We docked at Grand Turk with a bit of time to kill before our planned activities, so we went down and sat on the beach and enjoyed the sand and unbelievably blue water, and view of the massive ship we’d come in on. Dave went and waded around in the surf.
This is what a tropical vacation is all about, right?
When it was time we gathered up with our fellow passengers and followed our guides down the beach to a big catamaran, for a trip out to a reef to do some snorkeling. Neither of us had tried it before, and ultimately, I chickened out. I’m not a strong swimmer. But Dave has a lot more confidence in his swimming, so he gave it a try.
I enjoyed the view from the boat.
Our next stop was Gibbs Cay, to visit Sting Rays. This was the sketchiest thing we did. The sting rays there are used to getting fed, and they come running when the boat shows up. A guide hops out and grabs one, and then everybody gets to touch it while the guy kind of manhandles it. Obviously it’s fine, or they wouldn’t keep coming back. But it felt a bit sketchy, especially since there were so many people.
After harassing the sting ray there was time to chill out on the beach or back on the boat.
The boat was surrounded by so many sting rays looking for a handout. It was pretty cool.
Back in our room we had a great view of the pier to see if any late comers were going to be dashing to try and catch the ship before it left, but everyone got back in time.
I can not get over the color of the water here!
The ship headed back to FL, with a day at sea to relax. We got in lots of wandering, lots of eating, and a fancy dinner on the last night in the steakhouse. Oh, and the towel roommates kept appearing.
Dave took a class to learn how to tie them, and did this Princess Leia thing 😀
I thought this big plaque was cool comparing the size of the original Mardi Gras with the current one. When someone says ‘cruise’, I still think of The Love Boat. That first Mardi Gras was probably Love Boat sized.
We were getting pretty travel worn by the time we got back to FL. One more day spent at Animal Kingdom
It was pretty cool. The Avatar rides were cool, the safari ride was fun, and the Everest ride were my favorites.
The only thing we didn’t see in Florida was an alligator. I expected them to be everywhere! Maybe next time. The Uber driver even saw one on his way to pick us up, and when we said we hadn’t seen one yet he looped around to see if we could spot that one, but it had already gone back into hiding.
And that was the end of our DisneyWorld, Rocketship, tropical cruise vacation!
Back at the very end of 2022 I bought this adorable little blue rowboat on a trailer. I was hoping this would be the trick for getting out on the water more regularly.
The guy I bought it from was really nice and didn’t mind signing extra paperwork the DMV wanted as I tried to get it registered. The boat was no problem, as it had a title, but the trailer did not, and that caused me a world of headaches. Because of Covid, the State Patrol was short on inspectors and had closed the Vancouver inspection station. To get it inspected for a temporary title, I would need to take it to Centralia! It wasn’t in any shape to go to Centralia, and I never intended to take it so far anyway. It definitely needed some work before that trip.
As soon as we had a sunny day, we took the little boat when it was a slow time (when there would be no pressure at the boat ramp) and launched it at Lacamas. I HATED it! I mean, H A T E D it. I did not like how wobbly it felt, and I was sure I was going to fall in at any moment. It was really hard to get in and out of. Two thumbs down from me. There was no way I would be launching and using this boat by myself.
So I sold the boat (It had a title, so no problem). But I had other plans for the trailer. I tried fitting the kayak on it.
I just couldn’t adjust the rollers to fit the kayak.
First I stripped off the old rollers and winch, then I set it up for my kayak.
I used 2x4s across the frame, and two big 3″ PVC pipes for the kayak to ride on, because the PVC fits down the center channels in the hull, and flexes slightly to support it. I put a roller up at the very front for the nose to ride on. And then the real piece that made this all work:
Its own set of wheels!
Now I had the ability to take my kayak wherever I wanted, all by myself. I can hook up, backup, and take the kayak off and launch it.
And so that is what I did all summer long. I got the kayak out more than ever before.
