Can I Bring the Dog?

Walk along the Yuba River

Posted on February 20, 2014 by annieriecken

The number of wild places to walk near Jimbo’s is as great as it is at home in New Hampshire, and we took as many walks as we could work in. Some got pictures, but not all.

One day I remembered to take pictures along the Yuba River.

Buddy loves these outings.

So do the rest of us. We walked through the woods, past this fallen, woodpecker-worked tree trunk,

and on until we came to a place where a funnel cloud of some kind had recently gone through.

Uprooted trees were all around.

We kept going until the trail was completely blocked by branches and trunks.

Hey doggies, you have more Moxie than we do, humans are going back!

Hey doggies, you have more Moxie (and better balance) than we do, humans are going back!

Of course, in January, at 4000 feet, most winters would have this trail covered in snow. Not this year.

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A week in beautiful Camptonville, CA

Posted on February 17, 2014 by annieriecken

Buddy is my pal Jimbo’s dog. Or Jimbo is Buddy’s person; it depends on how one looks at it.

Buddy and Jimbo live in a small town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. This is gold country, not far from Sutter’s Mill, and Nevada City and Grass Valley. In the 1850s and 60s, this area was the financial center of California. Nevada City and Grass Valley both have the historic downtowns, chock-a-block full of Victorian houses, to prove it. The road that passes along one side of Jimbo’s house turns to dirt a mile or so to the east, then goes all the way to Nevada. It was once the main route over the Sierras. I was told that at one point in the 1850s, a wagon or stage passed by every twenty minutes, twenty-four hours a day.

In the week I was there, we took several nice long off-leash dog walks.

There’s Jimbo, and Buddy waiting for him. You can just see Chico’s tail on the bank above the road. Maybe next time I have to describe his color, perhaps I’ll say “dry leaves.”

This walk is on the hill above a reservoir.

Looking west toward the Sierra Mountains.

Two dogs, together, but not.

Neutral towards other dogs is just fine, in fact it makes me very happy.

We found a place where there had been a fire, and some huge logs were cut and stacked.

The dogs sniffed their way into a tight space around the logs,

Seems OK.

Oops. Not now. See Chico start to show teeth? "Hey, mister, keep away from me."

Oops. Not now. See Chico show teeth when Buddy hits the wall and turns back to leave? Chico says, “Hey, mister, keep away from me.” And Buddy says “ABSOLUTELY! No problem. Nobody wants a fight here. See, I’m gone. I am as gone as I can be when there’s nowhere to go.”

Situation diffused by getting Chico out of there quickly, releasing the pressure on him. That he put on himself. Sigh. Buddy was, once again, a social genius, making up for poor Chico’s social deficits.

On the way home, we got a stark picture of just how bad the cuurent drought really is.

In late January, water should be almost to the top of the dam.

I’m going to save the walk along the Yuba River for another day. Please stay tuned.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged camptonville ca, Field Trip, Gold Country, socialize dog | 1 Comment

Rasta Banana

Posted on February 17, 2014 by annieriecken

Someone brought this home from vacation. Yesterday it was in their yard sale. I got it for seventy-five cents so Chico could have fun gutting it. He starts with the hard plastic eyes, which I take away from him.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged kill the toy, rasta banana | Leave a comment

Onward towards California

Posted on February 13, 2014 by annieriecken

After my unintentional detour in Canyonlands and that motel in Salina, I booked it out of town pretty fast, ready to put my adventures in the rearview mirror. It had been about twenty years since I last drove US50, “The Loneliest Road In America,” across western Utah and the majority of Nevada; and it didn’t seem nearly as lonely this time. I even found a place called Pony Espresso that made a fine latte.

In Fallon, NV, I picked, as I said, a Super8 motel that was dog friendly. Quite dog friendly actually. The dog rooms were all way in the back, on the ground floor. The people two rooms over from us showed up just as I was unpacking the car. We started to chat and it was quickly revealed that this couple had sixteen dogs in their truck. “Fifteen chihuahuas and cattle dog,” the woman said. At that moment, I couldn’t think of anything more fun than feeding my dog some cookies, in his crate in the car, and watching them unload the pack. The woman was at the truck, the man at the door of the room. Three chihuahuas at a time, she released them from the truck and he called them. And for the most part, they came directly, trotting right into the room to their crates and dinner.

And the motel had its own casino. Everything in Nevada seems to offer gambling – as I recall the supermarket had slot machines. There were slot machines in the lobby of the motel (in addition to a whole casino), and Chico was allowed in the lobby, so I spent a dollar on the penny slots, trying to get the machine to make some noises to give Chico a new “big noise.” No pay off, and I’m not much of a gambler, so I was bored already and we went for a walk instead.

Walks are always a good idea.

You see cool stuff.

Like this folk art I saw in a yard.

