A Trip To Ellijay

If you have been reading my blog long enough, you know that Bri, Doug and I visit the town of Ellijay yearly to pick apples. We usually pick during the week and during fall break. We had been to Ellijay for apple picking on a weekend before and it was insane. We all said never again.

This year we picked apples in Vermont during fall break, so we didn't need to go to Ellijay for that, but we do like to get some other items from the town's farmers' markets/grocery stores - jams, pickles, cider, fudge, etc. Since we weren't going apple picking, we did decide to go up to Ellijay on a Saturday in October for shopping and some lunch.

Unfortunately, we went the weekend of the big apple festival and didn't realize there was going to be a parade in the town that morning. We wanted to visit our favorite antique store, but when we saw people lining the streets for a parade, we decided to skip it and head directly to the markets instead (we had done a ton of shopping in Vermont, so we were kind of sad but ok not getting to the antique store this year.

We started at Penland's Apple House...

Then we went over to Panorama (our favorite)...

 

The pumpkins were so beautiful there and we decided to get three to eventually become our jack-o'-lanterns. The pumpkins were lining the street...

 

 

We finished shopping and it was time for lunch.

 

Last year, we found out that our favorite BBQ place was closing. I was so sad. And then I was happy again when I heard it was being purchased by new owners. But I was still kind of hesitant about trying it for lunch because I knew the food would most likely be different. But, Bri and Doug were open to giving it a try. I am so glad we went! It was slightly different, but it was still delish! And the new staff and owners were so friendly...

Doug said his brisket was delicious. My pork sandwich was fabulous. And the new owners now sell sandwiches on top off their BBQ. Briana tried the Reuben sandwich (sans sauerkraut) and she said it was so good (the pastrami was amazing!). She still talks about it...

We got everything we wanted/needed and the streets were getting pretty crowded with traffic due to the apple festival, so we left Ellijay right after lunch. Doug grabbed some hot boiled peanuts from Penland's on the way out of town and he was a happy guy!