There is no such thing as a bad day in a kayak. Kayak makes every day better.
I did a lot of fishing inside and outside of the kayak this year. I got my hands on a lot of little fish.
The biggest fish I caught this summer! Considering I have had summers without catching *any* fish, I think this is a sign I’m getting better.
The Boat Trailer
So, I was having a great time, but the boat trailer was still a problem, because I was running around without a license on it, and I felt like my days were numbered before I would have to explain myself to a cop. So I did all the work it needed. I put proper chains on it, I got the wiring working, I replaced the lights with submersible ones, I put new tires on it. I got it a spare. I made sure I was meeting every requirement in the State Patrol rule book. I tried every week to get an appointment in Vancouver, but they kept saying the only appointments available were still in Centralia. So I gave up and got an appointment there.
In July we finally made our way up there (it’s like an hour and a half each way of high-speed freeway driving), stopping at a CAT Scale on the way because the inspection requires a weight – only to find the trailer was too light to weigh. Just as we got to the exit on the freeway for the inspection station, I looked in the rearview and saw a fender fall off! It was still attached, but just barely! We got to the station and I went inside to find the inspector, and Dave tore the broken fender off, and noted that the other one was about to break off as well. All the bouncing down the freeway had cracked the mounts.
The inspector came out and looked at it, gave it a VIN, stamped it into the tongue, signed us off, and we were ready to go. We drove out of there, pulled over once we were out of sight, and Dave went back and wiggled the remaining fender until it broke off, and we drove home. The best part though, was that as we were getting ready to leave, I said to the inspector “You guys must be pretty busy with all the appointments coming up from Vancouver?” and he said “No, the Vancouver station is back open again.” So in the end, we didn’t really need to drive to Centralia after all!
It didn’t matter, because it was all done at last! I took my paperwork to the DMV, they gave me a license plate and a temporary title. In 3 years I can turn that into a permanent title. The trailer still needs a little work, but it’s just what I needed, and I’m really happy we got it all worked out.
Yeah, I’m really behind on my blogging. Must be because I’ve been distracted with SO MUCH COOL STUFF! No, It’s because winter has been really boring and I’ve spent so much time playing video games. It’s like spring will never come! But that’s a perfect time to look back at our last trip of last season, to Ashland Oregon, where we had tickets to see a few plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
We used to go to Ashland every year, sometimes in the spring and again in the fall, so we could see all the plays. Plus, it was a great vacation, we can drive there in a day without rushing, we camp at a nice county park, and it’s just an easy drive into town to see the plays, and then drive back out to our quiet park on the lake and our cozy trailer. Before we had the trailer we would go down and stay in a hotel, and it was so expensive to stay in a hotel and eat out the whole time, staying in the trailer is a big cost savings! Still, we went through some tight times after the 2008 recession and weren’t able to go for a while. Then they had focused more on musicals, which weren’t our thing, then we had the pandemic. We decided this was the year to get back down there.
The trailer had it’s new tires, and since I wanted to tighten the lug nuts a couple times during this first trip, I just ditched the hub caps entirely. Looking good! The Flex tows it like it’s not even there. Here we were stopping at Roth’s for some doughnuts for the road. Gotta have road trip snacks!
We got our trailer all settled into its spot at Emmigrant Lake, and headed down to the hardware store in town to find a few parts I needed. Because we switched to a composting toilet, I was happy to leave the black tank supplies like gloves out of the trailer, and I had fixed the trailer side connection for the grey water drain, but forgot to put a matching connector on the slinky – and this was the first time we had had a hookup this summer and needed to use it! So we headed down to the hardware store, following Google Maps, and it took us on a strange roundabout path into a part of town we were not familiar with, then around behind an apartment complex, then just stopped, leaving us looking across a field and railroad tracks at the back of the hardware store.
Google: Nailed it! You’re welcome!
So we drove around the block and found our way to the actual parking lot of the hardware store. Luckily we found what we needed so we could go back and finish hooking up the slinky.
