Culinary Gizmodo

Alpine Match: Helen, GA vs. Gaylord, MI

So I had the opportunity to get away for the weekend to [tag]Helen, GA[/tag]. So Helen is this oddly alpine valley community in north GA. I actually have a fairly interesting alpine heritage having grown up in [tag]Gaylord, MI[/tag] – so nothing should surprise me.

The travel up north is about 1 hour and 45 minutes filled with chatter and silence in a peak and valley sorta way. As I round the corner into Helen and see the panorama of Alpine architecture, I suddenly realized Gaylord, MI had found it’s match in [tag]roadside kitcsh[/tag]!

Gaylord is a small, not so small now, highway exit town at the 45^th parallel and located roughly at more or less the highest point in the lower peninsula. That means this four seasons area is blessed with glacial landscapes, water and snow. A perfect geographic situation ~3.5 hours outside of the city. The town ultimately embraced an alpine theme, resort development and outdoor sporting.

The entrenchment to the “Alpine Village” concept in Gaylord was finalized with the adoption of potresenia Switzerland, as their “sister city”, not sure why its feminine, but that’s what the sign says. The kin-like relationship is maintained through the swapping of a single high school student each year which ultimately results in a ceremonial picture in each others hometown papers.

I don’t know if Helen has a “brother city” which swaps a youngin every year, but if they do I think he should like NASCAR and chocolate to go the Helen. This quaint little village even has a Huddle HAUS down to the A-frame style.

Each place has their own festival, Gaylord’s is the Alpenfest and Helen’s is Oktoberfest. Herein lies the difference with these cities – Helen is mountain base cabin housing with a single threaded downtown with a focus on alcohol and Gaylord is outdoor sports (Golf, Skiing, Snomobiling, Hunting).

Helen’s is cutesy place to drink and buy mantelpiece tschockes – which is something most folk don’t get enough of and sprinkled with mountain folk which are easily recognized in off season. The weekend was very relaxing with a great view to wake up with:

It’s not like I woke up both days to this view, the first morning I had to run to the store and buy coffee. This morning however was a great experience with the sun literally filling the valley. The cabin was great!

In the end the trip not only made me relax, but it also conjured up some interesting parallels. Give a [tag]cabin[/tag] a shot if your in [tag]North Georgia[/tag].

http://www.premiervacationrental.com/RentalListingDetail.asp?PropertyID=11686