Phase 1 – visiting family
Before… I lived in a house in the city. I sat at the window. I played in the garden. I barked at dogs, the mail carrier, occasional bunnies in the grass. I walked and ran with Mom through Ballard, Seattle. Now I don’t live anywhere.
Mom and Dad quit their jobs, stored their stuff in the back bedroom, rented out the front of the house, spent 3 months working on getting a Non-Lucrative Visa for Spain (contact Mom for information with details), organizing my papers to take me to the UK (Mom also has information about this process), and creating an Airbnb out of our guest studio (Mom can tell you how to do this too).
By September 3, we are ready to drive to the east coast to see family, then head over to the UK and Spain. We leave for London on October 8th if the visas arrive (the visa folks have Mom and Dad’s passports), and if I get a spot on the airplane (you can only reserve 13 days ahead of the flight) and if the UK is allowing visitors. Some people think traveling to Europe during COVID with a dog is foolish. We think it is an adventure!
Information about me: If you already know about me, feel free to skip this part. 4 years ago, right before they found me, Mom, Dad and Ellery lost their son/brother, Benjamin. So when they heard about me, Mom and Ellery took me home. I would help salve their grief. I excel at this job. I am an Austrailian Labradoodle: Labrador/ Poodle/ Cocker Spaniel (Mom’s friend, Karin calls me an Elaborate Cocka Doodle Doo). Mom and Ellery took me to puppy socializing classes, training classes, and many people visit us, but I am scared and shy. At the dog park I hide by Mom’s legs. I am getting braver, but I am nervous around new people and dogs. I want to meet them, so I wag my tail and approach, but if somone leans down to pet me, I startle and I bark and lunge. Mom and Ellery are teaching me to look at them for treats when other dogs walk by. They ask strangers not to pet me. I am becoming calmer. I am not an easy dog to take on an adventure overseas, but I am glad I get to go. My purpose is companion so I am meant to be near Mom. I love Ellery too. but she goes away alot. She attends St. Andrews University in Scotland and she lived in Madrid for 9 months last year. She is in Scotland now. We are going to see her in October. Seeing Ellery is the reason for this trip!
Day 1
Today is the first day of our trip and we spend all day in the car. I don’t mind. I love being with Mom wherever she goes. I love Dad too, and he is mostly there with Mom.
My bed is in the car, behind the driver. Sometimes the driver is Dad and I get to see Mom. She gives kisses, ear rubs, snuggles. Sometimes the driver is Mom. Dad reaches back to give me pats and kisses too.
When the car stops, I gently whine til they open my door. I “wait” and I jump out. Mom and Dad take turns walking with me while I sniff. They pour me water from a bottle into a cup and I take slurps to make them happy, but I am distracted by being on the move. I pull away from the car when it is time to get back in. When Mom gets in I hop in reluctantly.
In Oregon we leave the freeway and travel 2-3 miles to Huntington because Mom sees a sign for a cafe. We are tired of chain businesses on the freeway. The town is kinda cute, but the restaurant’s closed; tumbleweed on its porch. Dad buys cheese snacks at the store. He does not share. The town includes a post office, a community center and a park near the railroad tracks. That’s it. Oh, and two busy Pot Shops. I guess being close to the Idaho border is good for business.
Since there’s no real food in the town, we head to the freeway for the only option: a truck stop. There isn’t any place for me to go potty, only hot pavement and some gravely areas with weeds and thistle and yellow daisies growing along the road.
Mom asks Dad to bring her some chicken tacos. When he comes out, he says he saw an Indian food truck in the back and how ’bout that instead. Mom kinda wants the tacos, but she is game to try the Indian food. It is weird because there is only one person in the truck, a cook who does not speak English. We wait a long time, All of the white tourists order tacos, fried chicken and burgers in the food court, but we are out back by this weird food truck with all of the Indian truckers, waiting for veggie Biryani and Chicken curry. When it comes, we drive to to a deserted camp ground with picnic tables with a view of a river to eat. It also has a grassy, huge off leash area for me.
Day 2
Booooorrrring.
I like to watch the chipmunks at the rest stop in Wyoming run into their holes. I play tug with Mom and my stuffy in a grassy spot in Nebraska. Mom and Dad find us a Dog Friendly Hotel called La Quinta in North Platte and it has a big fenced grassy off leash area and I get to play fetch. I love to play fetch. Sometimes people ask why we play fetch with two balls. It is because I love the balls so very much. I cannot drop one unless I see there is another one ready to go.
Day 3
Two fun times today. At the rest stop in Iowa Mom takes off my leash and I run and run along a mowed grass maze between the tall grasses and a corn field. It is hot in Iowa, and I get tired quickly.
And tonight, instead of driving right to a hotel, we find a town to walk in: Ottawa, Ilinois. The air is warm, breezy and fresh. Mom and Dad eat outside at The Lone Buffalo. Dad’s burger drips with bbq sauce and deep-fried onions. Mom drinks a fun honeybee cocktail with her perfectly prepared Filet Mignon. Both Mom and Dad have Brussel sprouts which rival the best Ballard ones (yes, better than Blue Glass and Joli Jen and Charlotte).
Michigan: Grandma’s House Days 4-13
I love it here. I play fetch in the commons behind Grandma’s house, eat a bone in her living room on my bed and see Aunt Kristi and Aunt Karen. They both kindly avoid eye contact with me and do not pet me until I got used to them. I calm down quickly. The smells here keep me active the first night. I run from screen door to living room window to front door looking for all of the animals I hear and smell outside: wild turkeys, deer, black squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits!
In the morning Mom finds a coffee shop a quick walk away. We like to walk to get coffee.
Mom gets out her Taos tennies to wear to the coffee shop and she sees she has made a funny mistake. Back in Seattle she bought a new pair just like her old pair, and saved them for this trip. Then when she was packing she threw away the old pair and packed the new pair. Except she threw away one old one and one new one, and both left feet, so she has two right feet of the same shoe. Grandma laughs and laughs when we tell her this story.
Cousins Dawson and Ryan come over. They smell like family so I don’t bark much and soon I am leaning on them for love and pets. Later we take a walk in the nearby woods and I love it but Mom and Dad think the mosquitoes are too bitey so we only walk a mile or so.
The next day Mom takes me for a run to a nature preserve, Sander Farm Perseve Natural Area, only ¾ miles away. I love this meadowy place and I run off leash. Here’s to nature reserves and wild lands! We come here many times during our stay in Michican and see deer and birds but rarely people.
As we run back by the house, Dad joins us to walk to the coffee shop. Then mom pulls weeds in Grandmas garden and I watch. Dad got me a long blue leash so I can sniff the yard but when I try to run over to see the fun dog next door, I can’t quite reach her. Mom and Dad play fetch with me again in the back communal grassy park.
One morning we meet cousin Dawson and drive to Uncle John’s Cider Farm. I can’t go inside where Dad buys cider, donuts and pies and Mom finds the tap room and tastes and buys hard cider, wine and vodka to share with Aunt Kim in VIrginia, butI do love the stroll to the sunflower fields.