The water in the lake was low – really LOW, here is a side by side comparison from almost the same camp spots, the left side is the mid-2000’s – definitly before 2013. The right side is now. You can see that’s the same mountain in the distance. Wow, that lake water was way way down there. We used to like to sit in our lawn chairs and watch the antics as the boaters put their boats in at the ramp. None of that now. There no water at the ramps!
That first night we went and saw a Shakespeare play that was very good, as always, they always put on quite a show there. We decided to spend the next day on a little road trip out to the Lave Beds National Monument in Northern California. We used to spend time there when we were in college at Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, OR. So we thought it would be fun to cruise by the campus and see what had changed, and then go poke our head in a few caves.
On the drive from Ashland to Klamath Falls we took a backroad to enjoy a bit of scenery, and we not only got to see some roadside history, but we saw a flock of wild turkeys, and COWS! Yes, it’s open rangeland out there, so the cows have right of way, and you need to keep your eyes out for them.
We got to the campus and boy had it changed a lot. It was barely recognizable. We went down and took a picture at the fountain, definitly remembered that.
Walked by the dorms, they looked the same, but they had added more. Wandered through the student union until we were about to have cafeteria flashbacks. Decided we didn’t need that kind of trauma. Stopped in the bookstore for a souvineer for the trailer’s sticker wall.
Hustlin’ Owls!
We headed over to Abbys Pizza which was the hangout in college, it looked just the same, had some pizza and nostalgia before doing a quick tour of downtown and heading for the caves.
The drive out to the lava bades was down a dry and lonely road. It’s pretty amazing out there, it’s very very quiet. There isn’t much going on anywhere near there. It’s just wind and birds and the sound of tourists cars.
We went to the visitors center and checked out a couple flashlights, picked up a map, and went for a wander in a few of the easier caves. The caves here are from an ancient lava flow, which left tubes of lava as it flowed away. So many of them are big enough to stand up in, some are big enough to fit a house in, some you would need to crawl through.
One of the big ones
BIG entrance to this cave! See me in there?!
We should definitely come back and camp here and take our time poking around. We only had so much time before we had to get the flashlights back and head back to see the evening play in Ashland. The drive back was long and uneventful, except Google took us over a different highway that had a bit of snow at the top. No issues, but it was worrying us for a bit.
Ashland was pretty in its fall colors.
We saw three plays, they were all excellent. We spent a little time exploring. Had some nice dinners, and had some easy meals in the trailer. All in all, a good time was had. It was nice to get back to our old stomping grounds. Maybe we will get back to doing this more often again.
About a week after returning from Camano Island, I had fixed up the problems I found with my remodel (all minor), and we headed back up North to Rockport, WA for a Vintage Airstream Club rally. It was at Howard Miller Steelhead Park, a beautiful county park right on the Skagit River. We had two loops mostly full of Airstreams, with a big field and picnic shelter in the middle.
I was hoping to get some fishing in, I brought my fly rod and gear, but the water was so high from the spring rains, there were no banks to fish from!
The hills around the campground were beautiful, with their heads in the clouds.
This is at a nearby campground we explored while wandering. Beautiful moss covered trees!
We stopped at the Oso Landslide Memorial. I remember watching this on the news. It’s so sad. Such a beautiful area, my heart goes out to those people killed, and the survivors, of the sudden, enexpected landslide that wiped away their neighborhood. That hill in the distance is where the land slid off the face of the hill, and came all the way out to the highway behind us, wiping out everything in its path.
I don’t know what this mountain was called, I was thinking it was White Horse or something. There are amazing mountains everywhere around here. We headed South and did a loop drive around through Granite Falls to Arlington on Hwy 530. At one point we stopped for a quick nap and I took Navi for a quick walk, and there was a deer right by the road watching us! We stopped for lunch at a little thai place in some town and Navi was able to join us on the patio.
