Trip to GA Mountains: Day 3, Sun, 10/31

Time to go home!  And boy were we ready!  The owner had told us that we didn't have to check out until 1pm on Sunday since they would be gone to church, but we did not hang around.  We were up and out of the cabin by 9:30! 

Steam was rising off the river as we went into Blue Ridge.  It was really pretty.

Another McDonald's breakfast and we were headed toward Cumming.  We did stop at a flea market; I bought a couple of little things for friends.  Daisy enjoyed the attention, as usual. 

We stopped at the same area in Pickens County where we had stopped on the way up on Friday to let Daisy walk some.  I found a stick for her, and she had a blast playing (more like chewing) with it in the leaves.

We got back to Cumming around lunch time, dropped Daddy off at his office, and Miss Daisy and I headed on home.  We were both so tired.  She actually slept a good part of the way.  We reached home about 2:30pm; I unloaded the car and promptly collapsed into my recliner for about 3 hours.  Daisy was very excited to be home.  She had to inventory her toys first thing to make sure every one of them was still there; she chased Zeus; and she walked around the outside of the house, barking, announcing to the neighborhood that she was back on guard!  LOL

So that was our big weekend in the mountains, and Daisy's first vacation.  I learned that she is like her mama... she enjoys going, but she enjoys coming home even more!

Trip to GA Mountains: Day 2, Sat, 10/30

After not much sleep, we got ready to spend our full day in the mountains.  I had found a scenic driving tour online so we decided to do that in the morning, since it had plenty of places to stop and get Daisy out for a walk.  Then we would hit downtown Blue Ridge and visit the shops there in the afternoon.

We headed to McDonald's first for breakfast.  The McDonald's in Blue Ridge is one busy place.  But even at 10am, the Waffle House was still full, so we had to take the least busy.  Daisy waited patiently in the car.  As we were leaving, a man who worked there walked up to the car to talk to Daisy.  Now our dog is pretty friendly with people and rarely barks at anyone who is visiting with her.  But she started barking at this guy and just wouldn't stop!  I have to think she could sense something "off" about him.  I told Tracy a long time ago, that I think she is an a**hole detector.  I myself trust my dog's instincts.  On Sunday, we went through the drive thru at the same McDonald's on our way out of town, and this same guy walked by and waved and spoke to Daisy, and she barked at him again!  She obviously knew something we didn't!

The scenic drive was somewhat scenic.  As I said, the leaves weren't really turning yet in the area.  The guide pointed out some historical homes, areas where Indians had lived as early as 1835, a one lane wooden bridge, and natural sites such as Blue Ridge Lake (which was WAAAAY down cause they are working on the dam) and the Toccoa River.  Here's pics of both:

Daisy's favorite part was the hike to Fall Branch Falls.  She loved it! The woods, the smells, barking at other dogs, people telling her how pretty she is, and believe it or not, the water!  Now the guide claimed it was an easy 1/4 mile hike to the base of the falls.  Yea, it didn't mention that it was straight up and more like 1/2 mile, at the least!  (Or maybe 10 miles - that's more what it felt like!!)  When we reached the falls, there was a family there that was actually hoisting their children up the shear rock face of the falls!  Unbelievable!  People are so incredibly stupid... anyway, because they were all in the way and would not move, it was hard to get good pictures of the falls.  Then a family came up with a couple of dogs.  Well, of course, Daisy goes crazy, barking and pulling.  We have tried many of Cesar Milan's techniques, but she is so focused and it's hard to get her out of that zone.  We moved off the viewing deck and stepped over to the edge of the stream, and Daisy went right into the water!  I think she thought she could go that way and get to one of the dogs, but when that didn't work, then she realized how good that mountain water tastes!  LOL  She proceeded to jump into the stream at least 2 more times on the hike back down!!  Take a look:

She is such a funny and spoiled DOG!!

On the drive back to the main road, we passed this creepy sounding subdivision:

How would you like to sleep THERE??!!  No, thank you!

After we finished our drive, it was time for lunch.  Again, I felt guilty about having to leave Daisy in the car, especially since she whined when we left her.  This restaurant had terribly slow service, so we both ended up checking on her.  The food was good, (Tracy had shrimp pasta and I had the broiled local trout.) but for $38 for lunch, it should have been the best we've ever had - and it wasn't!

