Well, Vilseckers, another great one, huh?. Our 16th teachers' reunion, held in Dahlonega, Georgia, will remain in our hearts for a very long time.

Dahlonega, an hour or so north of Atlanta, was an unkown hidden gem to many of us, but we know people who know. Becky (Hainey) Green and her husband Tom Green knew Dahlonega would be a perfect location for us.

We crammed a lot into our four days: two wineries, two gold mines, the nearby German town of Helen and a very small section of the Appalachian Trail with a nearby waterfall at the Amicalola Falls State Park and Lodge.

But wait, there's more: We also managed to get in some delicious meals and interesting sights in the charming town of Dahlonega itself, its hub being the town square offering shops, eateries and additional places of interest.

We welcomed Tom Green, Becky's husband, to the gang. He snuggled right in to the group without hesitation...or choice! I hope he's as happy with us as we are with him, cuz there's no backing out now, Tom! Many, many thanks to him and Becky for organizing our trip and for choosing such beautiful and interesting sights to see. We also thank Jerry for his part in sending out the e-mails to keep us all informed on dates, times and location. And I thank Linda and Dick for sending additional photos.

As always, to those who couldn't make it: We missed you and hope you'll join us next year in ... hmmm...the questionable town of Wherever.

And then back to Our Happy Place to plan our day.

Tuesday morning's breakfast was at the Picnic Café on the town square.

After a leisurely morning, we visited the town of Helen, a picturesque German-like community about an hour away. We visited the shops, then ate an early dinner at the Café International (below) located on the east bank of the Chattahoochee River.

Yum! Ice Cream! At Kilwins, on Dahlonega's town square.

Wednesday morning, back on the porch, Becky is giving us information on the first of two gold mines we're going to visit. The one this day is the Consolidated, an underground mine. Pretty awesome!

So we're off to make our riches! The Consolidated Gold Mines Tour was a two-part deal. First we were able to do some panning. Then after lunch, we returned to do the underground tour.

After panning, we were given tiny vials to hold our even tinier specks of gold.

Regrouping

When one thinks of a Gold Rush in the U.S., the California Gold Rush of 1849 first comes to mind. Little is said of the first major gold rush in the U.S. which preceded California's by 20 years.

Dahlonega, (pronounced with emphasis on the "lon"), claims mining history that dates back to 1828. Washing down from the mountainsides for centuries, it wasn't difficult to find, barely hidden on top of the ground even, on this land that was Cherokee Territory.

Today, mining lives on in the town, to a much smaller degree, of course, as panning for personal use is still allowed in the riverbeds and streams.

Dahlonega is a charming university town of some 6- to 7,000 residents, known for its excellent quality of life, scenic beauty and nearby wineries.

Price Memorial Hall, on the campus of the University of North Georgia, was once a U.S. Mint of gold coins. It was destroyed by fire in 1878 and this structure, now an admin building of the university, was erected the following year on the same site. Its steeple (to the right) is leafed with gold which came from the surrounding hills.

The old county courthouse located in the center of the town square is now the Dahlonega Gold Museum Historic Site. We visited the and walked the steps where the old quote "Thars gold in them thar hills" was first said.

Watching a video in the museum on Dahlonega's gold mining history.

John pointed out this sign to us. He thought it described our reunion group quite well. Thar's some truth in that thar sign.

On Wednesday afternoon we drove into the Chattahoochie National Forest to see the Amicalola Falls State Park and Lodge. It was a chance to get up close with nature and walk the grounds of the North Georgia Mountains.

Amicalola Falls is a 729-foot drop, the 3rd highest waterfall east of the Mississippi. This area of northern Georgia offers gorgeous views of Appalachia, sitting at the southern tip of the Appalachian Mountain Range and the distant Blue Ridge Mtns within.

We explored the top of the falls, then visited the lodge, had dinner there, then drove down to the bottom of the falls where the view of them could best be seen through telescopes.

The view from the lodge

Bill and Sue's pooch Sophie went on a few excursions with us.

On our last day of touring, we first visited the second of the two gold mines, Crisson. Here, we not only got a second chance to find our riches in gold, we were also given buckets of North Carolina sand to pan for gems. Some of our group had their finds cut, polished and mounted into rings or other pieces of jewelry right there at the mine. We hope they remember to wear them to next year's reunion.

John's inspecting the sand from which we'll get our gems.

From Crisson Mine, we drove up to Blood Mountain, an area where we were able to get onto the Appalachian Trail and see "The Shoe Tree." To say we hiked the Appalachian would be stretching it, but we did do a little more than plant our feet on it.

The Shoe Tree is outside the Mountain Crossings Store at Neels Gap, where bona fide hikers can get hiking and camping supplies, including a new pair of hiking boots, if necessary. The old ones, as tradition dictates, are tossed up into a tree, creating an overhang of dozens and dozens of shoes and boots.

Mountain Crossings Store is considered the end of the trail (for those who started north) since it's only about 30 miles (2 or 3 days' worth of hiking) to the official end, Springer Mountain, Georgia.

This is a sampling of some of the gems we got. It was made sure by Crisson that each person who got a pail would have at least a couple of decent-sized gems to extract from the gallon pail. These gems are (top to bottom): Rose Quartz , Citrine, Moss Agate and Sodalite.

Wolf Mountain Winery & Vineyards is just a few miles from Dahlonega and offers stunning views of the North Georgia Mountains. It was featured in the June 2021 issue of Southern Living magazine. We visited there in the late afternoon, chatting, sampling their wine and enjoying the scenery.

A few of us headed down the street from our lodge to Shenanigans, an Irish Pub for dinner.

Soon after our reunion, we learned of the passing of Marie Johnson who was a Vilseck 3rd grade teacher in the early and mid-1970s. She lived in Wilmington, North Carolina with her husband Don, who was the principal at the Grafenwoehr school.

Marie was loved and greatly respected by colleagues, students and parents. She passed away on June 12, 2022.