Friday Favorites {#163}

Hello and happy Friday!

Why do the weeks seem to fly by in the summer?

I’m linking up with Andrea and Erika for this week’s Friday Favorites.

Well, instead of my more traditional Friday Favorites post, I’m sharing the details of our trip to Julep Farm last week. This is definitely a favorite place, and one that I hope we visit again.

A little back story: A co-worker of Trav’s told him about Julep Farms, and Travis gave me a gift card to Julep Farms for Christmas 2021. I’d never heard of it, but appreciated the gift, of course. All along, I’d hoped we could visit there in the fall, but I’m not sure what I was thinking…the fall is probably our busiest time of the year. I had kind of forgotten about it, but Travis organized this trip since my mom was available to stay with the kids a couple of extra days when she was visiting.

We don’t do the best job at getting away just the two of us, so this was a great trip to do so and celebrate our anniversary and Trav’s birthday a bit early.

So…here are the details.

Last week, we left on Tuesday morning around 10:00. Thankfully, we had an uneventful car ride and arrived around 3:00.

Super cute scene as we pulled in…

On the property, there are four cottages, and one bigger one across the road. We saw that they are actually building three more cottages, so there will be more options soon. We were staying in the Magnolia cottage. (There is one named “Sweet Tea”…seems like that’s the one we should have stayed in…haha…but really it’s bigger and sleeps six…I guess we didn’t need that one)

Totally my vibe!

I loved the little touches like the mugs, welcome note and popcorn, and the print of the property. Upon seeing the mug, I told Travis I had to have one to take home!

We unpacked and sat on the front porch for a bit.

Then, we walked around the property. There was a large venue that I’m sure people rent for parties and weddings. Next to it, was a silo and seating area as well as a garden.

The “Social House” is where the gift shop, coffee/breakfast bar is as well as the restaurant.

We headed back to the cottage to change for dinner.

While I knew Julep Farms was in Dillard, GA, I hadn’t really looked on the map. Travis had done his “research” and knew that Highlands and Cashiers, NC were nearby. Eventually, when I looked at the map, I could see that Dillard is close to Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina borders.

Anyway, we took the twisty route to Highlands, NC for dinner. It’s a super cute town.

We stopped in Four 65 for a drink and apps. It was really nice to sit on the patio. I was surprised by the cooler temps.

Then, we walked around a bit, and Travis made a reservation for dinner at a restaurant we saw on our walk. Since there was a wait, we popped in to The Ugly Dog for a drink. Since we weren’t going to stay long, we sat at the bar.

Well, while at the bar, we met Billy who chatted…and chatted…and chatted while he had his dinner. He raved about the food at The Ugly Dog and had clearly taken advantage of the half price bottle of wine that is the Tuesday special. lol

Anyway, after our drive to Highlands, we knew we wanted to be back “down the mountain” by dark, so we went ahead and ate at the bar. I had one of the specials, porcini and truffle ravioli with chicken, and it was good. Billy was right! 😉

There were two “scenic overlooks” on the way back to Julep Farms…and I made Travis pull over at both.

Like…how could we not stop and take in these views?

Julep Farms even looks pretty at night!

We sat on the porch for a few minutes before heading to bed.

It was so so nice to sleep in on Wednesday morning. I didn’t get up until close to 9. I enjoyed sitting on the porch with my coffee.

Travis did too…

To be honest, I’m not sure what Dillard, GA has to offer as we spent most of our time on the farm or in NC. That being said, Travis found Veronica’s Cafe in a strip mall off the highway, and we couldn’t wait to eat breakfast.

He got biscuits and gravy, and I ordered pancakes and more coffee. It really hit the spot!

Once we got back to Julep Farm, we stopped in the Social House to check out the gift shop and coffee bar.

Then, we got ready for our hike. We drove to Highlands to Whiteside Mountain. Travis had found a two mile hike. The first mile was a “gradual” incline to the top, and then the return trip was more scenic and downhill.

We made it to the top!

We hiked a bit more and took in the views.

The night before, Billy had told us about Whiteside Brewing Co in Cashiers, so we had planned on going there for lunch. Well, as we made our way to Cashiers, we realized Wednesday was the one day the brewing company was closed.

Pivot!…we ended up at Slabtown Pizza, and it was such a cute restaurant in the village. We split a BBQ chicken pizza.

Then, we headed to a waterfall in Highlands called Dry Falls which is in the Nantahala National Forest.

Travis knows I love a waterfall!

We didn’t have to hike to this one…we just parked a walked a bit down the trail…

It was so pretty…

There was a path to the other side, and it was cool to be behind the waterfall too.

After that, we headed back to Julep Farms and relaxed a bit before dinner.

Since we had no kids (Hadley!) on this trip, we had to rely on a timed selfie on the porch…it was nice to capture a pic since we were dressed up a bit…

We made our way to the restaurant on the property at the Social House. We sat at the bar for an appetizer before sitting outside for dinner.

The views (and the weather!) were amazing…as was the food.

After dinner, we sat on the porch for a couple of hours. I could have taken 100 pics of these sunset views.

Besides the planning, Travis packed a few extras for us including snacks, the cooler, my favorite blanket, and this lovely bottle of wine. It’s a very nice bottle of wine that a client gave him, and we weren’t sure when we’d drink it…

…but I guess he figured this trip would be the perfect time to do so.

Cheers to a couple of great days away!

The next morning, we took it easy. I drank my coffee and read for about an hour before we packed up and headed home.

We definitely could have stayed at least one more day. What would we have done? Probably much of the same…another slow morning, another hike, another good lunch…probably at the brewery we didn’t get to, a nap, and maybe dinner at the place we didn’t get to the first night! While I love getting home, on short trips, I typically wish we stayed one more day.

Not shockingly, I did come home with a mug…in my favorite color.

It’s easier said than done, but I’d love to make this a place we go back to through the years.

Weekly Recap:

Here are my posts from the week in case you missed one…

I enjoyed our trip so much that I put together a little reel for Instagram. I will post it this morning. Check it out if you want!

I hope you have a great weekend.