Her first time eating out!
I think this was Dave after we got back from an afternoon of wandering, doing tech support for his Dad.
The next morning Dave woke me up at 5:30am to tell me there was a siren going off! Indeed, it sounded like an air raid siren, Id never heard anything quite like it!
It went off for a couple minutes then stopped, and silence! What does that mean? Was the river next to the park about to wipe us out? Did we need to evacuate? I looked outside and expected to see people standing around discussing it, but nobody was up.
So I dressed and took Navi out, and saw lights on in a neighbor’s trailer and knocked, and asked if she knew what it was, and she said she didn’t, but figured we would hear more if it was important. I tend to think a siren is always important!
So Navi and I wandered down to the next loop where my friend/coworker Janet was camped, and knocked to see if she was up, and she was, but she didn’t know anything either. Meanwhile Dave was looking online for emergency alerts and couldn’t find any. I ended up chatting with Janet about work and stuff for a bit.
Later that day my neighbor had gone into town and bought something at the hardware store, and the clerk told her a log truck had crashed, and the siren was how they call the volunteer fire dept out! Mystery solved!
We decided to head East on Hwy 20 and explore more of the North Cascades National Park. Last time we were here we went as far as Diablo Lake, and turned back. Well, it turns out the best roadside views are juuuuust past it: Like, literally around the next bend.
Oh my goodness, so pretty! The turquoise water is caused by glacial runoff. The mountains are so high and craggy! And this is only half the view!
Stunning!
Looking at the tourist brochure, I saw something called the Liberty Bell, and I wanted to see that too, so we kept driving. The good stuff is always just a little bit farther! And when would we ever be out here again? We kept driving until we were on the dry side of the state.
Totally worth it!
We stopped at a roadside viewpoint, and Navi did great walking around all the people, even with the narrow pathways at the stop.
We went all the way to Winthrop for lunch. It’s a little old-timey looking tourist trap. Old buildings and wooden sidewalks. It was packed even though it was a Friday. We got a lunch and went and sat in a shady public area with picnic tables to eat. We could watch people playing mini-golf down below the deck. And of course, on the East side, it was HOT, so I tried to keep Navi comfortable.
On the way back we stopped to play in the snow. I couldn’t believe there was still snow!
Dave being a goofball
We got back too late to join our fellow campers for potluck, but boy did we have a full day!
Navi did super on this trip, but by the end she was getting pretty tired of the whole thing. Tired of strangers coming into HER trailer to check out the remodel, tired of people trying to pet her, and tired of going for rides in the car! She really did good though. It is asking a lot of her.
Concrete is just down the road from Rockport, and they are, obviously, very proud of their concrete.
On the way home we stopped at a McMennamins and thought we would just grab lunch to eat in the trailer, but then saw they had a patio, and dogs were welcome! So Navi got to eat out for a second time, and she had a nice safe little corner next to our table. the hostess brought her a little cup of water, and even came back with a piece of bacon for her later!
So other than getting through all the usual Seattle traffic (which runs roughly from Everett to Centralia it seems) we had a nice safe drive home, and another adventure was in the books!
Our first planned trip with the newly remodeled trailer had to be scrapped because the Flex broke down and was in the shop having it’s rear end worked over. But finally we were able to make it out and try somewhere new – Camano Island, WA.
Because it was close to July 4th, Scott & Sherry were out camping, so Navi got to go camping with us. She doesn’t get car sick anymore, but she really doesn’t enjoy it, so we try to leave her home as much as possible, but this time she was trapped with us.
We got an amazing spot at Camano Island State Park. No hookup, and it could only fit a smallish trailer, but it was perfect for us, and look at that view! The park was pretty full, and this mid-week opening was the only one I could find all summer.
This spot was tight! I would not have wanted to try and squeeze a big trailer in there, the spot was curved and uphill. It was tricky even with the tiny trailer. The tow vehicle ended up side by side with the neighbor’s picnic table, but our spot, being behind the trailer, actually felt very private. The only thing we would have enjoyed more was if there weren’t so many mosquitos!
