Adventure Journal
Entry Date: November 2011
The Richardson Tribe has camped at Vogel State Park once before, and really enjoyed it. It's very convenient because it's very close to Blairsville, and getting their doesn't involve a lot of winding mountainous roads.

On this trip, over Thanksgiving holiday, we were joined by some very good friends. We were very lucky to acquire two very private campsites adjacent to one another. Vogel is a very popular park, and if you want stay here, you need to plan ahead. Some holidays, such as the 4^th of July, are extremely popular, and reservations must be made months in advance.

We arrived at the park just after sundown on Thanksgiving day. Luckily, our friends had arrived much earlier and claimed our spot. At that time, there were only about four sites open. It was cold, but not excessively so. There was already a nice big fire, in the kids played hard, running around the campsite and playing hide and seek.

The first half of Friday was spent at the campground. The kids quickly discovered the creek and spent a good deal of time playing there. Later we hopped on the bikes and rode to the playground, and eventually the miniature golf course. As the day warmed, we decided to take a drive over to Helen, a touristy "Alpine" village. Helen was crowded, but it was fun to walk around the town and visit the unique candy and gift shops. Helen receives mixed reviews from our family. Rebecca loves the shops and atmosphere. The kids have mixed feelings (there are toy stores and candy/fudge shops). Personally, I find the town too crowded and commercial, but that's just me (Scrooge).

Saturday was spent playing around the campground, panning for gold, riding bikes, and hiking to the waterfalls beyond the lake's dam. I was disappointed that the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) museum was padlocked. We really enjoyed the museum on a previous visit. It's a fair distance from the campground to the far end of the lake, so bringing bikes is a pretty good idea. However, we found out that it's a very long uphill ride back to the campground.

Sunday morning brought rain, so I started the packing process early. On the way home, we stopped in Ellijay to have lunch at pooles barbecue, a very popular tourist dining experience. The atmosphere was unique and entertaining, and the barbecue was pretty good. I felt it was a bit pricey considering what we had to eat. I'd recommend pooles barbecue at least once so you can say you been there.
                         
The Richardson Tribe
 

Adventure Journal
Entry Date: June/July 2007
Vogel State Park in an awesome place!  We were very lucky to get a big creek-side spot this week because many people reserve spots a year in advance for the 4th of July festivities. The site was very nice and clean. The park has a lake with a beach and peddle boats, a miniature golf course, and falls that you can hike to. There is also a CCC museum where you can see how the young men that built this, and many other parks across the country, lived and worked (for a dollar a day). 

The only negative is that the laundry room is way too small with too few washers and old dryers that do not work well. Also, there is no full hook-up (no sewer), but that's pretty standard for state parks.  The roads are a little too hilly for our kids to ride bikes, but older, more experience riders would have enjoyed it. A bear visited our site early Thursday morning, but we were sleeping late and missed it.  Personally, I think this is the nicest state park we've been to thus far. Its only a couple of hours away, but it's really secluded. It's close enough to attractions for day trips like Helen, Unicoi State Park, gem mining/grubbing, Tallulah Gorge, Dillard, Frankiln, etc. We'd give it six thumbs-up.

While camping at Vogel, we took a day trip to Helen, GA, an alpine village (tourist trap) located in North Georgia. We didn't spend much time there because Lee Thomas wasn't feeling well, but I'd like to note that we ate lunch at La Cabana, a wonderful Mexican restaurant with very good food. The owners/management were very nice and treated the kids like their own. It was also very reasonably priced with food and drinks totaling about $5.00 apiece.

I'd also like to mention a barbeque restaurant we ate at on the way home on Saturday. If you're ever in Blue Ridge, Georgia, stop by Blue Ridge Mountain BBQ for lunch. I think it was some of the best barbeque I've ever had! The service was great too!
 

More Destinations:
Up
Amicalola Falls State Park
Beaches of South Walton.
Berry College
Big Kahunas
Biltmore House
Blairsville, Georgia
Callaway Gardens
Cataloochee Ski Area
Cave Spring
Cedar Creek Park
Charlestown State Park
Chattahoochee Bend State Park
Chattanooga Zoo
Chehaw Park
Cherry Hill Park
Chester Frost Park
Chieftains Museum
Choccolocco Mountain Off Road Park
Cloudland Canyon
Cloudmont Ski and Golf
Consolidated Gold Mine
Cohutta Wilderness
Cumberland Island
Dauset Trails
Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort
Desoto State Park
Doll Mountain Campground
Dollywood
Dunnaway Gap
Enota Mountain Retreat
Etowah Indian Mounds
Fall Creek Falls State Park
Florala State Park
Franklin D Roosevelt State Park
Fort Mountain State Park
Georgia Mountain Fairground
Georgia Veterans State Park
Gold n Gem Grubbin'
Helen Georgia
Hillcrest Orchards
James H Floyd State park
James Island Park
Jellystone Park- Cave City, KY
John Tanner Park
Lake Allatoona
Lake Sidney Lanier
Lake Winnepesaukah
Little River Canyon Center
Live Oak Landing
Lula Lake Land Trust
Mammoth Cave National Park
McIntosh Reserve
McKinney Campground
Moto Mountain Powersports
New Echota - Cherokee Capitol
Noccalula Falls Park details and pictures
Old Stone Fort Archaeology State Park
Pine Moutain RV
Red Top Mountain State Park
Ridge Ferry Park
Rocky Mountain Recreation Area
Rock Town - Pigeon Mountain
Rome GA
Salt Springs Recreation Area
Silver Springs
Stone Mountain Park
Tanglewood Farm
Tannehill State Park
Tellus Science Museum
The Southern Museum
Topsail Hill Preserve
Townsend KOA
Townsend Tennessee
Twinbrook Resort
Up The Creek RV Camp - Park Details - Pictures
US Space and Rocket Center - Details and Pictures
Vogel State Park
Wild Animal Safari
World of Coke
Zoo Atlanta - Details and Pictures