And this nice old truck:

On arrival I realized that we’d had a couple long days in the car, so I decided to stay two nights in Fallon. It was relaxing and restorative. I went to a couple thrift shops, walked Chico, slept late, and did some reading.

On Sunday morning we headed towards Reno, and then on to Camptonville, CA to visit my longtime friend Jimbo and his dog Buddy.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Fallon NV, Field Trip, US 50 | Leave a comment

Moab and Canyonlands

Posted on February 10, 2014 by annieriecken

My motel in Moab was short on breakfast options, and it’s a super-hip town (in a funky, Monkey Wrench Gang kinda way), so I presumed that I would find a cafe latte someplace. I did, and learned of on a hike to take where a dog could be off-leash, AND got advice on a spot for breakfast.

Breakfast was at a cafe called Eklecticafe; it was interesting and pretty darned fabulous.

This delicious drink was called a Latin Latte. Espresso made with the sugar right in with the coffee grounds so the water goes through both, steamed evaporated milk (or was it sweetened condensed milk mixed with fresh – oh dear), and a sprinkle of cinnamony Mexican chocolate on top.

The tables were small display cases for hand crafted items from local artisans. You stared right at the things while you ate. Good marketing and efficient use of space, non?

This plate of hevos rancheros was enough for two meals.

This plate of huevos rancheros was enough for two meals. And perfectly prepared, not too anything (except the too much part).

Then we set off for a good dog walk.

Culvert Canyon Wash is the correct name for this hike. You go through that giant culvert,

into this dry wash.

Wild turkey?

New Englanders?

Being the sort of person I am, I couldn’t just turn around after our hike and drive back to town, even though I’d planned to go directly to Arches National Park.

This is so old fashioned, they mean that if you stop here you can see some petroglyphs.

This spot was squished between the river and some high cliffs.

I guess it made for a good bulletin board in days of old.

We drove a bit further and at a put-in for the Colorado River, I saw a sign that lead me to believe there was a short, scenic drive that I could take and end up near the ranger station of Canyonlands National Park. So I took it.

The road was good, the scenery great.

In fact, the rod had just been graded.

We even saw the road grader.

I was sure I was on the right road, even without a map.

At an overlook of the Colorado, we met two guys on bicycles.

I took a picture of the two of them with their camera, and one of the fellows returned the favor.

When they asked if was “going the whole way” I didn’t think much of it.

Bye-bye guys on bikes.

I just kept driving because it was so beautiful.

This is Mussleman Arch. The arch itself is hard to get a picture of, or was for me, but it is a thin strip of rock running across this image about 1/3 the way down from the top.

This is Mussleman Arch. The arch itself is hard to get a picture of, or was for me, but it is a thin strip of rock running across this image right about at the middle of the shot (from top to bottom) The arch is quite high, I had to stay away from the edge – getting close made my tummy start to do flips.

Here it is from the other side. Notice, please, that fissure in the rock starting lower left and running towards the arch.

That fissure is only about six inches wide, but it is wicked deep. Look at these pictures of Chico. He wanted nothing to do with hopping over it, even though he can broad jump his own length on an agility course.

It was beautiful, the sun started to set,

and I realized that I had no idea exactly where I was or why I was still in the park after so many hours. There was a clear and recent set of tire tracks in front of me, I kept seeing campgrounds (deserted of course) and I just kept going. Eventually I rejoined improved, and then paved roads and found my way back to where I wanted to be. It did take eight hours to drive 100 miles, and based on how hairy the road was in the dark, I missed some hella-good views, but in the end, it all turned out fine. I drove on to a room I had reserved for the night in Salina, UT. The fates handed me a snow squall as I went over the last pass on I 70 and the proprietors of my hotel, presumably for safety, tied the fire exit door shut with an electrical cord, but, as you see, I lived to tell the tales.

Next morning I gave a small lecture to the desk clerk about the fire door being tied shut (he shrugged) and blasted out of there. We drove US 50 all the way to Fallon, Nevada and a friendly little Super 8 motel with its own casino.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Canyonlands Park, Eklecticafe, Field Trip, Moab Utah | Leave a comment

Telluride

Posted on February 7, 2014 by annieriecken

My young friend in Telluride is living in a really nice housemate situation. There’s an enough-but-not-too-much older couple that own the home, they rent the basement as a separate apartment, but on friendly terms with the occupant; and they sometimes rent the extra upstairs bedroom. Which is where my friend is. Nice people, nice location, nice scene.

And the guy in the downstairs is a manager at a fancy hotel, the Camel’s Garden, right in downtown Telluride, right at the base of the gondola that runs to the ski slopes. And he generously got me a deal on a room for a night.

A room with room to move. And a fireplace.

More room than we’d had in weeks.

