It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

After a long hiatus on the blog, it's time to get back going again and update you all on the happenings at the lake. We had/are still having the most beautiful fall in the mountains. The colors are stunning! Our photographer, David Greear was able to shoot some of the foliage at its peak. Here are a few of my favorites:

View from main lake looking towards Moccasin Creek

Penland Point in Cherokee Cove

The perfect spot at Laurel Blossom in Wildcat Cove

A Fall Chris Craft Ride

Sun rays at Burton Knoll in Dick's Creek Cove

Charlie Mountain

The dogs enjoying the ride!

Laurel Blossom

Wildcat Cove

Such breathtaking shots!! Sadly, the lake has been pulled for the winter since about mid-November. We are looking forward to Spring of next year when we can get back out on the lake again. Until then, we will rely on fall/winter shoreline entertainment! There are plenty of fun things to do while the water is down. We like to hike Hemlock Falls Trail near the fish hatchery, run our dirt roads, mountain or road bike, and we even enjoy creating our own "Frisbee Golf Course" around the dirt road

My two sisters, Courtney and Natalie, enjoying a hike up Hemlock Falls trail over Thanksgiving

We also love to visit nearby Scaly Mountain for some snow tubing during the cold months. This is a tubing slope that even has a "lift" for you tubes, so you can ride your tube back up the mountain instead of having to walk!

A group of friends from college snow tubing (don't worry, there was snow on the slope)

We also like staying in the cabin and cooking great meals, making a big fire, and playing games. Our family enjoys spending Thanksgiving,Christmas, and New Years at the lake, and I have had many a friends mountain getaway weekends in January and February. This is a great time of year to be together and make your own fun in the mountains.

NYE at Lake Burton

We hope you'll join us this season....

Merry Christmas!

A Day for No Labor

Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone! I can't believe tomorrow starts September and football season has already begun! It seems like it was just Memorial Day...thank goodness it is still warm enough to swim, though. I am counting down the hours until we are in the car headed to peaceful Lake Burton for a weekend of relaxation, rejuvenation, and of course lots of football watching on the upperdeck!

I'm very excited to watch my Bulldogs kick off the season--hopefully they look a little better than South Carolina did last night. Last year, we had a season kick-off party on the boathouse when the Dawgs played Boise St. in the dome with about 50 of our closest friends--horrible game, but still lots of fun! This year, we will be taking it a little easier, since it is, after all, a 12:21pm kick-off. But come join us on the upperdeck if you happen to be passing by! GO DAWGS!

Connie & Tommy West at our Football Kick-off Party last year

A Bright Future for Lake Burton

Great news for Burton Rabun Real Estate Company! This past Friday, we closed on Scenic Point on Lake Burton! 30 Scenic Lake Drive is a beautiful point lot in Moccasin Creek Cove that is located in the area that was affected by the tornado last spring. Sadly, the original structure built by the Watson family in 1948 had to be taken down and the lot cleared.

Original Watson home built in 1948



However, I am so happy to report that in just a little over a year since this devastating natural disaster,there has been so much clean-up and rebuilding. Everyone has been working so hard to restore the area to its original beauty. It has definitely paid off because our wonderful clients and their three kids from Athens, GA fell in love with the area and are going to build a fabulous house and boathouse on this 1.2 acre lot with 473 ft of pristine water frontage and gorgeous sunrise and sunset views!



Lot cleared and ready for a dream project with amazing lake & mtn views!

We have really enjoyed getting to know this precious family this summer and getting them fired up about lake life, and we look so forward to seeing these new friends on the lake year after year. They are eager to begin building, and we can't wait to see their progress! Congratulations and welcome to the lake, Schoenfeld family!

A Lake Burton vacation still on my mind...

Last week my husband, Clint, and I were finally able to take a few days off, so we decided what better way to spend our vacation than a retreat to Lake Burton! We've been spending lots of weekends there this summer, and I have been working up there during the week, but it was so nice to be there without the crowds and without work and to just relax.

