Mea'Ola's Meanderings

Summertime is terribly hot and humid in Florida so mom always heads to the mountains. In 2022 the place she picked wasn't too far north of Atlanta, so it was not cool. In 2023 we went to Mount Airy, North Carolina, not far from the Virginia state line. It was not all cool as mom and I would have liked it to be, but it was better than Florida. Now, an important fact to know about Mount Airy, is it is famous for two things. First, it is the birthplace of Andy Griffith and the town was used as the town of Mayberry in the Andy Griffith Show. Secondly, it is home to the world's largest open air granite quarry. Anyway, mom found this pet friendly place named Lily's Place and the rate was very reasonable. The owners love dogs and your pets are welcome on the sofa and the bed.  Mom loved the sign when we first walked in. I've gotten this vacation stuff down pat, and mom doesn't have to medicate me anymore before we leave on trips. Now I take a nap while she unloads the truc...

 It was spring in Florida and mom decided to run away for a week before a big trial at work. Two weeks before a trial her team starts prepping and things get wild and crazy. She found this tiny, cozy cabin in a town called Andrews in North Carolina, just over the Georgia border The going rate was only $50/night. When we arrived, mom was happy to see frost on the mountains in the distance. The owners of the place stock the refrigerator with yogurt, creamer, milk, fruit and other goodies. They had a wood burning fireplace and offered to buy the firewood for mom so she wouldn't have to cart it all the way up from Florida. They didn't think mom would need as much as she asked for, but the nights got pretty chilly and with no central heat, just small space heaters the fireplace was great for keeping the cabin warm.  The first night there I was not happy and did not want to eat my dinner. Mom eventually held my bowl in her hands and I ate. So, what did we do all week? Absolutely NOT...

 It's fall again and we took our annual trip to the mountains of North Carolina. Mom rented the same house as the year before, but this year was special because my Aunt Kassie came with us. Aunt Kassie used to work at the zoo taking photos of the guests and is a very good photographer. When we all went out mom handed her the camera and let Aunt Kassie take all the photos.  We arrived late Saturday afternoon and got everything unpacked and we all got settled in for the week.  On Sunday we stayed at the cabin and chillaxed in front of the gas fireplace while watching movies. Aunt Kassie got a good photo of the full moon. On Monday we all got into mom's truck and headed to her favorite waterfall, Crabtree Falls. After we left the falls, mom drove down the Blue Ridge Parkway stopping occasionally so Aunt Kassie could take in the views.  We had to pass through two tunnels. The views were beautiful as always. On Tuesday I had to stay at the cabin as mom and Aunt Kassie had...

 Hey everyone, it's Mea'Ola and I'm back. I know it's been a while since mom last posted, but her computer died and then every time she had enough money saved up to buy a new laptop, I had to go to the vet and there went all of mom's saved money. Now that I'm healthy and mom's back to normal she can get back to blogging, cooking and taking trips. So, back in June of 2022 mom booked her annual birthday trip, but this time she booked a large house so her daughter, her son in-law and their 3 children could join us. They also brought their dog which created some issues. But on with the story, as you might remember from previous posts, mom likes to take the backroads when possible. On this trip we went up through Helen, Georgia. It's a Bavarian style town, really cute but the summer traffic was terrible. It was a hot day, so while mom unloaded the truck, I stayed inside the air conditioning and got comfortable. Mom's daughter picked a waterfall for everyo...