This past weekend we had family in town and decided to do some local traveling or what we call a “blip visit.” We drove up to Blue Ridge, Georgia to ride on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway. The train station is nestled in the middle of downtown within the Chattahoochee National Forest.

We didn’t book tickets prior to driving to the picturesque town. And just our luck, tickets were sold out. So a tip before taking the trip to ride the train, book your tickets in advance on their website.

We were determined to enjoy what the town had to offer and have a late breakfast at Mercier Orchards Bakery & Market Café downtown. The café was built in 1926 as the former Fannin County Bank. The café has kept some of the charm from it’s previous life as a bank. If you’re lucky you might be able to snag a table in the bank vault. Mercier Orchards is a family owned and operated apple orchard that was started back in 1943 by Bill & Adele Mercier. The breakfast offers up a delicious assortment of the usual breakfast fare. Where the café shines is it’s homemade apple butter, freshly baked apple cinnamon bread, warm cinnamon apples and their famous Mercier Orchard’s famous fried pie. Before leaving we made sure we stopped by the market which is attached to the café. The market is stocked with their cider, different varieties of apples, relishes, salsas and a number of their baked goods. We couldn’t resist getting something and walked out with a bag of apples.

After leaving breakfast we stopped in a number of cute local shops. The one shop that caught our eye was the BIGFOOT! Adventure Outpost Museum and Trading Co. in downtown Blue Ridge, Ga. The store and museum holds a small collection artifacts and information about ancient civilizations, legends and one of a kind exhibits. Of course there’s a lot of Bigfoot merchandise there as well. While in the shop we found out about the 4,000sqft Expedition: Bigfoot! museum located a few miles away. When we found out about the larger museum there was no deliberation, we were off.

The Expedition: Bigfoot! museum is right off of Highway 515 in Blue Ridge, Ga. It’s open daily from 10-5 and admission is $8 for adults and $6 for children. The museum is full of artifacts from all over the world, life size displays, mini research vehicle, sighting maps, and a number of videos of sightings. We learned about the folklore of Nepal and the Yeti.
Whether you are a believer or non believer it’s still a fun day out.

Sometimes you intend on going to experience one thing and the day takes you somewhere you never thought. Until the next adventure… Catherine & Richard