Skeenah and our 8th Anniversary
Alexandra & Nicholas Tenbarge
After a full day of driving back from Indiana, the infamous soap spill of 2025, and not a full nights rest - we dropped the kids off with grandparents and took a very much needed weekend to ourselves. Ziggy(dog) doesn’t enjoy camping as much, he can’t get up the stairs without assistance and the floor in the TravelBarge is smooth and he has to tip toe around. Ellijay can still hop up into the truck so she came with. Shout out to our house/dog sitter for watching Ziggy.
We headed up to a unique campground I found on RVLife.com’s trip planner. My boss shared RVLife’s features while I was shopping for a travel trailer and it’s paid off in spades (mostly). Leaving home base we headed up 575 towards Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest to stay two nights at Skeenah Creek Campground. The path RVLife’s GPS picked was a bit more…aggresive than our return trip; winding switchbacks and tight turns. Still learning the ropes of what the Ram 2500 with 6.4L Hemi can do, I was pleasantly surprised with the each it handled the demands.
Skeenah Creek Campground is a place I would have never found on my own. It’s much more old school than a KOA or modern mega campground, yet it still has full hookups. It’s run by a family and they were always more than willing to help with anything. When we arrived and realized our spot had a dip near the rear stairs they brought over some blocks to make it work. Full service firewood delivery and fire starting was an added bonus that evening.
Having a relaxing time by said fire, while Alex read the next book in her digital library, I sat and started to ponder how I would host this blog. Earlier that day, we had talked during our drive and continued through dinner that night about what we wanted to do in the next year while reminiscing over the last 8 years of marriage. Both of us had a plan to start journaling; different types and audiences but journaling nonetheless. Many years later and we’re still on the same mental wavelength!
It was around that campfire that I started this blog and deployed the framework. The next day during the wonderfully slow morning I had a few after thoughts, nearly scraped the whole thing to start over, but eventually landed on the site as it is today.
After breakfast we headed to the Swinging Bridge on the Toccoa River. Punching it in GPS, it was only ~4 miles aware but said it would take nearly 30 minutes to get there. I scoffed and we set off. And I was humbled only 3/4 of a mile later when the pavement turned to rocks and the switchbacks begun. It was a peaceful drive up a forest service-type road, wide enough to let others coming the other way out. Our tow vehicle is mighty, yet I was thankful it wasn’t as stiff as its 3500-series big brother. The rear springs softened the trail a scosche.
Ellijay loved the trip with the windows down, she had no idea the day would be so much fun. Hiking the short trail to the bridge and exploring the Toccoa river area was grounding for me. Being in nature, hearing the water rush over the rocks, the sounds of the forest, it was nearly a religious experience. After everyone had time to enjoy themselves, and trying to get Ellijay to swim or even get her precious paws wet, we returned to the truck and head back for the next chapter of the day. On the way out we stopped to grab some local honey that someone had setup on a table, for breakfast plans the following day - homemade bread with honey! It was on the way out that I realized a benefit that I didn’t give much thought to with camping - beating the masses to off the beaten path sights like the Swinging Bridge. On the way in we were one of 3-4 vehicles. On the way out we must have seen two dozen and more were coming with each passing minute.
Once we arrived back at the travel trailer, we grabbed out snack bag and such and headed off to Living Waters winery. It was just a short trip away and after a very steep driveway we were able to grab a nice table under the double-deck to protect against the possible rain yet still have an amazing view of the surrounding area. This reaffirmed that camping was awesome and we could beat the crowds and sit with the locals and other campers. Alex read her book, drank wine, and shared some pretty good BBQ nachos while I finished up the CMS portion of the blog to make future post much easier and user friendly. After several hours of everyone’s favorite activities, wine, books, technology - and Ellijay getting pets from dozens of strangers, we headed back to the campground to setup for the final activity of the day, which we later discovered upset the princess Ellijay greatly: dinner without her.
We arrived in the heart of Blue Ridge and explored for a few minutes while waiting on our table. We found a quiet local bookstore that was charming down the street, browsing for a few minutes before returning to a restaurant I won’t name. The dinner company was stellar, simply the best: my wife of 8 years. The atmosphere was great as well, but the service and the food were average at best. But that didn’t matter, I was enjoying sitting across from my bride, talking about all the things we’ve done over the last 8 years. The list was longer than we both realized, and we stoked the relationship with ideas for the coming years over dinner.
The following morning we began the pack up the campsite and prepare for departure. Being a holiday weekend it was busy, but not chaotic as was likely was at the local KOA or mega-campsites. We walked around the campsite with Ellijay one more time before hitching up and headed back to home base for nearly 3 weeks of everyday life before our next adventure!
