Georgia | Change Is Hard

September 18, 2025
by dawnkinster 24 Comments

Camping continued

Well! Following those interruptions, let me show you how we spent our last day camping at Cloudland Canyon State Park in northern Georgia.

We’d been noticing signs for Lookout Mountain, pointing north from the road our campground was on. We pictured a big mountain with wonderful views and figured that could be interesting.

So on our last day of adventuring we decided to find it. I put “Lookout Mountain” in my gps and off we went. Along the way we saw very large homes perched on the edge of the canyon and we wondered what would happen if you happened to be playing catch on the deck or your basketball took a bad bounce.

Somewhere down there, we were sure, were a whole lot of lost balls.

Anyway, after about thirty minutes my gps said we were there. But where, exactly? The streets had become very narrow and curvy. The houses were large and likely built in the 30s or 40s. They were beautiful.

But where, exactly, was Lookout Mountain? More on that later.

We saw a sign for an Incline railroad going down to the valley floor, so we parked and went to investigate. It was a tram, of sorts, that ran on a rail way down into a town.

I’m not sure what town, but they said we could see downtown Chattanooga so maybe that’s where you ended up. The woman selling tickets said a very wealthy man who owned a bank down there, and a house at the top of the mountain didn’t like having to walk to work, so he had the incline built.

I tried to do some research and all I could find was something about a worker, building the incline in 1886, being killed. But at least that give us some idea of the era the original incline was built. I thought when I was there that there should be a whole display about the history of the area and the incline. But it’s just about impossible to find out anything.

We stood on the observation deck and watched one tram go down the steep incline and then the other tramp came up.

It looked kind of fun, but not $22.00 worth of fun, so we bought some fudge and wandered the neighborhood.

There was a big empty lot next to the Incline tram where obviously there used to be a home. What a view it must have had!

We were amused by a sign on a tree by the road that must have been there a long time. I guess it was the place to be if you wanted to picnic back in the day!

Wandering further down the street we enjoyed the fences….

….and gates along with the gardens.

Eventually, at the end of the street was another state park, this one dedicated to a battle during the Civil Warm. We went inside the park building and talked to the ranger who finally enlightened us about where Lookout Mountain was.

It was right there. We were standing on it. The entire ridge was Lookout Mountain and in fact our campground was on Lookout Mountain too! He pulled out a 3D topographical map and showed us how it all fit together.

And then we went into a big room which described the civil war battle that had been waged there so many years ago. The huge painting was fasinating in it’s detail.

We explored more that day, looking for a local potter who’s sign we had also seen on the main road. After making a couple wrong starts (and almost ending up in a private home accidently) we headed down a beautiful shaded road…

…which took us to a corner with another sign pointing the way.

Unfortunately the potter wasn’t around when we first arrived, so we explored the outside of his studio where there was plenty of interesting stuff.

Lots and lots of interesting stuff.

More stuff outside than what was inside we learned, when the potter arrived. He hadn’t been making anything for awhile, so we just explored the outside a bit more and then moseyed along.

We ended up at a local diner for lunch/dinner. I think people have misconceptions about camping. Yes you can bring all your food with you, and get ice for your cooler every day, or have a camper with a fridge…but you can also go out some of the time…which we have done on previous trips too. It’s a nice break and you often meet interesting people.

Our four day Georgia mountain adventure had come to a close. In the morning we packed up, glad that it hadn’t rained at all and everything was dry.

We stuffed it back into our vehicles and said goodbye at our now empty site. It’s always a little sad to wrap up a good camping trip. But for me, well, I had two days of driving through farm country ahead.

And you know what that means!

Stay tuned.

September 13, 2025
by dawnkinster 24 Comments

Still camping

In case you’re wondering what people do when they’re camping but not hiking up and down mountain ravines, let me show you!

*We had a fire nearly every night. Here Beth is taking a picture of the engineering of the fire pit.*

You might decide that you’d like to take a stab at a camping weekend somewhere beautiful near you. We’d love to be the inspiration if you decide to make the leap.

*This is your typical bundle of firewood purchased from the park. $7.00*

Or you might already be a camping sort of person and just want a new place to visit. If that’s the case, we’re your girls!