The new layout was a hit. It was really nice to have a bed always available for lounging, and the table for meals.
What a view from the door!
It’s hard to see but if you look out on the horizon you can see Mt Ranier.
We really enjoyed watching the boats go by on the straight. We spent a day cruising around the island from end to end, found a nice park to picnic in with a view one day. Another day we picked up lunch at a nice resteraunt at the golf course and took it to a nearby beach to sit on the logs and eat, but it was a bit awkward. I guess we are grown-ups now, we’d prefer a picnic table, at least! Still, we had fun exploring.
Seattle, on the way home. I always get a kick out of seeing the Space Needle!
One last trip before winter hits! We decided to knock off another National Park by heading to Southern Oregon and see Crater Lake.
We should have seen Crater Lake a long time ago. Both of us saw it on family trips when we were kids. We went to college in Klamath Falls, OR, and considered going to Crater Lake because it was really close, but we always ended up spending our free weekends at Tule Lake and the Lava Beds Caves. Crater Lake was always just something I had a vague idea of where it was, and we figured we’d get there sometime. We literally drove right by it everytime we drove to school and back home. But who knew after college we’d move to another state and not get around to it for <cough> 30 years?!
On the way down we stopped for lunch and Dave showed off our ability to fit into any parking lot where he can find two parking spots end to end. This is the real reason we will probably never move up to a bigger trailer. It is so convenient when travelling to know we should always be able to find a spot to park it.
On the way down the road climbed over a mountain and as it got higher, things got colder, and by the top it was sprinking snow on us, and Dave was getting skeptical about my trip planning. The weather said it was supposed to be nice all week, so I tried to keep the faith. The trip took a little longer than expected so by the time we got to Diamond Lake, it was dark. It was also only a week out from it closing for the season, and it looked buttoned up, and completely empty as we drove past the closed ranger station and wound through the empty park. We found a spot not far from the only other trailer there, right on the lake, and didn’t even bother to unhook for the night. We checked our phones and found we had no service. I made a quick dinner and Dave went out to get something from the cooler in the car, and walked back in and announced it was snowing! We went to bed and it was the darkest and questest place I think I’ve ever been, as the snow drifted down around us, nervous to see what it would look like by morning.
To our relief, the snow didn’t stick, and the roads were clear. If we had woke up to a foot of snow, with no cell phone coverage and no ranger on duty, I’m not sure what we would have done next. We decided to pull out and head up the road to my backup campground, Lemolo Lake KOA, which was even farther off the main roads, but for some reason had cell coverage and was staffed.
On the way we realized we were low on gas, and it was getting a little sketchy for driving even farther off the beaten path and then all the way back to the main highway. Luckily there was a gas station between the two campgrounds, so we stopped there first. When we got there there were two cars waiting at the pumps, and one person was walking back to their car from the building, so we figured it was open. One car left and we pulled up and waited. In Oregon you have to wait for the attendant to pump your gas. And we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally Dave went to the building and the person in the other car said she had used the phone to call the attendant, and he was on his way (from wherever he lived, apparently somewhere nearby). A couple minutes later a pickup truck pulled up and the gentleman got out and got us all gassed up! They probably don’t get a lot of customers this time of year!
We headed up to the KOA, and got all settled in. It cost a bit more, but now we had full hookups, electricity, cell service, and a little store on site. Everything we needed. I felt a lot better about leaving the trailer unattended there. There was even another Airstream.
We were finally ready to head off to see Crater Lake.
Crater Lake is inside of a mountain that has blown it’s top, leaving a crater in the middle, which filled with water. So at the slightly higher elevation of the mountain, the snow from the previous night stuck around a bit longer.
What a treat to see the rim covered in snow! I would not have planned a trip if I had known there would be snow, because we have had some bad experiences with snow driving, and the snow piles on up here in a hurry. In fact the East Rim drive was closed by snow just a few days after our visit!
