Hi friends, I’m back with pictures of Mom’s birthday trip to the North Georgia Mountains near Helen, GA.
They drove along the famous Ocoee River where there’s lots of rafting and tubing. This is a picture of people whitewater rafting. I think I’d rather stay home!
They kept driving up and down mountains and back and forth on winding roads, until they got to their Air B & B in a little town called Sautee Nacoochee, GA. This is the scenery they mostly saw.
Mom wanted to get a picture of them on the porch, with the trees and mountains in the background. Their backs were to the north, and the sun was busy setting in the west, so the picture isn’t too good. The mountain town of Helen, Georgia has Octoberfest all of September and October. The folks hit it mid-September before it got crazy busy. All the stores and restaurants down the “main drag” were part of it
Now comes the best part! *suspenseful music*
I can’t figure out how, but Mom got word that I was wanting to make elephant stew to surprise her when she got home on her birthday. She and Dad looked and looked for elephant meat. This was as close as they could find (ads on the windows of local stores).
Oh, well, at least they tried. They’re going out of town overnight again soon (they’re going to Inn Dee Anna to a big dance) so I’ll take another look in Mom’s recipe box then.
Oh, I should also mention that they both had a great time at the Octoberfest dance hall where live bands played all day long. They danced and danced the polka until they couldn’t dance anymore, Then they went for a walk, came back, and danced some more! One person even asked for an “at the moment” dance lesson, which they gave him. I guess I’ll finish up with a coupla pictures Mom took of feel-good signs in the windows of a chocolate store. (We didn’t get any chocolate.)
Xena: Hey Chia, did you eat chocolate? Mom weighed you in at 5 pounds over what you weighed in the spring. I’ve been hearing her call you her little sausage.
Chia: Grrrr.
So Mommy helped me off with my sweater, since the day was warming up, and I went on a long walk through the Fat Man’s Squeeze and caverns and magical places. (And I wasn’t a-scared at all!) We didn’t see any fairies this time, even though I checked in all the places they might hide.
Nope, nothing up there but my shadow. Hi, shadow!
These rocks were much too slippery to try to explore.
Oooh, it looks like jewels up on the rocks. Maybe there are fairies here!
Are we lost, Mommy? I heard something behind us. Oh look, directions, sorta’. 
Now let’s see if we can find any gnomes.
We only found Ik, and he’s not a gnome. I turned and headed back to the pavilion to find my Daddy. I could hear him teaching polka, so I followed the sound of his voice. When we got back, I got my very own sauerkraut, and then I ate half a nice lady’s sauerkraut, too. (She said it was ok, she was done with it.) A few minutes later I gave them back their sauerkraut, as well as a bonus of some of chicken innards from my breakfast, too. Mommy had to find someone to help clean up the mess.
Before the day was over Daddy grabbed Mommy to dance a swing and a foxtrot. The guy who played the elk horn and the ringy dingy bells came over to 
Then we had a great time together!
We watched Mom and Dad polka and we watched Auntie Jen and Dad polka and we watched Mom and Uncle Bill try to polka, BOL! Talk about a total failure!
Mom and Dad doing the polka.
We listened to the band and watched peeps learn to do the Chicken Dance. Of course the peeps had to have their fun with us, too.
I found out that this was his first time to go anywhere away from home (he’s 4, but was recently adopted by my Uncle and Auntie), so he was a bit freaked. I think that’s why he snapped at me every time I sneaked a kiss on his mouth.
She said we could all be BFF’s, though. I said I was good with that(he, he, yeah, sure, right).
Achilles was so into me that he laid with his back right up against me until his folks took him to the other end of the pavilion.
Ella, stop giving your Dad the stink eye. They’re just getting a funny picture drawn…they’ll be back, and Mom’s here with us.
Look, there’s the nice man who was petting us earlier. Doesn’t he look silly doing the Chicken Dance?
I stayed with Uncle Bill and Dad until Dad got off work. I guess it doesn’t take guys as long to get ready as it does the ladies, BOL!
Daddy said, “No, I’m here, little girl. You sit with your Mom and I’ll get you both there safe.” 
So Daddy drove up Lookout Mountain to Rocktoberfest at Rock City. On our way in, we passed by some pretty flowers, but we are going to save those pictures for Flower Friday. I also got to check out some pumpkins. I tried to carry it so Mommy could make us pumpkin pie, but she said it is easier to buy the kind growing in the can in the store.
So that I didn’t get scared by the band like last year when I was only 4 months old, we found a seat down below the pavilion. This year, it didn’t scare me at all!
Hey Mommy, where’s that polka music coming from? Can we go see? I think my Daddy’s up there. After we went to the pavilion and listened to the music for a while, we went ‘sploring. There are lots of trails and I found some interesting pee mail to read.
It felt chilly outside, so I wore my nice sweater from last year. I hear the styles haven’t changed much, but I’m still asking Santa to bring me some new clothes this Christmas.
Mommy discovered that I’m not afraid of heights. In fact I jumped up on a great big rock and started to climb it before anyone could stop me. No wonder the place is called Rock City!
There was a steep drop off into a raving vine or something like that, so I turned around and went back to the trail. It was not because Mommy was coaxing me back to her. See, I’m not a-scared at all!
Then we went into these dark caverns. Soon, I came upon a gnome making moonshine. Can you see him back there behind me?
I found out that moonshine isn’t light from the moon. Noooo, it’s illegal whiskey, like what Daddy drinks, only his is legal. I don’t really understand the difference. But maybe that’s why the gnome is behind bars, right?
You still there, Mommy? It’s getting pretty dark in here.
There was sparkly, purple light coming from the rocks. I thought maybe it was fairy dust, especially since we had just met a great big fairy person. I looked up and just about jumped out of my skin! A real, live fairy person! The fairy was real sweet to me and we got to be friends right away. She and Mommy knew each other. Before she was a fairy, she was a Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Yep, that Angel Lexi thing again. We kept walking and finally came to the end of the cave (or light at the end of the tunnel?)
The danger – er, I mean fun – wasn’t over yet! Mommy insisted I take a selfie under a boulder (that’s a great big rock) that was balancing on another boulder. I said if I got smooshed, it would be all her fault.
I don’t look scared at all, do I?
Look, I even found my accordion from last year and couldn’t wait to play it. I hear that Lucy gets to go back this coming weekend, so maybe I can go again the last weekend of the month. We all love 
They didn’t have beer floats this year, so I didn’t get a chance to do that!
Every time I got a little nervous, I scooted between her legs and she helped me to calm down. I didn’t even mind sitting with her while Mom and Dad did the polka.
That was ok, ’cause there were lots of people walking around who wanted to pet me. I would look at everyone with my friendliest expression and wag my tail so hard that my whole body wagged. There were other dogs there, too. Some of them gave me a friend request, and I always answered with a yes!
I wanted to try to help teach like Angel Lexi used to do with the ballroom dancers, but I wasn’t allowed to. I still made friends with one of the students.
One lady even came out of the lesson just to meet me!
She pet me and we got to be friends.
Sunday is sometimes me and Xena’s day to not eat breakfast. Mom calls it fasting, but like Xena is quick to point out, there is nothing fast about those days! So, when Mom bought me my very own basket of Rocktoberfest sauerkraut to eat at lunchtime, she made me promise not to tell my sister. I convinced her to give me some of hers before I promised.
But wouldn’t you know, the first thing that little schnauzer did when I got home was smell my breath…and she knew! At least I didn’t break my promise, right?
Xena Schnauzer Warrior Princess with Lucy and Chia 