*We roasted the obligitory marshmellows.*

Personally, I like campgrounds where there’s some space between sites. Preferably some trees and shurbs that give you some illusion of privacy. Because let’s be real, when you’re camping you just don’t have much privacy at all.

I’m OK with that. I have no problem sitting in my chair next to my fire reading a book as people walk by with their dogs, waving hello.

My experience has been that most people that camp are really nice.

*Our next door neighbor. 4 kids and two parents.*

And there’s always something close by to explore. Just get in your car and drive and see what you find.

We were camping at this park in the hopes it had a dark sky at night so that I could try to do a little photography. We ended up with one cloudless night, and we headed out to the park’s disc golf course to see what we could find.

*Comfy on a chair, working on the settings to catch the stars.*

There wasn’t much in the way of a foreground there, so I mostly focused on the stars and didn’t worry about it.

*Even with the light polution you can see the Milky Way.*

But then I thought maybe I should at least try to put the truck in the shot.

*The adventure truck beneath the Milky Way.*

I think I need more work on that sort of image, but it was fun. A cool night, but not cold. No bugs to speak of. No scary noises, nobody else around to worry about.

And we were back in our tents shortly after midnight!

Can’t go wrong when you get to sit out under the stars!

I still have to show you what we found when we went out exploring. Guess there’s one more post in this series of photos!

September 12, 2025
by dawnkinster 21 Comments

Camping memories

Way back in August, before the US Labor Day holiday when campgrounds across our country are filled to capacity, I met my sister at a Georgia State Park to camp for four nights. It took me two days to drive there from my home in Michigan and along the way there were, of course, barns.

It was a last minute decision where to camp when we realized we didn’t have time to drive all the way to South Dakota like we had planned. For her, driving two days to my house and then two days to SD just didn’t work.

We are determined to do a better job of planning next summer.

*The main view from Cloudland Canyon State Park.*

Anyway, she found this state park in northern Georgia, right at the Tennessee state line. In fact we weren’t far from Chattanooga. But you wouldn’t know it when you were in Cloudland Canyon State Park.

We had a great campsite, big enough for two tents, with a whole other space housing the firepit. We had a fire almost every night, toasting the obligitory marshmellow and enjoying the warmth as the evenings were just a little cool.

This park sits on the top of Stone Mountain, a high ridge, part of the Appalachian Mountains, with a wide valley that overlooked part of Tennessee. And there were plenty of hiking trails with overlooks.

*People way over there on a trail looking at us way over here.*

The ranger at the park store where we checked in told us to do the yellow trail. It was a four mile loop that, he said, we could pick up right from our campsite. He said it had the best views of any of the trails and we’d see the two waterfalls that everyone comes to visit when they’re in the park.

Well. The first evening, though both of us had driven all day, we headed right out on the yellow trail. We figured we’d see at least one of the waterfalls and have a nice walk.

Turns out the trail was full of tree roots and we never saw any part of a river though sometimes we could hear it. After awhile it was getting dark and we decided to turn around and figure it out tomorrow.

In the morning we drove to the ‘main overlook’ which was technically closed due to hurricane damage. But we could still see the amazing view, for which the park was named. And at one end of the parking lot was a sign for the falls. So off we went.

The trail moved down, down, down into the canyon. It wasn’t smooth, there were roots and rocks and holes and some railings that had seen better days.

*This rock is holding up the stairs we climbed.*

There were lots of stairways, curling around and around and down and further down too. We saw lots of pretty things, and as we finally got down close to the bottom of the canyone we could hear the waterfall.

The waterfall was beautiful and we stayed there quite a long time. It was well worth the walk down. (And in the back of our mind we were already contemplating the walk back up!)

*A beautiful place to sit and contemplate.*

Then we walked back along the path to where it joined with another trail to go to the second waterfall. Nothing easy about that walk either!

We met several people along the way down into the canyon and everyone said the same thing: “Nobody told us this trail was this strenous!” We looked at the trail map and on the back was a small paragraph that waid it was a difficult trail. But seriously this was a really difficult trail! We were glad we brought water!

Anyway, down more steps, along more cliffs, and we finally got to a deck overlooking waterfall #2. Also beautiful.

And it had a bench to sit on while we enjoyed the peaceful spot. I even ate half of the now smushed banana I had in my pocket.

After we sat there for a good long time we faced the fact that the only way to go was up. And so we started.

