US with Uma, a colleague, she visited her cousins in Atlanta and I remember her talking to me about the Native American influences/culture/heritage in and around Atlanta. She, of course, went to the Stony Mountains, a Mecca sort of a place for Native American enthusiasts. I somehow found a lot of similarities between the Native Americans and us, Indians. The informational boards spoke of their culture of protecting the forests, the medicinal plants, their effort to care for the flora and fauna around them, something which ancient Indians always did. We did not take too many pictures of those signs, but I do have a picture of a sign that talks of how trees from this area created business for sawmills around the area!

The first picture shows an informational sign talking about a 'once treeless' area, and the second picture shows the bikers ;) and the last picture shows the horse carriage at Helen, Georgia. (I'm sorry for the pathetic pictures. I'm not much of a photographer!)

The drive was super fun, and we saw a lot of bikers on their Harley Davidsons, as seen in the pictures. I'd love to do that someday too! The route was scenic and the city/town of Helen is very German. They had these water devices, horse carriages, those very German/European bakeries, the architecture, the whole atmosphere was so small-townish and there was a really nice feeling about the whole thing. While we did not stop at this very touristy town, it is certainly a worthwhile destination! Here are some more pics of Helen and the scenic route to Anna Ruby Falls.

The waterfalls!