A man on the street assured me that right in that part of town it was OK to have Chico off leash. As the speed limit in the whole town is 15 MPH and Chico has a great car recall, I tried it. It was fun, and fine. No growls, no trouble. Yay.

The door from my room to the outdoors put one steps from the bottom of the gondola that goes up and over the mountain, and also a smaller ski lift that wasn't operating at the time.

The door from the room to the outdoors put one steps from the bottom of the gondola that goes up and over the mountain, and also a smaller ski lift that wasn’t operating at the time.

So, we hopped on the gondola, in the special pet friendly car.

At first, Chico wasn’t so sure.

But he gained confidence.

And fairly quickly just settled down and enjoyed the whole thing. Settled down is indicated by the fact that he stopped mouth breathing.

The gondola goes to Mountain Village where there’s lots of shopping, condos, gazillion dollar homes, a conference center, and a few of the things real towns have – I saw a bank. As a “I’m terrified of standing on slippery boards at the top of a hill” non-skier, I was impressed by the steepness and length of the runs. Which you actually can’t see in the following picture, but as we passed the steep parts, I was too engrossed in watching people ski and board down them, and admiring what I consider their bravery, to remember to take a picture.

Chico and I walked around Telluride a bit, looking at neat old houses and quirky businesses; I deposited a couple pair of too-large pants in the famous Telluride Free Box, and got a coffee. Back at the hotel, I used the second floor, outdoor hot tub with a view, then took my young friend out for dinner. After dinner we took another ride on the gondola – how pretty at night with all the lights. And they have blankets for your lap.

The next day we walked a path along the river that I was assured was OK for off-leash walking. Then I went to Brown Dog Pizza, when my pal is a host for lunch. It was not entirely successful. Foolishly, I didn’t prepare Chico with any sort of training and when he was tied up outside the restaurant, he barked. And barked. And after I quieted him and went back in, he barked some more. Over and over. Until they came to me to say that there are dog police in Telluride and my dog was in danger of getting reported and ticketed. So I had them pack up my sandwich and I ate it on a bench on the street.

Then we headed for Moab, Utah and a room selling at one tenth the price of our luxury adventure.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Brown Dog Pizza, Camel's garden, Field Trip, Telluride Colorado | 2 Comments

Texas to Telluride, part 2

Posted on February 4, 2014 by annieriecken

Bright and early, cheerful and excited, we headed out for the Four Corners Monument. “What a cool blog post this will be,” I thought to myself, “Chico the traveling dog at this remote destination. One of his feet in each of four states. That’s just neat.”

But there was a snag in the plan.

A big snag.

It’s not a flashy monument.

So I got to stand in four states at once, but the guy with four feet couldn’t play the game.

Chico got to sniff around at the edges.

Pretty much the middle of nowhere, with room for a dog to explore and not too many spiky things growing. Because nothing is growing.

And then we turned around, drove back through Cortez, and went east to Mesa Verde. The cliff dwellings are famous, but I learned about ancient dwellings on top of the mesas as well.

This statue was outside the visitor center. To use the light at that moment, this was the only shot I could get, it certainly gives a dynamic picture of how hard it was to get to and from those cliff dwellings.

Again, the majority of the park is off-limits to dogs, and the accessible areas are strictly on-leash, but when I clarified that policy at the visitor center, the ranger mentioned a place in the park I simply must see. “A place that most people don’t go,” he said. “Greatly under appreciated, you and your dog will like it there.” Nice guy. When we went there, there was someone else, but not until we were returning to the parking lot, on leash, occupied poop bag in my hand, correct as can be.

There were views.

There were things to sniff.

Cliff dwellings. This is called the Oak House and dates from 1250.

It inspired use of the timer.

And the panorama feature.

There were these ancient cliff-top building foundations.

And more views that even a dog could appreciate.

On the way out of the park we saw wild horses.

But not for long. “No pictures please.”

On the way “home” I ran into a store for a minute, and there was a customer there with a little dog that reminded me of a mini-Chico. OK, not so much the nose, but the coloring.

And the tail and “britches” in back.

I used a dog cookie to get the little fella to hold still, and made a new best friend. It’s my cookie bag that does it, I don’t take it personally.

Another night in a cheap motel and the next day we headed for Telluride, CO, where I have a young friend, out on his own for the first time. This kid and his family have some history in the town, and are always saying how neat it is. So we went to see what the place is like.

Back to snowy mountains.

Pre-Telluride pee stop.

Snow is so much nicer on the paws than thorny desert floor.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Field Trip, Four Corners, Mesa Verde, Telluride Colorado | 2 Comments

Texas to Telluride, part 1

Posted on February 1, 2014 by annieriecken

We said goodbye to Alpine and the Maverick Inn and headed in the general direction of Telluride, Colorado, though we took our time about it.

Just north of Alpine is the McDonald Observatory, perched on a hill.