We drove back to downtown Blue Ridge.  I had contacted the old time photo store and inquired whether they allow dogs.  They replied that they do, so that was one thing I really wanted to do on this trip.  We headed there first.  The lady was very nice and helpful.  Daisy let her put a bandanna on her with no problem; Tracy dressed like an outlaw, and I was just a lady of the day.  It was a lot of fun, and Daisy posed so beautifully - she is definitely the photogenic one in this family!  Yea, she'd look at the camera for this woman (especially when I stood behind the woman!  LOL).

We left there and found the dog and cat store.  We bought Daisy a tennis ball that squeaks (She LOVES it, and so does Zeus!) and her own bandanna.  She was so cute wearing it around town.  A lot of the stores put out water bowls for visiting dogs.  I am sure many of the stores allowed dogs, but we didn't risk it.  Plus they were having Halloween in town that evening, and it was starting to get very crowded.  We were all tired, and we headed back out to the cabin for a little rest.

We talked ourselves out of going to the drive-in movie again because we were just so tired.  I figured that's how it would turn out.  When we went back to town, I just did a little shopping in Roses (We don't have them around here!), and we ate dinner at Waffle House.  We didn't even watch another movie on DVD that night!  I think we all slept a little better since we had gotten fresh air and exercise that day!

Trip to GA Mountains: Day 1, Fri, 10/29

After I finally got us all packed, cleaned litter boxes, left out instructions, cat food, and accessories for the cat sitter, Daisy and I finally hit the road about 11am.  Whew!  I could finally rest!  LOL  Daisy was excited because she knew something big was up.  She had whined constantly before we left home, and she continued to whine during the drive.  I did stop in Grayson at a park and walked her for a few minutes.  That seemed to help calm her. 

We got to Tracy's office in Cumming about 1pm, and he had gotten us Chick-fil-A for lunch.  Daisy was all excited to see her daddy and thought the office was an exciting place to check out! 

The three of us headed north.  Tracy tends to get in his zone and not look at what's coming up on the roadside, so we passed several yard sales, flea markets, and antique stores without stopping.  I like to sight-see on trips; being a man, he's all about getting there.  He did finally stop at one antique store outside of Jasper, I think.  We didn't find anything to buy, but it was fun to look. 

In Pickens County, right before the Gilmer County line, there is a scenic pull off.  We stopped so we could let Daisy walk for a few minutes, and it's a good thing we did, because they were about the only turning leaves we saw!  The trees here had beautiful yellow, orange, and red leaves.  The ones up in Blue Ridge had not turned yet.  Oh, well.  We managed to get Daisy to stop sniffing long enough for Tracy to take a few pretty good pictures of she and I.  I rarely get pictures of me with her since I take most all of the family photos.  Here's one of us and the pretty leaves at this stop:

She does not like her picture taken.  She will look away every time.  A digital camera is not fast enough.  I literally have to taken a dozen pictures to get one good one.  You have to be sneaky and quick to get a picture of her looking at you!

We arrived at the cabins' office a few minutes after 4pm.  No one was there.  We called their house (on site) and the daughter and husband came down to check us in.  They could not locate the paperwork.  The husband told us to go on and get settled in, and we'd take care of it later.  We went to the cabin and unloaded the car.  You could tell that Daisy didn't know quite what to think.  After a bit, we went to town to get some dinner.  We had planned to go to the drive-in movie that evening, but we decided that we should give Daisy some time to settle into the new surroundings and move around a bit, rather than forcing her to lie in the backseat for two hours.

By far, the hardest part of traveling with your dog is eating out.  Of course, no restaurant allows dogs, and most do not have outside seating.  I felt guilty leaving her in the car - it was her vacation, too!  And I certainly was not going to leave her alone in the cabin - a strange place.  So we ended up eating Wendy's... we thought it would be quick.  Boy were we wrong!  I felt like that comedian, John Pinette.  It's Wendy's people... you don't have to be a genius to order.  If it's that hard:  'GET OUT OF THE LINE'!!!  LOL 

After we finally ate, we decided to go back to the cabin and watch our Netflix movie I had brought.  Of course, it was dark by the time we returned.  We pull up to the cabin, I got out, Daisy jumped out... and started barking.  About that time, I hear a voice behind me.  It almost scared me to death!  It was the cabin owner, wanting us to come down to the office RIGHT THEN so she can run our credit card!  What the??  I mean we were there on time, and it just HAD to be done right this moment?!  Whatever.  Tracy drove back down there and took care of it.  When he came back, he had a copy of the rental agreement which she was supposed to have e-mailed to us beforehand, along with the directions.  (She didn't.) So we get ready to watch our DVD and... no DVD player.  What?!  I could have sworn the cabin description said there was a DVD player.  I happened to start reading over the rental agreement and it stated that DVD players were available upon request!  So Tracy had to drive back down to the office to get a DVD player, which she basically handed to him and said "Good Luck - hope you are good at hooking up electronics."!!!  He is.  (I told Tracy she could go to Goodwill and get DVD players for each cabin for less than one new DVD player would cost!  I have bought DVD players, VCRs, TVs, and a coffee maker from the Goodwill, and they all worked great!)  We watched the movie and went to bed.  