*Beginning the long climb back to the top.*

My quad muscles were already sore from all the stairs down. And it turns out my calf muscles were too. Going up was slow, with lots of breaks to examine interesting things in the rock walls.

Or just to sit on a landing and talk to people going down. Everyone was so encouraging. Some people had their dogs with them. I never would have asked Penny to walk down all those stairs, which were made out of grating. I think they said there were over 600 steps.

Just think how uncomfortable that would be on their feet. And if they decided they weren’t going to go back up, then what? Are you going to carry your dog up 600 steps?

There was a couple with a very young girl too, on their way up when we were going down. She was already whining and they were negotiating how far she’d have to climb up before they’d carry her for awhile.

Nope, I would not advise bringing any aged children down into that canyon. No dogs, no kids, there should have been a sign at the top!

Anyway, we slowly climbed back up to the top, resting when we wanted to, stopping for interesting things, even stopping for uninteresting things. Just stopping.

*Even split rocks help hold up the wall.*

And it turned out it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared, though I was really glad to finish. At the top was a young couple, she clearly very pregnant, just starting down. We showed her pictures of the rock strewn trail, the seemingly endless miles of stairs. She smiled and said she thought she could do it even though she was 7 or 8 months along.

We told her the first waterfall was prettier than the 2nd and if she didn’t go to the second she wouldn’t be missing much. We told her it would be ok to decide to turn around, the trail was beautiful and she’d still have fun.

I bet they went all the way to the first fall, but I hope she turned around there. It was already afternoon and I sure wouldn’t want to do that trail with fading light.

*Luckily we didn’t see any falling rocks.*

We were glad we did it, but neither of us suggested doing any more trail hiking the next two days!

*There were lots of rhododendron, this would be beautiful in the spring.*

We did do a little exploring in the surrounding area the next few days but those pictures will have to wait for another post.

September 5, 2025
by dawnkinster 29 Comments

Teaser

My sister and I spent four nights camping somewhere not here, but not where we thought we’d be either.

It worked out well, and I have, of course, many photos to share of this place not here.

But Penny is demanding time with her mom so I’m off to do that. Which, I suppose, warrents a post too.

So much to do, so little time.

October 10, 2018
by dawnkinster 12 Comments

Stormy weather

It was a dark and stormy afternoon.

Up here in Michigan it’s been unseasonably warm. I’m loving it. In the 80s today, tomorrow’s high will be in the 50s. I guess all good things must end.

Our trees are starting to change into their fall fashions.

The changing weather created an interesting sky and I ran over to a local park to watch.

A tree stands alone.

Our weather is, however, nothing at all compared to what’s happening in Florida, Georgia and Alabama right now.

It’s a beautiful park.

Hurricane Michael, roaring up from the Gulf is going to go right over the top of most of my siblings. They live many miles from the coast, but this storm isn’t slowing down even now that it’s reached land.

This is the museum and banquet center.

They’re hunkered down and I’m sure all will be well.

But all of that weather sure makes me appreciate my relatively calm Michigan skies up here.

April 3, 2018
by dawnkinster 8 Comments

Gotcha Day, the adventure continues

Shhhhhh….mama’s sleeping and I wanted to get back online and tell you about the rest of my Gotcha Day, the 11th anniversary of me coming to live with mama and daddy. As you know this year I’m with mama down South, and she forgot all about my anniversary! But we spent the day out adventuring with my Aunt and Uncle, so that’s OK.

After we got finished with the crazy art compound Pasaquan we drove another hour and arrived at a Providence Canyon State Park. It’s Georgia’s very own Grand Canyon!

There were red cliffs and white cliffs and a beautiful blue sky.

Mama and Uncle and Aunt and I decided to walk down to the bottom. Mama was a little worried because it was a warm day and she was picturing herself carrying me back up if I overdid it. We asked a Ranger how far down it was and she said it was a little over a mile down and back up. Well! I can do a mile mama!

She still looked worried, it wasn’t the down that concerned her; she said OK, but she’d be watching me and if I got to lagging she was turning around. Plus she had water for me, and treats. So maybe it would be fun.

Are we going all the way down there mama?

So down and down we went. We saw lots of people coming up and most of them were panting just like me. It was pretty steep. But there were lots of trees for shade and it got cooler the further down we went. Once we got to the bottom I instantly saw a problem.

