Brodzki family vacation, August 8 - August 24, 2002

Wednesday Aug 8 - Parkland - Atlanta
We left around 10 in the morning straight up the Florida Turnpike, just Harvey, Nancy & Logan. Headed for Atlanta and wanted to make sure we missed the rush hour traffic. It's a minimum 9 ½ hour trip, and very uneventful. We actually get all the way to Robin & John's house in Alpharetta without hitting any traffic at all. A miracle in Atlanta! We have a brief reunion, Logan and Ben running around together, and all of us, including baby Nathan (Jabba the Hut) and Dena (Jack is in Savannah on jury duty!) and we got out to the Roasted Garlic for dinner. They had great chicken with fig. Logan slept for the next two nights at his cousin Ben's house.

Thursday Aug 9 - Atlanta
We stayed overnight at Darryl & Roslyn's. Left around 8:30 to play golf at Mystery Valley near Stone Mountain. Darryl, David, Harvey and Nancy were going. We got lost on the way because Darryl had wonderful written directions - which he couldn't find. Turned out to be in his pocket, which he discovered in the pro shop of the municipal course. Saw 2 deer on the 16th or 17th hole. Harvey chipped in for birdie along the way. We had an interesting drive back to Dunwoody, when we passed the now-famous Church of the Living Bread! We aren't kidding - it must be the best ever name for a church we've ever heard of. Harvey drove and David and Nancy walked to the Dunwoody campus of Georgia State College directly behind Darryl's house to meet the camp buses. Finally found all of the duffel bags (Ilana's were in the wrong place), chatted with cousin Jean Kahn, and finally met the buses bearing Ilana and Elliot. Very happy family reunion. We all went out for a great dinner at Killer Creek - killer steaks and smashed potatoes, and the homemade potato chips with maytag blue cheese was fantastic.

Friday Aug 10 - Atlanta - Cleveland - Sapphire Mountain NC
Rebeca came to Dunwoody and visited. We left after jumping the car battery :( and went to Robin and John's to retrieve Logan. Jack was back from jury duty, and we all had a nice visit, yet again. Then we left Alpharetta and drove up Georgia 400 to Camp Barney Medintz. We went the wrong way not once, but twice! Finally arrived around 2:45. We met Jim Mittenthal, the camp director, and several staff, and toured the camp. Lots of old memories for Mom. We left and had a very scenic drive including a stop in Helen, GA, a little Swiss town, for Wendy's for Marcus and Frosty's for the rest (which Ilana later spilled on the back seat, resulting in an emergency clean up stop at a local gas station). We drove into NC with magnificent views, through Cashiers and into Sapphire Mountain. Friendly ladies at check-in and on to our spacious and scenic accommodations next to the 17th green. We unloaded and made dinner reservations. Nancy, Marcus and Elliot had their own family Carlebach service, and then to Mica's for dinner. Excellent seafood chowder, and the trout Nancy had trout that was swimming that morning!

Saturday Aug 11 - Sapphire
Breakfast in the condo and golf at Sapphire Mountain golf club. It was a difficult and beautiful course. Logan drove the golf cart without permission on the second hole, but Marcus and Elliot grabbed the wheel and steered it to safety. Later, Logan managed to fall out of the cart on the 17th hole when he decided to stand up while the cart was still moving. No harm done, thank goodness. We had lunch at the Market Basket, and then drove around Cashiers. We stopped at Ingles supermarket to pick up the coffee things we forgot yesterday :( Then Mom, Elliot, Ilana and Logan went to the recreation center to play complimentary mini golf. We came back and relaxed for a while, and then had dinner at Jimmy Mac's, a basic Italian pizza joint. It was okay, but Logan's little pizza was a little burnt, and the waitress gave Harvey a less than satisfactory answer, and he took her head off! After dinner, we took a drive, first to Toxaway Falls, which was more like a dripping faucet! They are in the middle of a drought here, and the falls must have been severely affected. We then drove in the rapidly diminishing light to Whitewater Falls, about 9 miles and 20 minutes away along the delightful winding roads. We made it all the way to the falls (1/2 mile hike uphill), some of us huffing and puffing, some just complaining, to see really beautiful falls. OK - they were average. Stopped for gas and ice cream on the way back and then watched "Kate & Leopold" on DVD. Early to bed for a 7:30 am tee time.

Sunday Aug 12 - Sapphire
Marcus, Nancy & Harvey arrived at 7:00 am for a 7:30 tee time. Normal in Florida, but apparently not here. No one was there until 7:30! We teed off at 8:00. Nancy & Marcus played badly, and Harvey shot 87. Off to lunch and horseback! Lunch was great at Cornucopia, the most popular place in Cashiers, especially with the after-church crowd. We made it to horseback just in time, which turned out to be 15 minutes late - we were supposed to be there early, but they forgot to tell us that on the phone. We had a beautiful trail ride, and we rode: Oscar (Dad), Pepsi (Mom), Curly (Marcus), Oreo (Elliot), Morgan (Ilana) and Oat (Logan). Logan really enjoyed his very first horseback ride. Then Mom, Ilana & Logan went for a drive to see some falls. First we stopped in Highlands at a quaint little bookstore, and Mom got the new Tom Clancy book just in time to enjoy on vacation, along with a new series for Elliot and Marcus, and a book each for Ilana and Logan. Then we got ice cream in the Highlands ice cream Shoppe. We finally got going again and we saw Bridal Veil (tiny, but you could walk and drive behind it) and Dry Falls (INCREDIBLE! - you walked behind a magnificent waterfall, but you got pretty misted!) We continued along, looking for Cullasaja Falls when we saw cars parked along the road. We pulled off to discover a well-known local swimming hole - oooooh the water was so c-c-c-cold. We saw the falls afterward and drove back to the condo for a 45 minute ride. We went to October's End in Toxaway for dinner, which had great Southern Fried Chicken.

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