Beware Ye Who Enters

So this morning we woke up late, but ready to go... somewhere.  We weren't quite sure where to begin with.  We just knew we had the day off together, so after a big breakfast and a bit of debate, we got into the car and drove north - back to Helen.  There, we searched for... pirates!

And golf clubs.  We'd never tried out the Pirates Mini Golf Adventure in Helen before.  It is fairly new, and now one of three mini-golf courses in Helen.  Back when Daddy worked up in Helen, there were two, although the one he worked at was messed up with the tornado that came in through town.  

But with a pirate theme, surely this one wouldn't let us down.  And in fact, it didn't.  Although it was nowhere near the scale of awesomeness that is the Disney mini-golf courses, it was still a great deal of fun for everyone.  Madison is getting the hang of the idea of golf, although her "hockey technique" started coming back from time to time.  She did, however, have a hole-in-one.  And a couple birdies after that, which was great!  Speaking of which, here's a shot of the family next to the highest waterfall in Helen city limits.

After our trip around the pirate golf course, we did the expected:  we walked around Betty's Country Store.  This was where Daddy spent a lot of time years ago, picking up old carbonated beverages you can't find anywhere else.  Today, it was an interesting bottle of ginger ale.  We found chaco tacos there - and rock candy too.  Madison tried her first rock candy, and had some other candies too.  

We might have stopped to shop around in downtown Helen, but they still charge money to park the car.  So we didn't stop to shop there.  See how that works?  

Besides, it was starting to rain a bit.  In fact, on the way home, the sky opened up once more, dumping even more rain on us.  Lots of rain this summer!  We got back to Gainesville safely, but everyone was in the mood to eat out - so rather than head home, we stopped at the Texas Roadhouse, otherwise known to Madison as "that peanut restaurant."  It was a late Father's Day celebration, and it was a big meal.  Lots of steak and country music.

We got home after a few detours (involving an overturned truck closing down the road, the other a trip to Nana and Ba-Ba's old house), and by then it was fairly late.  Nana and Ba-Ba hadn't seen the new "Oz" movie - and that's where we are now:  everyone all lined up on the couch, taking another trip to Oz.  Goodnight!