North Georgia Day Trip - Yonah Mountain & Cleveland

Last weekend we decided to take a day trip up to north Georgia, to enjoy the sunny winter weather. While the north Georgia mountains of course can't compare to the views out west, it's still a fantastic amenity to have the beautiful tree-covered Appalachians accessible to us as a day trip or weekend trip from Atlanta. We try to get up there at least a few times a year for hiking and cabin trips.

On Saturday morning we left around 8AM for the 90 minute drive to Yonah Mountain in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, just north of Cleveland Georgia. The Yonah Mountain trail is about a 4 mile round trip trail that gains 1,453 feet of elevation as you climb up to the top.

David has climbed the mountain before, with his soccer teammates during a cabin weekend about 8 summers ago. We'd heard it's still a very popular trail in the winter, and that proved to be correct - the parking lot was already almost full by the time we arrived around 9:40AM. It took about an hour to get to the top. It's a lot of elevation gain, but the trail is well maintained and overall it's not too difficult. Although it was a bit crowded since it was a lovely Saturday, the views from the top were amazing, with brilliant blue skies. Definitely a top hike in Georgia!

David relaxing at the top of Yonah Mountain.

There's a steep cliff face that people use as a lookout and for rock climbing.

This is the actual "summit" of the mountain. It's a little uphill from the cliff (and not as exciting).

Amazing views on a sunny winter day.

A climber on the granite face of Yonah Mountain.

After the hike, the rest of our day was filled with little bits of Americana as we visited a few attractions in the area. First up was Babyland General Hospital, the headquarters for Cabbage Patch Kids. Yes, it's as weird as it sounds. It's essentially a huge gift shop, but with bizarre displays including a giant tree where Cabbage Patch Kids are "birthed." All of the employees wear nursing scrubs. It's definitely worth a visit if you're into odd roadside attractions. 

We made a quick stop at Tantrum Brewing Company, just down the street, and got a mixed 6 pack of beer to bring home. From there we went to downtown Cleveland, which is only a few miles away from Yonah Mountain. It has a decent downtown, with some historic buildings and a few shops and restaurants. We put our name in for a table at Clyde's, and while we were waiting we crossed the street to check out the old 1860 courthouse, which is now the White County Historical Museum. It's a small little museum, but it's always great to see local historic societies preserving the history of small town America. Lunch at Clyde's was good southern food. Our favorite was the jalapeno grit fritters. 

We can already tell this is going to be an experience.

There are giant cabbage baby heads all over the grounds.

The birthing tree.

The cabbage patch Christmas room.

Inside Tantrum brewing.

The old White County courthouse.

An exhibit with a historic loom.

Check out those grit fritters, and giant mason jar drinks!

Clyde's is a cute little restaurant in an old building in downtown Cleveland.

Fried chicken, collards, and mac n cheese.

That wrapped up our excursion to north Georgia. Although on the way back to Atlanta of course we stopped at Jusgo Market, which was packed because the Lunar New Year was approaching. We'll be back to the mountains again soon.

Wrapping Up Valencia - Adios España!

Our final full day of our Spain trip was spent exploring some of the newer sights in Valencia - a couple of modernist markets and the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (city of arts and sciences). We started with mercat central, a 1920s art nouveau market just down the street from our hotel. From there we began a leisurely stroll through the Turia park, first stopping by Mercat de Colom (Mercado de Colón), a modernist market from 1916. A unique site along the way was a giant Gulliver playground. It consists of a huge fiberglass statue of Gulliver tied to the ground. Kids can climb all over and around him in a series of pathways and slides.

Mercat central is an impressive market.

The soaring interior of mercat central.

A giant tree in a square.

Mercat de Colom's exterior.

The cool modernist interior.

A leafy street in one of the modernist neighborhoods of Valencia.

Colonnades in the Turia gardens/park.

Gulliver has fallen!

Our main sight for the day was the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, or City of Arts and Sciences. This is an expansive campus of museums, event venues, and public spaces designed by the famous Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava. It was built from 1996-2009, and is considered one of the "12 treasures of Spain." It's a cool area of futuristic architecture, although it can feel a little dystopian and sterile since it's disconnected from the city fabric. 

Like a spaceship landed on Valencia.

The buildings have amazing soaring interiors.

Calatrava is big on clean repitition.

David in L'Umbracle.

The area has a lot of huge reflecting pools.

View from the adjacent rose garden.

After leaving the City of Arts and Sciences, we had a quick drink at a snack kiosk in the park, then we decided to take the subway back, since we hadn't yet used it. We walked to the Amistat station and rode to the central train station. After a quick stop in a store and our hotel, we went for our lunch reservations at Rincon 33, which is known for their paella. The paella was good, but overall we're not huge seafood people so the dish is probably mostly wasted on us. Next time, we would try a less seafoody variety perhaps (we love rice dishes in general). After lunch we grabbed a bit more ice cream...because why not?

