Helen

We arrived in Helen, Georgia, by lunch time and landed at Bodensee as our destination. We relished a German meal of potato pancakes with apple sauce and sour cream, along with various schnitzels, German potato salad and sauerkraut. We did a flight of German beer before deciding which one we wanted to order. Our favorite was the Dunkelweizen, a very dark yet mild flavored beer. There was lots of beer. Doug is very familiar with German beer because he did over a year in Germany when he was in the Army before being deployed to Operation Desert Storm. "This is how you toast in German," he explains. "Prost!" he says in a gruff German accent as we clink our glass mugs together, slam them on the table, and then throw them back.

After lunch, we walked around town, watched folks float down the creek in pink tubes, listened to live music, and ended up in an olive oil and Balsamic vinegrette shoppe. Doug, slightly under the influence, greeted the barista with a thick growl of German. "Wie gehts?" The poor guy looked at Doug with bewilderment and concern. Richard spoke with a thick southern drawl and didn't know a lick of German, but he certainly knew his oils and vinegars. We asked him to let us taste his favorites, so he led us to the Tuscan olive oil blend mixed with the Neopolitan vinegar. It is the perfect vinegrette to drizzle over a caprese salad.

Next we tasted the chili pepper oil with mango vinegrette... amazing! I asked to taste the rosemary olive oil and Doug tasted the pomegranate vinegar. Between the two of us, we purchased all of them and Richard filled the bottles and sealed them.

As we walked through town the band began to play "Have You Ever Seen the Rain", and it began to rain so we ducked into a novelty shop and tried on Mad Max glasses. The downpour subsided and we ventured out. The cooler air and the light drizzle of rain hitting our skin heightened our senses. Our Little German town adventure was so much fun.Read more