AROUND THE TOWN

I’ve done a little exploring around here looking for something exciting to do.  There are no wild animals anywhere near the safari tents. I even looked in the tiki tents, but the wildest thing I’ve seen yet was a pigeon. In my younger days squirrels and bunnies ran from me in fear. Now I can’t even bark loud enough to scare a chihuahua. Guess I better start enjoying my retirement like everyone else around here. 

While I was resting up this afternoon, the humans decided to visit a winery and do some tasting.  Warren selected the Zaca Mesa winery in Los Olivos.  They were just about the only visitors today so they had a very special experience. Sitting outside among the oak trees they tasted several great wines. They were treated to some special wines not listed on the tasting menu and ended up going home with several bottles. After that, they drove to Santa Inez for a quick lunch before heading to El Rancho Market. It’s a very special market and Warren was able to stock up with some gourmet specialties.  

For those who may be wondering, the passenger chair is still not fixed. Warren and Jim are now trying to fabricate something out of metal, wire and gorilla tape.  You will have to wait to see how that turns out.

Right now they have to stop everything and get ready to go out for dinner at the Sideways restaurant. Hopefully there’s a doggie bag in my near future.

SOLVANG TOURISTS

After a lazy start this morning, my humans left me and headed out to join the hundreds of tourists in the Danish village of Solvang. They’ve been there before so they knew what to look for. Aebleskivers! It’s a Danish dessert, puffy pancakes with raspberry jam and sugar. They stopped at the first place they were serving them, and they were delicious. They gobbled them up so fast that Kathe forgot to take a picture. They had to find them again after lunch for this picture. Needless to say they really liked them! Lots of shopping followed including a trip to the Solvang Ace Hardware store. You may be wondering why the hardware so soon on the trip.  Of course, there’s always something that needs fixing on a RV trip, only usually not the first day of a vacation.

First thing that happened on our coach was a latch that was supposed to turn the passenger chair around had a piece snap off. The chair was stuck facing forward. It took Warren and Jim working together to figure out that problem. They got things working again, but we will need to order a part from Tiffin to fix it permanently. Also the Taylor’s needed a special screw to fix their shower door which was flapping open after the bumpy ride yesterday. That was an easy fix. But wait, it’s only the first day, we have six weeks so I’m sure there will be more things to fix. If you ask me I think Jim and Warren really like to fixing things.

WONDERLAND

Here we are at our first stop in Buellton, at Flying Flags Resort.  They have everything you could want in an outdoor playground.  They have over 700 sites if you count the river sites, the wine cottages, the tiki tents, the safari tents and the vintage trailer sites. Only issue for me is the one million kids and half a million doggies running, biking or scooting around every corner. It’s really wild!

Ok, I guess it’s the end of summer and everyone wants to have fun, but in just the last half hour there’s been a scavenger hunt, a bicycle parade, and a baseball game. We can’t wait for quiet time, which is supposed to be 10 o’clock.  

As soon as we arrived we set up camp and walked over to the Taylor’s rig for cocktails and dinner for the humans. After our dinner Bella and I walked around to get the smells of the land, and to see what the other doggies were doing tonight. 

After the drive today, I’m not the only one who’s ready to call it a night. Tomorrow is another day and after another bowl of chicken, I’m ready to curl up and head to doggie dreamland.

BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Would you believe that I’ve never missed a summer motor home trip in my whole life! In nineteen years I’ve seen more of the USA than most humans. Oh, the sights and sounds and especially the smells I’ve experienced on the road. I may be a little older this year, but so is everyone else around here. 

While my humans are running around packing up for the trip, I’m doing what I do best. Resting, napping and sleeping. Tomorrow, after breakfast we will be on the road, our first stop will be Solvang and the Flying Flags Resort  

This year might not be as exciting as Alaska was last year but you can count on one thing, there’s always an adventure awaiting us. We will be driving up the coast to Oregon and Washington, and we plan to spend two whole months with our friends Kathy and Warren and little Bella. Hope you will follow along with us.

END OF THE JOURNEY

Tonight is our last night on the road with the Taylors. Tomorrow morning, we will split up and set out for home.  It’s been an incredible journey. The whole summer spent on the road traveling together and exploring Canada and Alaska. Incredible sights and interesting places like nowhere we have ever been before. Luckily, I have recorded everything here in my blog and we can look back and remember each day of our wonderful journey.

Celebration tonight with a dinner at Harris Ranch and reminiscing about our amazing summer.

FLAG CITY WINERY

It’s really a hot one today, Jim had the air conditioning on at breakfast which is a first for us. Going outside for my walks is a real chore for Kathe and me. The heat is really unbearable for one thing and instead of grass around our sites there are rough lava stones that are so lumpy I can hardly walk on them. Kathe has been picking me up and carrying me various places to save my paws, but the concrete and asphalt are also too hot to walk on.  I’m pretty miserable and I want to be home. Only two more sleeps!

The humans spent the early morning on chores and a quick trip to the hardware store and Costco. Warren and Jim are fixing small projects and making lists of things that need to be replaced or repaired when we get back home. 

They did manage to find a winery and bistro less than a mile away. They had a delicious lunch and did some wine tasting at the Micheal David Winery. The wines must have been good as they brought home seven bottles between the two couples. The property was beautiful, and they would have tasted wine outside in the garden if it hadn’t been so hot today. 

Tonight, the cocktail is a Paloma. Tomorrow, we leave for Coalinga, our last stop before we split up and head for home.

GOLDEN STATE

I made a mistake last night. We only stayed in Redding one night. It’s today we when we are in Lodi that we are staying two nights. We’re at Flag City RV Resort and 200 or so miles closer to home. Not much different than last night, still hot as tamales. It’s 104 here and they have all three air conditioners on. I was so hot last night that I slept on the tile floor, guess it will be the same tonight.

Most of the drive today was nice. Lots of oak trees and golden grass along both sides of the road. Then we started to see more agricultural activity, fruit and nut trees predominantly. As we got closer to the Sacramento Valley we started seeing large rice fields. And just then the roads started getting bumpy and rough just like we remembered.  And we said we wouldn’t complain about the Interstate 5 ever again, but here we are thinking about the roads in Canada.

It’s so hot no one is outside and I’m napping until it cools off tonight. Too bad dogs aren’t allowed in the pool.