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           The trip that started it all. HURRICANE EVACUATION 2017.

 

We had just moved to Florida in June of 2017. 2 months later...BAM! Hurricane Irma was born. Being Florida newbies and not having any idea what to do, it was decided I would evacuate with kids and Jack had to stay in Florida because of work. It was less than a week out, and naturally EVERYTHING was booked. Literally EVERYTHING. After searching for awhile, I found a place outside of Atlanta GA. I had never heard of it. It was only about a 6 hour drive, so I booked a cabin and started packing. 

 

                                                                    

               At the time Carleigh was around 2 and Zane was 5. So they were young. I planned on getting a head start since school was cancelled, and I would stay in Savannah, GA for a night before we headed west toward Atlanta. I packed up the kids, our cat Patches and our German Shepherd Guinness and hit the road. The normal 2 hour drive only took 3. Lots of stop and go. We finally made it to our pet friendly hotel, and the moment Zane was out of the car, he proceeded to puke EVERYWHERE on the side walk. Yikes. It definitely set this "freakout because my kids are sick mama" into panic mode. We finally got settled and walked around the Savannah waterfront for a bit. Sleep that night did not come easy. Since every hurricane evacuee came to the hotel with their pets, there was barking and howling ALL NIGHT LONG. 

 

                                                                                  

 

                Morning FINALLY arrived, and we set out for what I thought was early. The now 5ish hour drive was not going to take 5 hours at all. Oh no it was not. Stop and go. Stop and go. Stop and go for the next couple hundred miles. Always stop for gas if you can when you are evacuating. Fun tip- Never let your tank go below half. The kids were warriors especially for being so young. ( I may or may not have given them playdough in the car. It occupied them for awhile.  10 hours later.....

 

                                                                                 

 

             We landed in the North Georgia Mountains in the evening as it was getting dark at the community of Big Canoe. We didn't have much time to explore the outside of the cabin, but the inside was nice. I got the kids and the animals set up and everyone definitely got a good night sleep. 

 

                                                                           

 

             Big Canoe sits about 1 hour north of Atlanta, GA in Marble Hill.  It is a HUGE mountain gated community of about 8000 acres. While we did not partake in the golf course and other things the community offered,  I found a lot to do outside of its gates. The places I found were Burts Pumpkin Farm, Amicalola Falls State Park, a fun ice cream place. We finally had a meal that didnt consist of poptarts and snacks!

             We found a playground and we looked for acorns. Amicalola Falls State Park is great place for outdoor activites, hikes, and has a great nature center. The waterfall is beautiful, but be prepared.... it is A LOT, and I mean A LOT of steps. (you can also drive to the top :-) )Carleigh particularly loved the taxidermy bears (one of my favorite photos!). Burt's Pumpkin Farm is literally 1/2 a mile around the corner from the state park, so it is quite convenient! The pumpkins are HUGE. There were some that were a few hundred pounds and bigger than my kids. 

 

   

 

  

 

 

         The days were filled with these adventures exploring the North Georgia Mountains. Unfortunately for us, Hurricane Irma had other plans. She decided to turn and head towards our general directions. The day before we were supposed to leave it started getting rainy and dreary. I donned a headlamp and started packing the car that night for an early departure the next morning as the wind and rain picked up in the dark. (Why does bad weather always pass at night?!) . How the kids slept through that night, I will never know. For me it was terrifying. We had tornados and squalls come through as the remainders of Irma passed over us. I thought the trees were going to fall on the roof of our cabin. 

 

 

       I woke everyone up the next morning and load the car to leave. It was dark, rainy and those crazy mountain roads were slippery.  I saw lots of downed branches and falled trees that were off the road. I occassioanlly got out of the car to move branches off the road. I finally came to a downed tree blocking the entire road. Its trunk was so large and wide that I couldnt even wrap my arms around it. ***At this point, I broke down and started to cry. ***

 

      ***Zane still likes to point out to this day when we talk about it- "Hey mom remember that time you cried when we couldn't leave?" (Thanks kid, thanks. )

 

       I had no choice except to turn around. And that in itself was almost an impossible task. Minivans, mountain roads, rain, and went leaves are NOT an idea combination. At one point I almost drove off the road DOWN the mountain because we were slipping. That was truly terrifying. Thankfully, we made it back to the cabin and went back inside. I was literally running out of food. I had no kitty litter for Patches, so i ripped up newspaper I found for a makeshift option. I tried calling the fire department. I tried calling my husband. I found out that there were hundreds of trees down. Luckily for us we were at a higher elevation than other cabins, so we still had water and power. Many cabins below us did not, and we were now on a "boil water" advisory. It was a LONG LONG day. 

 

       Thankfully, there were lots of road crews out that they were able to make one passable lane in and out of the community. Believe me when I saw I was out of there at first light the next morning. Besides typical Atlanta traffic, the 10-11 drive we had taken days before only took about 7. As much as I had hated Florida, i was glad to be back in my own house.

 

        This trip truly showed me I had what it takes to explore, improvise, and think on my feet (while dealing with 2 small kids, 1 cat and a Giant German Shepherd). We were still able to have a mostly good time and make good memories. It made me want to do more activites like this......well, more stable and planned ones that involved not running out of food and being trapped by downed trees.