Water. Lots and lots of water. Not deep, but definitely wet and as you all know I do not get my feet wet. No I do not. I am a princess and it is unseemly to have damp feet. Plus I just went to the groomer a couple weeks ago and I am not up for having to do that all over again.

Ummm…that’s not water is it?

So I suggested we just observe it from the edges. But my peeps seemed to think we needed to walk upstream. I tried to find the dry edges to walk. I was very focused on not getting my feet wet.

Let’s stay over here where it’s dry!

But some of the stream didn’t have dry edges! Oh NO! What is a princess to do?

Oh no! Wet feet!

Eventually, when I had to, I just gave in and walked in the water. Don’t tell them, but it was pretty cool and my feet weren’t so warm when they were wet. But my beautiful white feet turned Georgia clay red!

I don’t like it but I guess I don’t have a choice.

I’m hoping mama doesn’t notice that and doesn’t make me go back to the groomer. I was a pretty wet mess by the time we turned around to head back to the car.

I give up!

On the walk back up the cliff we stopped a whole lot. And not just for me either – my people were huffing worse than me! Most of the time I was out front pulling them along. As you may recall my mama calls me a mountain goat.

Resting on the way up. Don’t look at my red feet.

I did really well, and drank all my water and ate a few treats along the way. We saw lots of dogs but it was mostly the children we ran across that wanted to meet me. I let everybody talk to me and pet me and tell me how beautiful I was (even though I knew I was far from beautiful dripping muddy water off my furs!) and I thought the whole thing was fun, though a bit muddy for the likes of a princess.

I told mama that was stretching it a bit much, so the next place we went that day was a marina where I got to sit under Spanish moss and on a porch with rocking chairs.

This is pretty. And a lot drier!

That was more like it.

Except for the warning about the alligators.

What does this sign say mama?

Geeze mama! What were you thinking! I’m alligator bait here! Let’s get back to the car and home so I can get my supper. Sometimes I don’t think you even have a brain woman!

Once we got home and I got my supper I was all stretched out on my comforter when my Aunt decided she’d comb out all the seed pods and sticks caught in my muddy red fur. I opened one eye, didn’t tell her off or anything, just got up and crawled under the bed.

Enough people! (Don’t look at my red feet.)

I’d had enough adventuring and I didn’t want to be bothered. Mama and my Aunt laughed and said that was OK. And they let me sleep till the next morning by which time I had pretty much cleaned myself up my own way. A princess knows how to prepare for the new day after all. She doesn’t always need help from her people.

The next day I went for a long boat ride and saw cool stuff, but that messed my fur up too. I swear, mama needs to come up with a more sedate adventure for me now. Cause I can’t keep putting myself back together every single day, you know?

I know you know.

Don’t tell the peeps, but this was sorta fun.

April 2, 2018
by dawnkinster 20 Comments

How I spent my Gotcha Day

This looks like a magical place!

Katie here! Did you know that March 31 is my Gotcha Day? That’s the anniversary of the day I came home to live with my mama and daddy. Well, this year I am down in the South with my mama and you know what? She forgot my anniversary! She didn’t remember until we got home a whole day late!

But I forgive her because on the actual day we were so busy that even I forgot to ask for an anniversary treat! (Plus I got lots of treats because we were out adventuring all day long!)

Lots of big faces everywhere.

Saturday morning, my Gotcha Day, my Uncle and my Aunt and mama and I went to a very interesting art compound about an hour south of Columbus Georgia. It’s called Pasaquan, and it was built by a hippie kinda guy back in the 70s. (Mama says don’t say back in the 70s cause according to her that was just a couple years ago. Whatever mama.) You can hear him talk about it if you go to the link above. You can also google it and find out more. It’s been restored and is supported by Columbus State University and the Kohler Foundation.

The hippie dude, whose name was Eddie Owens Martin, called himself St. Om, and spelled it St. EOM.

Signed and dated.

It was a warm day but Mama and my Aunt and Uncle made sure I had water and got to sit in the shade a bunch. Still, being the model that I am, I had to pose in front of some stuff.

Lots of pretty color here!

I tell you, the colors here were so bright that sometimes I had to squint my eyes! Oh wait. That was the sun. Well anyway. We walked around all over but my favorite spot was this circle of sand. Whenever we were near there, while mama was busy taking pictures of stuff not me, I would run over there and stand in the sand. I wonder if she got my message that I wanted to go to the beach?

