Today is an extremely rare occasion… two posts in one day!
These photos are from this past weekend when I spent the day with my best friend, Olivia. We wanted to get some pictures of fall colors before the leaves all disappeared. Enjoy 🙂
Category: Georgia
A day in Griffin
I recently took a trip down to Griffin, GA with my friend, Jordan, to explore and take photos because my camera was getting a little too rusty. We went to a really cool coffee shop and then went exploring. We came across this abandoned building that had been torn apart and it probably used to be some sort of club. It looked like it had seen better days, but it was cool to explore. 🙂
A magical day
This is the first summer in years that I’ve spent entirely in Georgia and it has been raining everyday for the past two or three weeks, making it impossible to do anything outdoors.
However, yesterday, Olivia and I didn’t care… we needed to get out of the city and do something different. It was raining as usual, but we decided we were going to drive up to the foothills of the mountains in North Georgia, and cross our fingers that the skies would clear. As it turns out, mother nature was on our side. As soon as we arrived at Pooles Mill Park in Cumming, Georgia, the rain disappeared, and we were the only people at this usually crowded river.
Before diving into the refreshingly cold water on that hot and humid day, we hiked the trails a bit and came across huge patches of chanterelle mushrooms. I serve at a local farm to table restaurant and Olivia happens to be a foraging guru so we knew that these mushrooms were delicious and desirable. We followed our intuition and found more and more chanterelles, eventually filling Olivia’s backpack up.
At that point, we were burning up and decided to take a dip in the water, climbing and sliding down mini waterfalls like children. After playing on Earth’s natural playground, we paid a visit to my father and his fiancé, who just happen to have a treasure trove of chanterelle mushrooms in secret spots of their land. We couldn’t resist the urge to pick more and later realized that we had 10 pounds of chanterelles that we didn’t know what to do with.
That’s when we decided that we would turn our fun day in the sun into a profitable venture. With a little bit of research, we found out that chanterelles were currently selling at $12 a pound. We went back to Olivia’s house, cleaned the mushrooms, and packaged them and decided that the next morning, we would sell them.
After three phone calls, we found a local restaurant willing to buy nine pounds for $100. As soon as I hung up the phone, we both jumped up and down with excitement from our first sale. That was $50 to each of us by simply making use of what the earth has already provided us and having fun all the while. I’m writing this because people are always telling me that they want to travel but can’t come up with the money for it. I am not wealthy by any means, but I have never let money stop me from accomplishing my dreams. Yesterday was a perfect example of finding innovative ways to make some fast and easy money. A “get rich quick” scheme if you will (but without the scheming of course!) So I encourage you to become creative and find ways to make use of what Earth has provided for us. $50 here and $50 there adds up quick… believe  me.
Forever wandering and wondering,
Brianna Leilani
Picnic in the Park
I’ve finally begun my long awaited blog! Everyone always says that the hardest part of doing anything is starting it. I’m currently in Atlanta, Georgia for the summer while working to save up some money for the following year’s travels. I normally would have multiple excursions planned for the next few months, but considering the circumstances of my journey, I find it in my best interest to work until I can’t take it anymore and then leave and disappear.
My journey will begin September 6th when I fly to Iceland. I’ll leave on the 10th for London and on the 12th for Newcastle. It is in Newcastle where I’ll keep my homebase for the following nine months. During my stay, I plan on visiting much of Europe, including but not limited to: France, Spain, Portugal, (maybe Morocco, even though that’s Africa), Belgium, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Austria, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, and possibly Greece.Â
After my nine months in Europe, my best friend and I are planning a backpacking trip around parts of Asia (Bali, Thailand, Malaysia, and possibly Tibet), Australia, and New Zealand. We plan on bringing ENO hammocks and solely sleeping in those throughout our adventure.
In the meantime, while I’m still here in the sweet south of the USA, I’ll be exploring around here and catching you up to speed with my past travels as well as teaching you how to prepare for long term travel. For example, how to get a student visa for the UK, how to pack, how to save money, etc…
Right now, I’ve just finished a lovely evening at Piedmont Park enjoying a picnic with friends and appreciating some amazing music put on by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. If you ever visit Atlanta during the summer, I definitely recommend looking into some of the free concerts and events that the park puts on. It’s a great way to enjoy the city on a budget.
You can check out the park’s upcoming events on this website:Â http://www.piedmontpark.org/do/calendar.html
Forever wandering and wondering,
Brianna Leilani
BriannaLeilani 