North to Merlefest

From Athens, we needed to start making our way north and had heard about Helen, GA. Well, turns out, it was pretty much a vaguely German themed strip mall, but it was on the way to Babyland General Hospital, the birthplace of Cabbage Patch Kids (from the reviews apparently quite literally from a "10 leaves dilated" huge plant of some kind). CPK's had been a favorite of @advodna_ann's as a girl and we braced ourselves, perhaps not for "adopting" one of the $250+ handsewn dolls from the staff dressed as nurses at the stately building on the hill surrounded by beautiful gardens, but for a ding in the budget nonetheless. But our two girls quickly deemed the dolls creepy and went right for a rack of the (creepier?) huge eyed, brightly colored animals on the under $10 rack. We didn't argue, although the cat the Mae picked that meowed loudly about 5 times each time she squeezed it did "accidentally" find its way between a hammer and the cement patio at our campsite. #accidentshappen #babylandgeneral #helenga #cabbagepatchkids

Thanks to the reminder from some other Airstreamers, we ended up at the Top of Georgia Airstream Park, home of the Georgia WBCCI Unit. I had no idea Georgia had such a big unit. #unit We got a nice spot by a small playground and even an unplanned visit from Chris from @thetravelinghaywoods who just happened to stop by to pick up a package on his way back down to Atlanta. Great to actually meet him after talking several times online! #airstream #wbcci #liveriveted #myrivetedlife

Tucked into the woods in northern South Carolina putting our rooftop directional antenna and new 4G-M booster to the test. No service on AT&T without it, 2-3 bars of AT&T LTE and some sporadic Verizon with it. #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #rvtech #rvconnectivity #adulthoodplugged

Spring is overflowing in the mountains of South Carolina. Unfortunately, so is this dump station (but the butterflies love it!). #lifeontheroad #stinkyslinky #glamping #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife

Shotgun! #icalledit #familyroadtrip #familytravel #travelwithkids #roadtripwithkids #yeswehaveadog

Thanks to @rivitedtodd for setting us up with a spot for the Merlefest weekend! Now just waiting for the other 80,000 of our new closest friends for the festival to start! #airstream #pairstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #musicfestival #merlefest

Not everyone feels the same about Flattop the Merlefest raccoon mascot. #merlefest #merlefest2016 #musicfestival #musicfestivalwithkids #furries

So convenient to have multiple Airstreams available as backdrops for pictures (this one is @rivitedtodd's 23' with our hammock tied between a tree and the bottom bracket of our bike rack). And just in front of ours is Tiffani and Deke's (@weaselmouth and @dekew) 27'. 👍

Mae's been taking more than an hour to fall asleep lately, and despite our best efforts last week to tweak the process before the festival, she's still been harshing our festival happy hour mellow (yes, *this* adorable child). So, we brought out the nuclear option: No nap today. Could destroy her into passing out tonight or could detonate prematurely in the silo.

We did our best to keep everyone active this afternoon after returning from the festival, playing in the hammock and adventuring with Tiffani and Deke in the creek catching crawdads and salamanders. Now, I wait for @advodna_ann to emerge from behind the velvet curtain that separates the kids' "bedroom" from the rest of the trailer, either with a thumbs up or a smack on the forehead.

#airstream #airstreamwithkids #airstreamfriends #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #enolife #eno #enostyle #merlefest2016 #merlefest

Happy first day of Mae! #airstream #airstreamwithkids #myrivetedlife #liveriveted #bornwild #merlefest #travelwithkids #familytravel