Welcome back to our rather surreal first RV camping trip. Mom here today! We really had a super time but found some of our adventures rather hilarious; as many things that went wrong, went beautifully right -and we had as much fun or more throughout all our experiences as Sammie and Avalon. We are definitely looking forward to our next trip! Here's a little preview of the pups enjoying the last leg of our journey:
It doesn't take long for us to get to Plasse's Resort - about 3 hours. Lots of passes; we end up about 1200 feet higher in altitude than Truckee. Plasse's sits on one end of Silver Lake at 7300 feet. After we set up, we immediately feed Sam and Avalon, then enjoy ourselves at the all-you-can-eat Italian fest at the Restaurant here. We decide we deserve an evening out. One of the first shots in the slideshow is of Thunder Mountain in the sunset from our dining room window seat. We can't wait for our hike to Lake Margaret tomorrow morning!
Enjoy the show!
Since so much more had been ironed out by the time we arrived at Plasse's Resort, we sort of overlooked the fact that it snowed on the last night at elevations over 8000 feet and that our heater decided to play tricks on us of a kind that we still didn't have the know-how to understand. Whatever the problem was, it affected the fridge too, zapping all our power so that the CO monitor bleeped its heart out at 3a.m. again. We tried to enjoy our last day as we packed to leave! Upshot: What runs the fridge and thermostat is a circuit board (and more!). Ours was a faulty one that hogged all the juice. Boy, did we learn a lot! And we certainly had a ton of fun - we're planning the next trip right now! (And the dealer people fixed the problem immediately... for free...) Hope y'all had a good Labor Day Weekend!
Stardate: 8/20/2010, 9:30 a.m. Fort Bragg We have aboard: Sammie, Avalon, Dad and Mom (driver). Needing to drive to Truckee, California by end of today. Estimated time of driving to Truckee, California: 9 hours, 30 minutes. (Not to be: rather, 14 hours, 24 minutes) From the Driver's journal: "...road from Auburn to Donner "grady" and very bumpy; in &*%%ingly bad shape.... Once reaching Truckee, neither Captain nor co-Captain could believe that the gas attendant's directions to our destination could possibly be up a remote country road, winding up and up. But then... magically. There it was. A sign. That simply said: CAMPGROUND. Surreal.
Stardate: 8/21/2010, 8:40 a.m. Between Momma and Poppa are some morning meds: 2 strong prescriptions (at least for canines) and 4 minerals/vitamins. By the time Mom and Dad had their water glasses ready to gulp down the pills, one of the scrip meds was missing. Panic.
Solution: Alder Creek Camp Hosts Carol and Dan, camped next to all-season couple, Martin and Elaine (with golden retriever, Riley) recommend a Dr. Lori L. Ferrera and quickly give us directions. Our parents are certain that one of us has ingested the missing pill. Mom and Dad race us off to Sierra Pet Clinic, where Dr. Lori checks us out fast. She didn't detect anything weird, but told us to return at 5 p.m. for a recheck. Mom and Dad race back to Alder Creek Campground to thank everyone and commence to set up camp after searching every inch of the trailer for the pill. Not to be found. Dan, the host, teach Mom and Dad everything about a campground with full hookups. It really is heaven.
Stardate 8/21/2010; 11:00 a.m. - we are doing awesome and are completely free from any of the symptoms that Dr. Lori said to watch for. And... our crates and ex-pens and set-up are pawesome. Maybe our parents are getting closer to the summit of that learning curve. We are ready to rock and roll... someplace. When Dr. L. saw us later, she pronounced us ready to go for the rest of the week - arrrrr-roooo!
So... next day, we set off for Independence Lake. Y'know that cool lake a couple of posts ago that kept me from concentrating on my obedience? Well, we were going there now! Couldn't wait!
Five miles is not so far if you have a super highway heheh! But this is what we had five miles of: US Forestry roads with precious little signage and boulders every bit of the way!
I am worried that my Dad is not going to give me a wheat thin. We are sure having a ball!
Sardine Lake is gorgeous with lots of fish, but neither Mom nor Dad could even nab a bite! Ice Cream, anybody?
We are finally having the pawesomest time! The golden retriever in this movie is Riley, owner of the cool folks who recommended Dr. Lori to us. Stay tuned for more adventures with us as Mom and Dad attempt to understand RV camping in the Mokelumne Wilderness area heheh!