For this beautiful, sunny morning, it was a winter wonderland!
The blue-green water around Wizard Island was stunning! Even more so than the photograph could capture. And..are those fish down there in the shallows?
We worked our way around the rim, stopping at all the overlooks and chatting with folks from all around the country who had come to see this natural wonder. Everyone was just so happy to be there, and amazed by the beauty of it all!
Sunglasses selfie!
We hiked up to the Phantom Ship overlook. This rock formation is apparently bigger than it looks – 16 stories tall! It is the oldest part of the original volcano – 400,000 years old!
Crater Lake is all about shades of blue.
As we went further East, we got a glimpse of cool rock formations and colorful bands showing different layers in the rock. I wish I knew enough geology to read what it is telling us!
On the east side of the lake we were eye-to-eye with Mt Scott. Looking at a map, and then looking at it later from Highway 97…(with help from Google Earth)
You could be driving down Hiway 97, see this little mountain, and not have any inkling that Crater Lake is right there on the other side of it! You are looking right at Crater Lake!
All you have to do is change your perspective a little. Imagine the view if Mt Mazama was still there!
From up there by Mt Scott we could see across the valley to the North, where we had come from. That lake in between the two mountains (Mt Bailey on the left, Mt Thielsen on the right), in the center of the picture, that’s Diamond Lake, where we stayed the first night. The KOA is a bit further North.
Between Crater Lake and the campground there was a lot of burned forest. Mt Bailey is barely visible between the charred trunks.
That night in the trailer I could just not get comfortable. The heater was squeeking, the foam matress was too thin, the leg kept falling off the gaucho (I’ve been putting up with that since we bought it), and I just wasn’t having it. I tossed and turned and in the morning we thought about what else we wanted to do down here, and decided…nothing. We came for Crater Lake, and we saw Crater Lake. We had it pretty well covered. So we packed up, and headed home.
So the next project on my list will be a remodel to fix several things about the camper which will make it much more comfortable to use next season. I’ll be sure and post to the blog as I do them.
Third trip out in a year, pretty good for us. The Airstream had it’s new front window cover and we were ready to go!
We might not have gotten this trip in, as campgrounds were booked full early on, and I am a last minute planner. But I saw someone on the WA Airstreamers group on FB had reserved a spot at Rasar State Park they couldn’t use, and I jumped up and said I’d take it, not even knowing really where this park was, so it was my lucky find. It turns out this is a really popular park all summer, so this was a particularly lucky chance for us to try out a place during peak season when we would normally be home hiding from the crowds.
Mid-trip stop for lunch. It’s always nice to have the trailer to eat in while on the road, especially during these crazy covid times when many places still didn’t have indoor dining.Nice, heavily wooded state park with big spots. Our favorite kind!
This was our first time up in the North end of WA, and it checked off one of our boxes for National Parks, because this is North Cascades country.
This was going to be a road trip within a road trip, because the North Cascades are different from your usual park. Many of the best spots are only accessable after long hikes. The views from the road are just peek-a-boo peeps at the beautiful rugged mountains in the distance. Much of the park is wilderness area, and has to be hiked into, and unfortunately neither of us felt we were up to hikes that long.
The first town we stopped in was Concrete, and the only activity going on in town so early in the day was folks lining up to pick up food at the food bank. A reminder that not everyone was doing so well in this post-covid world. We walked up and down it’s single main-street, and went to check out the historic bridge over the Baker River before heading on our way.
We stopped to check out some old-growth forests
It was really hot, like in the 90s, which was more than expected even for hiking in shady forests. We had a nice little hike around a park with old growth trees, and got a bit turned around, though we could hear the highway not far away so we finally found our way back to the car. I was starting to wish I’d brought water though.
We continued exploring along Highway 20, just stopping wherever it looked interesting along the way.