I had brought Daisy's bed, and Tracy had placed it in the middle of the cabin (The cabin being all one room.).  But she didn't seem happy there.  She kept trying to crawl under the bed, like she does at home, but that bed was way too low for her.  So finally Tracy moved her bed over to my side and placed it between the bed and the wall.  She finally settled down.  I never sleep well the first night in a strange place, and I don't think she does either. By morning, she was on the bed with us! 

I'm off to see the wizard

I am running around like a crazy person this morning... packing, cleaning, more packing.  I swear packing up a dog is as bad as packing up a baby!!  Her bed, blanket, towels in case she gets wet, toys, food, food bowls, water bowl, treats, leash, harness, bones, etc. etc. etc... 

Headed up to the North Georgia Mountains to see some turning leaves.  I am basically a single mother so thus all the last minute running around like crazy.  We are obviously taking Daisy...  I am sure she will have a ball!  As long as she doesn't meet a bear or a skunk, then Mama and Daddy will be happy!

There is no Internet access where we are going, so I will have to give the blow-by-blow of our trip after I return.  Keep an eye out!

Quick update

It took about four days, but I FINALLY got over my jet lag or exhaustion from the California trip!  I've just been piddling around the house since I've been home.  I haven't scrapbooked much, but I am going to crop at a friend's house tomorrow, so maybe I'll get a few pages done.

Since we are now having absolutely beautiful weather... sunshine and in the 70's... I'm back to taking Daisy to Oxford for a walk everyday.  We've been averaging about 30-35 minutes; yesterday, we made it 45 minutes.  I would like to work up to an hour, but it will take a little while since we are both out of shape!  She loves the trails through the woods where she can chase squirrels and especially chipmunks!  She loves to go after the chipmunks!  She sticks her head in almost every hole she can find, and I tell her something she doesn't want is going to get a hold of her nose if she keeps doing that! 

Next weekend, Tracy, Daisy, and I are going to the mountains to see the turning leaves.  We've never done that before.  I'm sure it will be beautiful.  We found a pet friendly place and will be staying in a cabin near Blue Ridge.  We'll hike to a waterfall or two, go to the drive-in theater, and maybe walk through the antique stores.  Should be relaxing fun.  Can't wait to see how much fun Daisy has. 

Last Saturday, the First Baptist Church of Conyers was having a huge amount of yard sales in their parking lot.  Since it was outside, we took Daisy.  She loved it.  All those people petting her and telling her how pretty she is.  We almost couldn't fit her head back into the car!  LOL 

Well, again, I'm just piddling around the house today.  I need to get into my scrapbook room and make sure I'm ready for tomorrow!

Day 8: Coming Home

Sorry this has taken awhile to post.  First, I was too tired and unable to stay awake to do any blogging.  Then all day today, I have been unable to get into my blog... on Firefox, at least.  I finally had to open it in Internet Explorer.  Don't know what's up with that.

Anyway, we had checked the weather on Tuesday night, and in some strange twist of fate, it was to be 59 degrees and raining in LA when we left and 75 degrees and sunny in Atlanta when we got home!!  And the weather was true to its word!  It was raining when we left the motel.  We were fortunate, though, that we only had to get out in the rain at McDonald's to get our breakfast.  Our car was parked in the parking deck at the motel and the rental car return was covered with the shuttle van right there.  Also, the van let us out right on the curb at the airport so we were good to go!

We got to our gate about 2 hours early.  We read for awhile, grabbed something to eat at the only place available at that terminal (Again, Atlanta has it going on at the airport!), Burger King, gobbled that down and it was already time to board the plane.  It was another uneventful trip.  It was a full flight, though, so VERY crowded.  There is definitely no room to stretch out.  They pack you in like sardines!  However, because it was a full flight, Mom got to check her carry-on for free!  Since we already had checked bags, it was a no-brainer for us.  Made it easier on me and Mom not having to carry that extra bag on the plane and (me) not having to lift it into an overhead bin.