We sure had a great time at Seaside Beach... once we got there on our last day. My, my... the RV rookies, Dad and Mom, sure climbed a steep learning curve throughout our camping trip, but they persevered, stubborn as they are, and also met some really nice "advanced" folks, who literally saved their butts (so we could get out and play finally!) Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say that we drove to Fort Bragg near Mendocino - normally about a 3-hour drive, in four hours. Not bad. Mom drove/towed the trailer and did okay, maybe due to the fact that she used to drive horse trailers a lot in younger days. We found our spot at Mackerricher State Park - beautiful - and Mom backed right in. They leveled the camper just fine, but couldn't uncouple because the ball was frozen to the hitch (Dad forgot to grease the ball). So we set up camp a little and after dinner for both us and MomDad, we took a little walk down a nice boardwalk towards the sea and saw some cool fluffy ground squirrels I just wanted to chase so bad! Not to be, so back to our site for bed cause we were all very tired. At 3 a.m., we all woke up to a shrill beeping sound - the CO monitor was making a disturbingly loud noise. Dad told us all to get out and finish up our sleeping in the Jeep. He grabbed the car keys and pushed the panic button by mistake (headlights flashing brightly, horn honking loudly). And he couldn't get it to stop. After morning showers close by, Dad ran into a very generous camper with 30 years' RV experience. He fixed us all up, teaching my parents how to fire up their generator for power (the CO monitor had simply lost power; the whole 12-volt system had died). He helped us uncouple the jeep from the trailer and re-level it properly. He got the hot water heater to function and lots more stuff. Dad and Mom were armed for the rest of the trip (well... sort of) but extremely grateful. Anyway, we got to play, visit some friends for a dinner out, see some sea lions, run around on beaches and walk around a pretty lake. Here's a little movie of part of the "path" around Lake Cleone - a rickety boardwalk!
If you want to check out the longer movie of the Sea Lions feeding at the Fort Bragg wharf, you can catch it here. And below is a little slideshow of some of the things we did and places we went.
Before leaving for vacay tomorrow, I pawed Mom to arrange a date with Jackson again! Woo hoo... my heart pounds just to think about him!
Here he is (above) displaying his gorgeous smile - yummy! Since he was headed toward my house, I decided to show him Miller Creek in nearby Marinwood. Avalon and I were just there, but Jackson had never seen it and he loves water as much or more than we do!
Although I refer to Avalon as my sis, she really isn't. Actually, she is Jackson's half-sis from a different litter. Jackson's Mom thinks she looks like Jackson a lot - what do you think? (I'd take that as a ginormous complement, of course... but I'm blinded by love...)
Here is some of the fun we had in the water, which is a year-round springfed running creek - rare in these parts!
If you can believe it, all three of us got our toofies around that blue cloth baby bumper! Our pawrents thought that was pretty funny! We'll leave you with a little movie - Avalon mostly wins... Have a good August! We are going to try to do a couple of posts on the way, if Mom can figgur out the technology heheh! And we want to thank Corinna, Jackson's Mom, for taking all the pictures on this post! Silly Mom only brought her little movie cam. See you soon!
It's hard to concentrate on my broad jump when I'm thinking about Independence Lake (above). We're finally almost ready for our camping trip that will start next Tuesday and end on August 30.
Barbara's started a new Broad Jump routine for me by adding a little jump after the B(ored) jump (heehee!). To encourage me to do more than plod over the thing and return to Ma after I jump it, Barbara put up a small jump to force a fast hop over the first part! It worked, darn it! I still have to go to obedience next Monday and then I'm off for two whole weeks woo hoo! Avalon also has started obedience and shows great promise - well... she high steps like an Arabian horse - it's unbelievable! But I'm the bigger sisfur and win all the important rounds heheheee! Care to spar with me to find out? Have a good week and weekend too! Loves you all!
Welcome back to our rather surreal first RV camping trip. Mom here today! We really had a super time but found some of our adventures rather hilarious; as many things that went wrong, went beautifully right -and we had as much fun or more throughout all our experiences as Sammie and Avalon. We are definitely looking forward to our next trip! Here's a little preview of the pups enjoying the last leg of our journey:
Upshot: What runs the fridge and thermostat is a circuit board (and more!). Ours was a faulty one that hogged all the juice. Boy, did we learn a lot! And we certainly had a ton of fun - we're planning the next trip right now! (And the dealer people fixed the problem immediately... for free...) Hope y'all had a good Labor Day Weekend!
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