Had a pretty view for the eating the lunch I had packed.Peek-a-boo views.On the way back to the campground we stopped at a wildlife overlook and were rewarded with spotting a faraway elk!
Heading the other direction – towards Mt Baker, via Baker Lake.
They grow the trees tall out here!Amazing views around every cornerShould have brought our kayak.Hmm, maybe we’ll just stay close to the car!Panorama from above the Mt Baker Ski Lodge – breathtaking!Picture Lake
Super beautiful views up there, and I think that was all just the rugged mountains around Mt Baker, we didn’t quite get to where we could see Mt Baker!
We only had a couple days to explore, three nights at the park, then headed home. Definitly a fun place to visit, we could do it even longer next time. Maybe start at one end of Highway 20 and take the trailer to a campground further down as we go, just check out the entire N end of the state. This was a great little get-away though. I never get tired of looking at majestic mountains off in the distance.
I’ve put off writing this for a few weeks, because I’d like it not to be true. As mentioned in the last post, we cut our vacation short to rush home because Barclay was ill. He had pancreatitis. He spent three days in the hospital, and then got to come home with lots of medicine to take, and we were able to care and love on him for a couple days, but it got worse, and we had to rush him back to the emergency vet in the middle of the night. The next day they gave us bad news, it had gotten much worse, and we had to let him go.
Barclay was such a good boy. He was mellow and easy going, so clever, and sweet, and loving. He was also a real pest, a prankster, and had a sense of humor. He loved to do bad stuff to get attention, but it was never too bad, and he got lots of attention either way. He just loved to interact. He was confident, and carefree, and loved everybody he met. He gave big slurpy kisses. He slept in the tub, but he liked to sneak up on the bed before I came to bed and lay on my pillow, where he would get cuddles before retiring to the tub.
Barclay was our ‘back up eskimo’ to help soften the blow of losing our sweet Alki. They overlapped a couple years, and he did indeed soften the blow. He was really a special boy. We loved him lots. We met Sherry at a training class where I was so surprised to find someone else who had two eskimos! We became a big happy pack, doggie sitting for each other and going to the dog park, or just hanging out. I know Scott and Sherry loved him lots too. He was a lucky dog to have so many friends.
Our ‘backup eskimo’ With his buddy ChesterSheepherding lessons!Keeping me company at the toy store. At the indoor puppy parkGrowing up fast next to AlkiWith his buddy, JackHiking!With Sherry, and Sake and SitkaAt a friend’s birthday party!Roughhousing with his new sister, NaviAirstream CampingHelping work the wrinkles out of my first backdropPlaying with baby KiwiAcrobatic Stickball!Not usually a lap dogJust chillin’ on my deskThe PackThat time he ate my new Fluxx DeckSnuggly on my pillowHikingStickball!Mr Smudgy FaceStepped away for a second, came back to find him taking over the sewing machineIn Stevenson, on the riverSlurpy kissesWalked in to find him sitting on the kitchen table, like that’s just a normal thing you doHaving a man to man talkRecovering from his ‘summer of seizures’Snow day!Standing on the end table, totally not up to something…Busted stealing a napkinMy sweet, happy boy
Barclay was super smart, and while I was training him, he was often training me! Usually he would have us well trained before I even realized it. He had stretched out his bedtime cookie (originally a reward for coming inside) into 3-4 cookies at bedtime!
For almost 13 years he was my Best Boy. The house seems so empty without him causing trouble and stealing things out of the recycling bin, or getting up in places he’s not supposed to be up on. Life with him was a constant surprise. He made us laugh all the time. Sweet Navi now has to get used to going for walks without him to give her confidence and take all the petting from the neighborhood kids.
Barclay was truly amazing, so full of joy and life and laughter and love. His passing has left a huge hole in our lives. Rest in peace, sweet Mr Barclay.