We left LA at about 11:35am PST and actually got into Atlanta 30 minutes early - at 6:30pm EST.  I was so psyched to be home!  Our bags were already coming down the baggage claim when we got there, and we zoomed out to find the shuttle van back to my car.  He was waiting for us!  It was great.  Got to the car fine... and then we tried to leave.  Well, there was some idiot (I'm sorry - I couldn't think of a nicer way to put it.) in a truck at the window that didn't have his ticket.  An instead of having him pull over and waiting on the car ahead of us and us... no they made us wait.  and wait.  and wait.  For so long, that I honked the horn.  A female employees stuck her head out the window and held up her index finger like, "Just one more minute." Well, that minute stretched into 2 to 3.   FINALLY, the line started moving.  When it was our turn, the male manager that was at the window by this time, apologized, and I told him that they should have had the difficult customer pull aside while they waited on the others.  Of course, he made some excuse why that wouldn't work.. but you know what?  This guy showed great customer service skills.  #1 - He apologized... that goes a long way with me when someone screws up, but a lot of people won't apologize for anything anymore; #2 - He never got mad or upset.  He was upbeat and smiling through the entire thing.  He even diverted me by asking about our trip and expressing that he knew we were ready to get home.; #3 - He thanked us.  All of that EXCELLENT customer service (which we rarely see anymore) diffused the situation and will make me give them my business in the future.

Anyway, we got out of there and I very quickly re-adjusted to driving in Atlanta!  That is to say I did about 80 MPH all the way home!  LOL  I couldn't wait to see my babies!

Tracy went and picked up hot wings for our dinner, and (perfect timing!) we pulled into the driveway at the same time he did!  I didn't have my house key with me so we had to wait for Tracy a whole minute or two, and Daisy was barking up a storm on the other side of the door!  She was very impatient to see her mama!  She was very happy to see me, as was Gracie.  Trixie hid because Mom was here, of course.  And surprisingly, Zeus kept his distance until I went to bed.  He's been sticking close to me ever since, though!  Daisy wouldn't hardly let me out of her sight.  When I finally went to bed (about 2AM!!!), she jumped right up on my side of the bed so that I had to angle and squeeze my way in between her and Tracy!  She wasn't about to sleep too far away from me - I might disappear again!  LOL

You should have seen how happy she was to see my mom leave the next morning!  She knows that every time Mom comes, I leave.  So once Mom was gone, I guess she figured I was home to stay!  She's so funny!

My friend who came over and let Daisy out a couple of times a day while I was gone called me and said that Daisy was a different dog on Wednesday.  Every other day, she had just scooted outside, did her business, came right back inside, no playing, no nothing.  On Wednesday, Daisy met her at the door with a toy in her mouth and was all happy cause she just KNEW her mama was coming home that night!!!

I am waaaayyy jet lagged, but I am glad to be home... though I'm not too thrilled with doing laundry, cleaning house, or paying bills.  It never goes away.  ;)

Day 7: Burbank, etc.

By this point, WE ARE SO TIRED!!!  LOL!  The places we go in L.A. aren't really that far apart... but we drive a block, stop at a red light; drive a block, stop at a red light, on and on and on.  Now nothing has taken twice as long to reach as my GPS tells me (like an article I read on the Internet warned), but it ALWAYS takes longer than Samantha originally figures.  It seems that we loose 2-3 minutes at every single red light!  So that became the big joke of the day.  Oh, Samantha says we'll reach the scrapbook store in 20 minutes?  Well, we know that actually means about 30.  The last joke of the day was that I will be glad to get back to driving in Atlanta... it's easier!  LOL

We started out about 8 this morning, heading to the Warner Bros. Studio.  Like I mentioned, there aren't that many breakfast places, so we were looking for a McDonald's.  Now they are on almost every corner here, but not when you're actually looking for one.  Or it's on the left side of road, with 4-6 lanes of traffic between us and it.  We finally found one, though on the left side of the road, it was the middle of a block with less traffic so I shot over a couple of lanes and headed in!  After filling up our tummies, we continued on to Burbank.  Warner Bros was easy to find, and I lucked up and turned down the correct street to find the parking for the VIP tour.  Everyone was very nice and helpful... one lady stopped us on the sidewalk to give us directions (We didn't even ask!).  Our tour was scheduled for 10:20, but we were there about 9:30 so they bumped us up to the 10:00 tour!  (Again, we didn't ask!) 

