Second chance pays off for us, Blue Ridge

When I am at home and someone asks me to recommend a restaurant or coffee shop to them, I freely give them an answer.

But I add a caveat. Try them at least two or three times before writing them off.

I don’t know of anyone not liking the places I recommend, but I do know that each establishment does,  every now and then, have a down day. Or maybe a cook, or waitress has a down day and things don’t turn out as good as one anticipates.

A year ago, I read in a magazine about a small, quaint town in North Georgia. Wifey and I decided to make a stop there on our way back from the mountains.

Of course, it was summer time, hot and a little humid and I was pulling a popup camper. We pulled off the main highway to go through the downtown area and upon seeing the town, figured that it was really too “yuppy.” That wasn’t what I was looking for.

And as I headed down the one-way road through

downtown, a delivery truck was  blocking a portion of the street and I felt I couldn’t make it around the truck.

In the heat, I got out and waved smaller vehicles around me. I felt that I had had enough of that town.

Well, just this past July we were heading back from the mountains, and approaching that town, we powered up the GPS looking for a coffee shop.

And there was one. Close to downtown. Well, how would that work out, I wondered.

We gave Blue Ridge a second chance and it paid off for them and us.

The L&L Beanery, a coffee shop/restaurant just west of the tracks in the downtown area filled our need.

There was plenty of parking along the street that paralled the railroad, but I didn’t want to take up three or four spots by parking along the street, so I drove around and just a block south of the coffee shop was a church with an empty parking lot.

It was just right and a member getting ready to go on a youth outing at the church said it was OK to park there.

Wifey and I settled in at L and L with coffee and tea and got on our computers for about an hour.

We decided to stay for lunch and enjoyed our meals.

The visit to the beanery was an interesting experience in that we were eating in what was formerly a bank. The vault held a number of souvenir and coffee products or sale.

There was a piano for entertainment and a fireplace for cozy refreshments on a winter night.

I’m glad we decided to give Blue Ridge a second chance.

Next post: Aug. 26, 2014