In October we decided we needed a vacation from this miserable year of lockdowns and Covid, and scheduled a spot that was recommended to us at Deception Pass. It is an area we haven’t explored, and thought it would make a nice getaway. We arranged for Scott and Sherry to watch the dogs, and made our escape.
After all the wildfires, the trailer needed a good scrub.
We had reserved a spot that was supposed to have a great view, but t the last minute I realized that we might be hard pressed to last a whole week on one battery, even with LED lights! So I asked the ranger when we checked in if we could upgrade to a spot with electricity, and she found us one. It turned out to be a super tight back-in, on a corner and downhill, but Dave managed it perfectly as always.
Cell Service required some contortions…
Although you can’t tell through the trees, there was a bit of a view of the lake, though it was so foggy it didn’t really matter.
It was too foggy to even see the bridge everyone is always on about
It was a very ‘boaty’ place, which I was quite enjoying, because I have a thing for boats right now. It’s a phase I’m going through.
Saw this neat toy on the street in LaConner I thinkCleared up a bit by afternoonMaking faces 🙂
We were having a pretty good trip. I had actually packed well and we had food for breakfasts and dinners without having to go hunting around, so we could enjoy lunches out and about.
The next day we went to Port Townsend, which involved a Ferry ride.
Port Townsend was also BoatyWe had a nice lunch with a view of the water
We were waiting in line at the Ferry dock to go home, when we got a call from Sherry that Barclay was not feeling well. He had been throwing up, and looked shaky. We discussed it and decided to wait and see. But by the time we got back to the trailer we decided he should go to the emergency vet. So they tried to do that, while we packed up the trailer, thank goodness for having a simple setup, cut our vacay short, and headed home.
One night after an uneventful day in July, Barclay was restless and whiny and couldn’t lay down and go to sleep like he normally would have after dinner. He would come bark at me like he wanted something. We even took him for an extra walk, but he still couldn’t settle down.
I was really worried since it was out of character, so we took him to the vet around 10pm, and the vet decided he might have hurt his back, gave us some pain meds and sent him home. We got home and I took him outside for a potty break, and he flopped over on his side and had a seizure! We called the vet and they said we could bring him back in, or observe him and see if the pain med helped, so we decided to do that since it would be less stressful. But he continued to be whiny and restless, and just couldn’t go to sleep. By then it was 2am, and we were all very tired, and he just couldn’t stop, then he had another seizure and threw up, so we raced him back to the emergency vet.
This time the vet said she thought the whole thing was seizure related. The vet decided to keep him, and we were waiting in the exam room while they got a spot ready for him in the back, and I put him in my lap and he finally fell asleep for a couple minutes, he was so tired!
They gave him medicine to stop the seizures and kept him until the next day, but we were there until after 4am by that point. So i called in sick to work the next day and worried about him all day. Wednesday afternoon he came home, and they gave him an anti-seizure medicine, which sedated him a bit. The vet said it would get better in 2-3 weeks as he got used to the medicine. Navi was happy to have him back, and hung out right with him.
But it’s was hard to get him to eat. We were fussing over him, trying to get him to eat anything, because he was never fat, and I’m worried about him not eating enough. I bought him different dog foods, people food, baby food, but nothing much interested him. Dave and I were handfeeding him all kinds of good food just to get something in him. He seemed like he would take a few bites to be polite, then turn his head away to say he was done.
Also, he was waking us up multiple times a night barking for what seemed like no particular reason. Everyone was getting really tired. It was like having an infant in the house. He didn’t mean it though, he was tired too!
After three weeks of this, he wet the bed overnight a couple times, so I talked to the vet and she decided the side effects were too much, and had me wean him off of the medicine. We quickly saw improvement, with him getting his appetite back, sleeping better, and not being so groggy.
So far so good. He is 11, and has been very healthy, though he did have two or three seizure incidents over the past few years, which the vets could find no reason for. He hasn’t had a seizure since that night. Hopefully he will not have any more issues for a while.
Steff Does Stuff! 