Happy 51st birthday.........

Thurs ....Oct 11

Or as my sister put it...I am now 50-something...YUCK!!! But that's ok it's just a number.
I needed a Disney fix in a bad way...so off to EPCOT I headed for the Food and Wine Festival.....woohoo what a blast.
First we went to a Blue Man show on Thurs nite....that is an amazing almost 2hrs of color, sound and activity. Was not like anything I'd ever seen before...it was truly amazing. Everyone should go once. We went to the show that was on Universal's City Walk....so after the show we had a wonderful time walking around City Walk. There is a HUGE...Hard Rock Cafe there and a terrific Margarittaville....it was not crowded at all, so it was really nice to just stroll. We ended up having dessert at Bubba Gumps's....dinner had been an Landry's Seafood.....so this was perfect.
It was getting late and was time to head to the hotel.....I had to work a 1/2 day the next day and then off to EPCOT.....

Fri...Oct 12....Happy Birthday to me!!

I was up early to work and it was a gorgeous day. About noon I logged off and we were ready to head to Disney....I just love the Food and Wine Festival.....you get to try so many cool things. We took our time and hit many kiosk for samplings. And I had to get my first bag of Werther's popcorn...Very tastey!! Once we were full for the moment we ventured over to Future World side to get in Turtle Talk with Crush and ride a few rides.....crowds were not bad and with very short wait times. Except for Soarin'.....it was a 60min wait, so we decided to skip it since we've done it so many times....that was fine. Crush was wonderful and we were off to try out Coke around the world....some are pretty ok...some are NOT...but still fun to do. Then it was time to head back to Food and Wine. Once again we went slow and had a nice evening. Still the crowds were down so we really enjoyed it. We happened upon a concert by Smash Mouth...had never heard of them, but they play "classic rock"...otherwise known as oldies....so we knew many of the songs.....we really enjoyed that. Then it was time to explore a new area....Italy. They have really expanded this area and it was nice. Now it was time to stake out a spot for Illuminations.....so we stood in this one place by a railing for about 45min....but it was worth it.....they have the best fireworks show.
Totally whooped and with aching feet was time to head to the hotel. It had been a wonderful birthday!!!

 Joseph and I at EPCOT.....thanks for the passes .....and we're so glad you came and spent time with us.

Saturday was Magic Kingdom day.........it was totally crowded but we still had fun. We were told about the new area....seems Toon Town is gone and the new area will be a circus type atmosphere. It is very cute for little kids...they even have a water fountain play area now....those kids were having a ball...it was rather warm. I was wishing I had extra clothes...getting wet lookd very inviting!!
Then we went over to the area that has Belle's Castle (it is a facade but still cool....nothing like Cinderella's Castle) and theer was a Belle ride....and coming soon a 7 Dwarf ride and Little Mermaid ride. There is a new table service restaurant Be Our Guest, and a new quick service...Gaston's Tavern that serves a very good pork shank that we had for lunch...yum....sure beats the normal hotdog hamburger stuff.  Then we headed back to Main St to get a good spot for the 3p parade.....it was very good but rather short only about 15-20min. Then we headed over to ride Space Mtn...the wait was about 45min, but at least it was in A/C!!! Love that roller coaster.....then a quick hotdog and headed home. Another wonderful day and a terrific birthday weekend.
                                       
                                                        Belle's Castle

A view down Main Street....love all the fall decorations.

Thanks Denny and Joseph for the Disney trip!! 

And thanks Mom for starting off my birthday weekend on Wed, with my favorite pork and sauerkraut dinner and a chocolate cake for dessert. YUM-O!!! and I will enjoy my massage certificates very soon.

Now back to cube-world and reality...so I can go again!!!

Fall is in the air.....time for a trip to the North Ga Mountains

October is a great month....not to mention my birthday month....but the colors and crisp air, it's just great. As luck would have it my friend Linda was at a campground near Cleveland, GA...so off I went. I always like staying in the RV with her when I can. We have such a ball. I decided to drive up on Thurs after work and work from there on Fri....well, traffic up Ga 400 surprised me and after about 3hrs I finally arrived. Her friend Bobbie has ownership in this campground and Linda is able to rent a space from another owner....it's really cool. This is a campground for folks that are fulltimer's or almost fulltimer's. You can park your RV in a space and then build a "park model" (much like a single wide mobile home) or a "cabin" (400sq ft space) next to it. By adding either one of these you greatly increase your living space. The park model has a bedroom/bath/eat-in kitchen/small living room....where the cabin's have a loft for sleeping, a kitchen/bath/living space and a large porch for enteratining. I was amazed at what could be done with 400 sq ft. To see what I'm talking about here is their website.... Paradise Campground... http://www.pvc4u.net/
It is really neat for a home-base. And these folks have a ball. Almost everyone has a golf cart for riding around and for mobile "happy hour".....oh yes, they do believe in happy hour!!!
Linda and Bobbie had cooked dinner on Thurs nite, it was wonderful. Friday nite we went into Cleveland to a drugstore with a soda shop in it for dinner.....delish!!
Saturday we drove to Helen for the festival, but since it was raining we moved on rather quickly. Then we drove over the mountain to meet another friend for lunch. By this time the rain had stopped and it was a wonderful day. After lunch we did some pumpkin shopping and stopped by another small festival....it was a wonderul slow Saturday. When we got back we met a real estate gal that showed Linda several properties for sale....we were amazed at some of the cabins...folks got very creative with such a small space. There is a creek that runs through the property and she'd like to be on the creek....but no decision yet...we'll see.

We'd had such a large lunch, we didn't want much for dinner....so we thought happy hour snacks would be good enough. Well...at our 2nd stop we were invited to stay for dinner. A wonderful crock-pot of sausage/onions/peppers and potato salad....that was just perfect. We had brought snacks to share and we stayed until dark....then home to bed for a terrific nights sleep. My bed in the RV is an air mattress sofa bed. To avoid the weight of a real mattress, the couch makes into a huge bed, but it is an air-mattress....it is kinda like "dial your own...sleep number" bed.....harder, more air.....softer, less air...I love it and always sleep well.
We mover VERY slow onSunday morning...Linda cooked us breakfast and Bobbie showed up to see if we were still alive. We all visited for a bit and decided to go visit a local winery and have lunch. There are several around but Bobbi picked Frogtown.... http://www.frogtownwine.com/
It was wonderful....the view was delightful and the wine was yummy. I added a fruit and cheese tray and was very happy. We made one more quick stop at a petting zoo to buy 2 more pumpkins and headed home. This is not your normal zoo... they have small animals and across the street  bigger ones like zebra....see for yourself... http://www.northgeorgiazoo.com/  I think one day I shall return to play with the animals, no time today.
Back at the campground it was time for me to pack up and head south. It was a bit rainy and cool, so was a bit easier to leave. However, I could have happily sat in the RV visiting and drinking wine all day!!

Thanks Linda for another wonderful weekend and a peek into my hopeful future!! Bobbie, it was a pleasure to fianlly meet you...I'm sure we will meet up again....happy trails ladies!!