The tour started EXACTLY on time... you gotta love that!  It was a great tour.  If you are ever in Los Angeles, I would highly recommend going on this tour.  They start out with a short film that very quickly covers their 85 year history.  Then your tour guide takes you out to the tram to start the 2 hour tour.  Our tour guide kept telling us that every tour is a little different, since it is a working studio and every day has different sound stages being open or closed or different back lot "streets" closed for filming. 

We saw a back lot "city street" where a lot of films and shows are/have been filmed, such as "The Road to Perdition," "Annie," "Cold Case" (TV Show), "Spiderman," etc.; the last set left from "Casablanca" (!!); and we got to go in and see the set of TWO AND 1/2 MEN!!!!!!!  They weren't filming and we weren't allowed to take pictures, but it was still very cool.  The front door and living room of Charlie's place was right there in front of us!  We walked through their furniture warehouse, where they have a lot of antiques, and I saw a Grandfather Clock tagged for "Chuck."  Then later we saw a mountain tram (a real one from Palm Springs) that the man working on it told us it's for "Chuck."  We also saw an actor step out of his trailer with a bathrobe on, and we think it was Rob Morrow.  He was there today became they were filming his new show, "The Whole Truth."  "Chuck" was also filming today, but we weren't lucky enough to see any of the stars.  Our tour guide me that they are all very nice.  We stopped by the Warner Bros. Museum and saw outfits from "Casablanca"(!!!!!!!), "Pushing Daisies," "Music and Lyrics," "I Am Legend," "Cool Hand Luke," and many, many more.  Plus props from movies and shows, letters from stars to the studio heads, etc.  AND the entire second floor was dedicated to "Harry Potter."  The guide also took us to the transportation department and into a warehouse full of famous automobiles:  A Geek Squad car from "Chuck," one of the original "General Lees" from the "Dukes of Hazzard" TV show, the car from "Harry Potter," the van from "Scooby Doo," and more that I can't remember right now.  Take a look:

So all in all, it was a fantastic tour!  Mom and I stayed and had lunch in their Cafe.  We didn't see anyone famous, just the regular folks that work there.

After lunch, we drove to up to the Griffith Park Observatory.  It has got to the be highest point in Los Angeles.  You can see for miles in every direction.  It really helps you grasp how large an area Los Angeles encompasses.  The Observatory itself is a museum with a planetarium, but unfortunately, due to budge constraints, they are now closed on Tuesdays.  Just our luck, but the view made it well worth the drive! 

We left Griffith Park and drove and drove and drove to another scrapbook store.  For as much trouble as this store was to get to, it was a big disappointment.  First, you had to pay to park in a parking garage, take two escalators up (one of which was not working), walk in the wrong direction twice, finally figure out the right direction and walk halfway around the building!  Whew!  And then she had it so packed in there, you could hardly get to stuff to look at it.  Mom bent down to try to see something and hurt her back!  Of course, we bought stuff... ;) 

Now that we had purchased all the scrapbooking supplies and souvenirs we were going to, we had to find a postal store to ship it all home.  Like I said, I don't trust the airline with my scrapbook paper, and my suitcase was borderline in the weight department coming out here; I sure couldn't add much going home!  LOL  So after coaxing Samantha to find us such a shipping place (the clouds today made it very hard for her to make contact with the satellites), we set off.  And drove... and drove... and drove.  Mind you, it was only 7 miles away.  30 minutes to go 7 miles.  And then it was a game of hide and go seek to find the store.  It was actually behind another strip of stores.  But find it we did and spent a fortune to to ship a 24x14x4" box home. 

We went ahead and ate dinner at 5pm at Sizzlers so that we wouldn't have to go back out again tonight.  That dinner is another story that I am too tired to relate at the moment.  I'll add some details I have missed after I get home this week.

We fly out of L.A. in the morning.... It's supposed to be 59 degrees and raining when we leave here, and 75 degrees and sunny in Atlanta when we land!  What's up with that?!!  Mom is all freaked out about being cold and wet.  I figure I won't melt, so I'm not too worried about it.  I'm just ready to go home.

If you have read this far over the last 7 days, bless you.  Like I said, I'll add some tidbits after I return home.

Does anyone recognize the set behind Mom???

In the immortal words of one of the greatest of Warner Bros.' creations, Bugs Bunny:

"That's all, Folks!"