Well Merry and I just got back from a very interesting trip. We went to Oktoberfest in Helen, GA. Now I highly recommend that EVERYONE experience this at least once in your life, I may go back but I'll be over 50 when I do it (or 60 that way I match everyone in the Festhalle). This thing runs from mid Sept. to Nov 1st and may very well be one of the most innovative ways to bring tourist money in for a short period of time. This was a little town that was remodeled and painted to match a small German town then started holding Oktoberfest. So when you peak the mountain and start down into the valley the tan and dark brown village is all you see. BUT the vendors aren't all beer related, it was like a market at the beach with t-shirts that said "Suck my Harley's Smoke" and airbrushed vanity plates for cars. The only true German thing was the food and beer at the Festhalle Merry and I went to. Now wieners and krauts were awesome. The draft beer imported and mostly German, buy a mug (which has a nice logo on it) and get beer specials!! Old farts dancing and slapping them selves during a dance-off. And there was no doubt that Merry and I were by far the youngest people in line for the Halle to open and the line just got longer. The draft Erdinger Dunkel was so good I had to bring The Enabler a bottle of it, the Weizen, ok. We had lunch on the Chattahoochee river at the Underground Troll? (something like that). I even got an iron-on t-shirt;) Go, even just for a laugh. I'll continue to try Oktoberfests in other towns just to see how it measures up. Oh and if you get lost here's the GPS for it:
34º 42' 08.16 N by 83º 43' 36.45 W
2008 is right around the corner!!