Nice bicycle infrastructure in the neighborhood we walked through.

Ummm... Ok.

The exterior of the train station.

Squid ink paella!

I mean you could go a meal without patatas bravas...but why would you?

One last ice cream before we leave Europe.

After a siesta at hotel, we went out for the evening, enjoying our final night on the streets of Valencia. We walked around and did a little last minute shopping, and joined a crowd watching the end of the Brazil vs. Croatia world cup game outside a pub. We got empanadas to go from a place called Yaya's, and went back to our hotel to pack and get ready for our very early morning.

A big crowd gathered to watch the game on a little TV.

Empanadas are all over Valencia. These were delicious!

Saturday morning we woke up extremely early to catch a 4AM taxi to the airport, in time for our 6AM flight. The airport experience was really quick and easy, so we could have slept in a bit more, but always better not to take the chance of missing your flight! The plane from Valencia to Paris was quite small, so we thought we might have to check our bags. I asked the gate agent if my bag would fit in the overhead compartment, and her response was "more or less." 😅  It did end up fitting and luckily we could take our bags as carry-on all the way to Atlanta.

Overall, this was a great and relaxing trip to Spain for David's birthday, mirroring the trip we took for his birthday to Italy the previous year. We've been to Spain a few times and really enjoy the food, sites and culture this country has to offer.

Valencia Day 2 - Orange You Glad We Visited Spain?

The next day, it was a quiet rainy morning. We got a cappuccino at the nearby "The Coffee," which oddly is a Japan-inspired Brazilian to-go coffee shop with locations in Brazil, Spain, Portugal, France, and Colombia. We walked to the nearby Almoina Archeology Museum. This museum is unique because it's mostly underground, and preserves the remains of the Roman city starting from 200BCE, and later middle ages and Islamic buildings. It's not a huge museum, but its a neat design with a big street-level skylight ceiling that serves as a pool for the plaza above. There's not much left of any of the ancient buildings, but many of the foundations and floors are still visible.

Rainy morning in Valencia.

Well it is what it says it is!

A quiet square in the morning rain.

Roman remains in the Almoina Museum.

Original roman floors.

The skylight of the building has a small pool above it, creating unique views.

Next we walked over to two more museums - the Museo de Prehistoria and the Valencia Ethnographic Museum, which are connected in the same building. These are kind of off to the side of the historic center and were not crowded at all, but were very interesting museums. The history museum is more of a traditional museum, with a large amount of artifacts and displays about the history of the area. Most of the displays were only in Castilian and Valencian, which might explain why there were few foreign tourists here. The ethnographic museum was a surprise, with a variety of interesting high-tech exhibits covering a broad range of topics and featuring more English information. These are definitely worth at least a quick visit if you have a few days in Valencia. After the museums we had a quick lunch at Hasta la Pasta. 

Exhibit in the prehistoric museum.

Exhibit in the ethnographic museum.

David using an interactive exhibit.

A video game history exhibit. We're old. 😆

There was a little exhibit on paella. Immediately after taking this picture an abuelita came over and explained to Paul, in Spanish, all the components of a true Valencian paella.

A simple but yummy lunch.

After lunch we walked over to our 4th museum of the day, the Museo de Bellas Artes. This is a free museum with mostly religious art. It's considered a highlight of Valencia, but we actually preferred the museums we visited earlier in the day. Still maybe worth a visit, especially on a rainy day, if you're into early medieval art. To wrap up the afternoon we decided to do a little shopping and grab a snack. We walked over to the nearby commercial area next to the train station, and stopped by Pull and Bear and Corte Ingles, picking up a few Christmas presents before continuing on to Horchateria Santa Catarina. Horchata in Valencia is pretty different from what we're used to in North America, because it uses tiger nut instead of rice. We walked around for a little bit before taking a siesta at our hotel.

Exterior of the Museo de Bellas Artes.

Interior of the Museo de Bellas Artes.

A cool/creepy painting.

View of Turia park/gardens from the bridge to the museum. Great place for biking!

A quiet square on a rainy day.

Cool buildings abound in Valencia.

David just hanging out at Pull & Bear.

Santa Catalina is a classic spot for horchata and churros.

After our siesta, we ventured back out for dinner at a restaurant called "Secret," which has a broadly Spanish and European menu. Nothing to write home about, but pretty tasty. We followed dinner up with a stroll around the Church Square where some buskers were playing music to a large crowd. We also hit up a shop or two and got gelato at Gelateria la Romana. Valencia, like many Spanish cities, really comes to life at night.

Eggplant and pasta for dinner.

The city is really well lit for effect, especially around key shopping areas or plazas.

A little post-dinner gelato!

There is an entire store dedicated to American candy, cereals and treats...random.

Fun fountain.

A Christmas tree in the plaza.

We dug the vibes in Valencia at Christmas!