We decided that we wanted to do lots of activities and exercise while we were there. I know that doesn't sound like a vacation to most, but we enjoy it. Don't worry, there were plenty of fresh fruit daiquiris to be made and sunset cruises to be had! Our ultimate goal was to do lots of slalom skiing, since we aren't able to ski much on the weekends because the water is so choppy. I think we skied at least 4 or 5 times between Tuesday and Friday.

Hey! We look pretty good!

We even got the rest of the family in on it too...

That's Clint and I plus Connie, Tommy, and Natalie West!

We also kept up with our normal jog around the loop of E. Wildcat Road, and on Thursday, we decided to take the mountain bikes around and end with a trek straight uphill to the Rock Slide. I really thought I was going to start rolling backwards at one point I was going so slow, but we finally made it!

Yeah that face shows you how unbelievably cold it was even after biking  there!! 

The ride back to the house was WAY better! All downhill with beautiful scenery! We've been visiting the Rock Slide and camping up Wildcat Creek all my life, but we hadn't been up there in a while and it is so nice and cool. I highly suggest a visit.

Another highlight of our vacation was the paddle board excursion we took with our two golden retrievers, Hank & Peden. They were reluctant to get on the boards at first, but once we dragged them on, they were good for the most part. We definitely had some falls along the way, though! We took them all the way to our listing in Moccasin Creek to meet my mom and her clients. We may or may not have gotten her to tow us back with ski ropes behind the boat. The dogs REALLY loved this (...and so did we)!

Taking a break :)

The rest of the week was complete with more water sports, such as wakeboarding and surfing, relaxing by the water, and beautiful sunset cruising.

Check out The Pointe on Lake Burton all lit up by the sun! 

Is there anything more beautiful?

We also got a chance to visit Tiger Mountain Vineyards, one of many local wineries in the Northeast Georgia area. I was really impressed by the quality of the wine that is produced here, especially for somewhere in Georgia! If you haven't been, I recommend it. 

Over the weekend, we were joined by our friends from Madison, Mary and Cameron, and Clint's college friend from Hiawassee, Gordon. They were all first timers to Lake Burton, so we got to show them why this place is the best! They all got up on the surfboard, enjoyed swimming, paddle boarding, and corn hole, and of course, cruising on the boat!

All in all, it was a week well spent as always at our favorite place on earth! Where are we going this weekend you ask? Right back to beautiful Lake Burton to see the 12th Annual Mountain Air Classic, a wakeboard tournament held behind Billy Goat Island. Several family friends will be competing, and Clint and I will be happily bobbing along the sidelines cheering them on. Come out and see the talent for yourself! The race starts at 11am, and you might even see a reprise of the famous Lake Burton Ski Patriots if you are lucky :) Look for these faces...

Happy Friday, y'all!

The Lake Burton Ski Patriots!

Well, I believe it was an extremely successful Fireworks weekend here on Lake Burton (and thanks to more celebrating in Madison on Tuesday/Wednesday, I am just now getting to this post). Lots of places to go, people to see, food to eat, and fun to be had! However, the highlight of the weekend by far, and one of the highlights of my life on the lake, was getting to be a part of the Lake Burton Ski Patriots!

The Penland Family, a family who has been on the lake since the 1940s, has been organzing the Penland Ski Patriots show on fireworks Saturday for the past four years. They pull five skiers behind their Malibu ski boat with American flags flying behind them and ski all over the lake waving, doing tricks, and spreading fun and patriotism. This year, they decided to open it up to friends and call the group, "The Lake Burton Ski Patriots". The West family was honored to get to participate.

We all gathered on the Penland's dock, decked out in red,white, and blue, at about 9am on Saturday morning for instructions.

Then, we decided on the first group of five, and the rest of us hopped in the "support boat" and cheered everyone on!

First team of five (left to right): Alex (BF to Leah), Leah Penland (original ski patriot), Kathy Fincher (former Calloway Gardens skier), Connie West (my mama), and John Simmons (lake neighbor)

And they're off!!

So this began a 3 1/2 hour voyage around the lake spreading patriotic cheer! Our fellow Cypress Gardens skier, Kathy Fincher, was able to get us in sync with our waving and our saluting...