It’s cooler at the beach mama!

Mama would look around when she got done with her silly camera and say, “where’s Katie?” HA! Sometimes I was standing right behind her. And sometimes I was at my beach! After awhile she just never let go of the leash. Darn.

Just one of many crazy and beautiful walls.

There was a cool house there, with these funny steps up to it. I ran right up the steps because they were nice and wide…

Come on up!

…even though I knew that I’d have to pose on them for mama. I’ve got this gig figured out. Pose for a picture, get a treat. Sometimes mama would say “OK sweetie, this is the last one.” But I knew she was lying. It’s never the last picture!

We stayed a long time. They even packed a picnic lunch and ate it under some trees. Mama couldn’t stop taking pictures, and a lot of them weren’t all about me!

I think that guy was watching me.

There were plenty of places where I could rest in the shade while my peeps explored. We had the whole thing to ourselves except for a little bit where one other guy was there taking pictures. Mama says she’ll have to bring daddy here some day.

This guys’s watching me too mama!

I think the man that created this had a different sort of mind than me. For example, just about the only animals in any of this work were snakes. No dogs. I don’t know what he was thinking. Though he did have two big shepherds that kept him company out here in the country.

Layers of walls filled the space.

There was so many colors and shapes it was almost overwhelming. It’s definitely a place you should visit if you’re ever in that part of Georgia.

All sorts of color everywhere.

Full disclosure though, there are some art pieces depicting naked men and women. So maybe don’t bring your kids or your mother. Shelties are OK though.

Call ahead for the hours. We hear they change by the season.

Mama says there is so much more to show you but maybe she’ll put together a slide show later. She says I have to get off the computer now and go outside to play. She says too much screen time isn’t good for me.

Geeze. I didn’t even get to tell you where we went next on my Gotcha Day! I guess I’ll have to wait till she falls asleep and do another post. Shouldn’t be long, she’s old and falls asleep all the time.

Over and out, your art critic gal Katie.

She told me this was the ‘last’ picture. I doubted it. I was right.

March 17, 2017
by dawnkinster 22 Comments

WordPress Photo Challenge: Atop

No small feat for a little dog.

Anyone following Katie-girl knows that this was a huge accomplishment. After all, she’s atop a very long flight of stairs.

March 16, 2017
by dawnkinster 18 Comments

Are flat rocks exciting enough for a Princess?

Katie here.

Flat rocks at Flat Rock Park.

I know, I know. Mama’s been using valuable space on this blog posting pictures of pretty things that are not me! It’s outrageous. I’ve demanded equal attention and since I am royalty she has agreed to let me tell you about our latest adventure.

We went to Flat Rock Park in Columbus Georgia! It was a sunny day with blue skies but it was cold! Down in the 30s and low 40s! Mama was wearing her winter coat again and a hat and gloves and a scarf. And she was still cold. I told her to suck it up. I thought the temperature was just perfect for climbing up and down rocks.

This rock could fall on me at any moment mama!

But wait! The rocks are supposed to be flat, right? So what rocks would I be climbing up and down? Well! Let me tell you! There was plenty of up and down exploring to do, and I pulled my mama right up those rocks no problem.

Waterfall, bridge, and me.

Some of the park was along a pretty little stream and there the rocks were flat.

Pretty out here in the sunshine along this little river.

And they were flat in other sections too. But right in the middle were really tall, really big chunks of rock sticking right out of the ground!

The sound of the waterfall doesn’t bother me mama!

Mama kept taking pictures of pretty stuff, mostly me, but sometimes not.

Pretty, even without me in the shot.

We walked all over! Some of it we walked more than once! And I never complained or got tired or whined, even when mama ran out of treats!!! (Though I was secretly disgusted by her poor planning.)

A little sunbathing by the river.

I don’t want to admit it, but mama wore me out this time! I’m going to have to sleep for several days just to get my energy level back up to sheltie standards. Don’t expect any news from me for awhile; I guess I’ll have to trust that mama keeps you abreast of our adventures.

Cause a sheltie princess is never far away from the next adventure. You just never know where I’ll turn up!

Looking for a treat mama!

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: Georgia