Dahlonega, Georgia:

Yesterday, we went to "Dahlonega" for the day. Dahlonega, Georgia (pronounced duh-lawn-eh-ga), is a small town in the North Georgia mountains, about 1.5 hours North of Atlanta. It's at the foothills of where the mountains start, and is a popular destination for tourists from the city and other areas as well.

Back in the 1800s, it was the site of one of the first major gold rushes in the U.S., and there's still some gold panning that goes on there today. These days, the town square is home to a number of artist's galleries, shops, jewelers, and a handful of restaurants. They have extremely strict building/restoration codes, so nothing is a "chain" - all shops are owned by individuals, and, they must keep things pretty much the way they were way back when.

I highly recommend it for those who have the time to go. It's a world away from the city in terms of the "rushrushrush" attitude in Atlanta, and very relaxing. During peak Spring and Autumn weekends there can be a good number of tourists (and cars) up there, so plan to go very early and spend the whole day (or two).

I'm attaching a photo (above-right) of one of the streets of shops in the square. As always, you can click the photo to see a larger version. Also is a short video clip I took where I just panned from side to side along one of the shop streets, too. Click the arrow button (and wait) to load and play it.

Happy Christmas Eve.