Manly team (left to right): Clint Webster (my hubby), Jamie Wilson, Gus Bussey, Hayden Lewis,  & Parker Stiles 

Way to go, boys!

And she even taught us how to "brace", a fancy ski team term we all now know well.

Hey, there's me! (second from left) And the man, the myth, the legend, Lee Penland (second from right)

The Penland ski boat was equipped with a PA system, so we were announced everywhere we went. We also had two support boats with us blaring the music, so we couldn't be missed!

The Jammin' Support Boat

And here's the last team of troopers skiing in to the Penland's dock after 3 1/2 hours all over the lake! Lee Penland, Kathy Fincher, me, Clint, and Jamie Wilson were the last five "victims" as we called it at the end. In the beginning, we had volunteers; in the end, we had victims. Look, even the camera man is a little exhausted!

What an unbelievably cool experience on Lake Burton! I hope to be a part of this year after year. Thanks to the Penland family for inviting us along, and I hope everyone had a happy 4th!!

Salute to America!

It's that time again. Fireworks weekend at Lake Burton is upon us! The show is on June 30th this year, which is strange, but it's also strange that the 4th of July is on a Wednesday...we'll make it work, I guess! This is a coveted weekend and a long-time family tradition for the West family and many other families on the lake. Yes, it is the most crowded weekend of the year, and it is less than thrilling to be tossed around like you are in the ocean. But it is all worth it once you experience this one-of-a-kind fireworks show on Saturday night. We've never missed a single one!

Let me set the scene for you...

Fireworks Saturday is usually always a beautiful summer day (knock on wood!!), and you spend all day out on the water. Swimming, floating, paddling, riding in the boat, water sporting (if you dare)...you get the idea. When we were little, all of the cousins would spend hours decorating our "float boat" with red, white, and blue streamers and balloons so that we would have the most festive boat on the water! The Saturday night dinner always consists of something All-American - usually ribs or fried chicken with corn and green beans, and we eat on the porch or upper deck all decked out in our patriotic outfits. 

I mentioned that when we were younger, the tradition was to decorate the float boat. Now that we have grown up, our new tradition is to make festive, 4th of July drinks! May I introduce to you, "No pressure, no problems," a drink adapted from my cousin's honeymoon in Jamaica....

Is there anything more patriotic than this?!?

So after dinner, we jump in the boat and head down to Billy Goat Island, where the fireworks are shot from. It takes a while to get down there because there are so many boats going the same way, the entire lake is treated as a no wake zone. So a spontaneous dance party usually breaks out on our boat....

Typical.

Then once we finally make it down there, we scoot our boat up as close as possible and settle in around 9:30pm (dark) for 30 minutes of shear beauty and entertainment. But here's the best part - Not only is this an amazing and impressive display of fireworks almost completely paid for by donations from lake residents, but after you get the boom of the fireworks going off, you hear it echo through the mountains for an absolutely awe-inspiring effect. It really is a fireworks display and experience like no other. I wish I had a picture of the fireworks to insert here for the finale, but I can't find any. I guess that means any of you that haven't been will have to come see for yourselves! 

Happy 4th of July holiday and safe travels to everyone this weekend and week! Don't forget to call Burton Rabun Real Estate Company at 706.947.3572 for all of your Northeast Georgia Lake and Mountain real estate needs, and come join us out on the lake this weekend! 

Official Summer Kick-off Weekend is Here!

Ok...we know it's still officially Spring, but school is out, the weather is hot, and Lake Burton is the place to be! This is always one of my favorite weekends of the year because:

1. It's my Birthday
2. It's always a big reunion with family and friends
3. It's finally warm enough to jump in the lake!

So this is where we'll be this weekend...

On this boat....

Watching this sunset....

Ready for a weekend of fun and lots of great times to remember!

Burton Rabun Real Estate Company would love to help you find the perfect lake home to create memories of your own. We hope you'll give us a call and let us show you this special place. 706.947.3572.

Have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend wherever you are!!