This is one of those places I hear about on PBS, and there it was right in front of me. Cool.

We spent the day driving to Carlsbad, New Mexico so I could see Carlsbad Caverns (the caverns are a sensitive eco niche and dogs can hardly get out of the car in the parking lot, let alone visit the attraction itself).

Nice open road with lots to look at.

I stopped by the Caverns to scope it out and ask for advice on the best time to visit. The ranger on duty told me to arrive as close to opening as possible. That sounded pretty smart as it allowed me to leave Chico in the car during the cool morning hours. It was projected to be 70 degrees by afternoon, and that’s getting to the top end of where I feel safe leaving Chico in a car – at least one that I can’t leave wide open like I do at an agility trial. After my stop to advance the gig, I checked us in to a motel (oh, which chain of cheapies was it?) in Carlsbad, NM and we took a walk around the neighborhood before dinner. The next morning, after a nice talk about rescue dogs with the front desk attendant, we headed out, arriving at the caverns just after opening time.

I walked all the way down into the caverns (you can take an elevator, but I saved that for the way up).

That is the original entrance, noticed because in summer thousands of bats that live inside fly out at sunset. In the 1880s a cowboy finally went down inside, with a lantern.

This is a real wonder of nature. My pictures don’t do it justice, but I was there, and this is the digital realm, so I’ll share.

I spent two or two and a half hours in the caverns and left feeling that I had seen something very special.

On the way out, there’s a little loop road through a canyon, so we took it. We encountered a momma deer and her babies.

First, I saw the momma heading across the road.

Then I saw one of the babies,

and a second one – both not moving and being invisible. Or so they thought.

After so long in the car, I thought Chico deserved a romp. The animal shelter we’d heard about was on our way back to town, so I stopped by. Noah’s Ark Animal Shelter is a nice place, and they had lots of doggies there looking for homes (oh, that little wire-haired dachshund with too long legs…he looked at me and said he was special and I wouldda scooped him in a second if it was a reasonable idea), so I gave them some of Chico’s bully sticks and a couple toys he’d won at the trial in Belton; and asked if there was a dog park in town.

And there was. Is. With a people biffy too.

And no one else was there. Oh joy, oh joy.

It’s not the first time I’ve said this, a dog park with other dogs is, for Chico and thus for me, torture. So this was a score. Fifteen minutes walking the perimeter, pooping, chasing tail and toys and everybody felt better.

It was a calm evening, involving laundry and playing ‘catch this treat’ and some TV.

The next day’s goal was a motel in Cortez, Colorado, staging us for a visit to the Four Corners (where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah touch) and a drive through Mesa Verde.

This involved more lovely western scenery,

passing through Roswell, NM

It was 9 AM Sunday, and it was a miracle that the gift shop was open. I wanted to send a Roswell card to a friend back home,

and a lunch stop in Santa Fe.

This place is right next door to a pet store we visited last year and returned to this year.

This place is right next door to a pet store (Zoe and Guido’s) we visited last year and returned to this year.

I had the lamb burger, dolled up as a green chile cheeseburger:

Cute little crispy fries, a coffee milkshake. What’s not to like?

And then we were on the road again, lookin’ for gas and a pee stop for Chico. Eventually, we accomplished both missions. Santa Fe confuses me. That’s all I’ll say.

We reached Cortez not long after this pretty sunset.

This motel had a nice field behind the parking lot where a guy could run off leash and poop off in the deep bushes. Chico thought it was just fine and I slept well.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cross country with dog, Field Trip, green chile cheeseburger, mcdonald observatory, santa fe | Leave a comment

Lounging

Posted on February 1, 2014 by annieriecken

I just replaced a mattress. The old one is waiting for a ride to the dump, and some rain is threatened, so I wrapped it on a tarp. Chico says, “Thanks for the new dog bed. It’s comfy. Almost as good as your bed”

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Alpine, Marfa, and the Big Bend, part 2

Posted on January 27, 2014 by annieriecken

New Years’ morning while I ate breakfast, Chico practiced his down-stay in the adjoining lobby. He could see me, so it was easy for him to extend duration. A nice man at breakfast suggested that in addition to seeing Big Bend National Park, we ought to drive what’s called The River Road – a road paralleling the Rio Grande River.

So we headed out, going south.

Through some pretty empty country. Which made for lots of good places for pee stops.

Chico has some major objections to all the spiny plants, but he keeps looking in the desert for a good place. Until I call it quits and head back for the car. By then he’s usually quite ready.

“Umm, where’s my human to open the crate door?”

There ARE a lot of spikey-spiney plants.

There ARE a lot of spiky-spiny plants. Not all the pokey things are this obvious, I must have picked six or eight different kinds of pokey things, some of them quite small, from his paws during our desert adventures.

It’s drier than heck out there, but when it rains,

it apparently rains LIKE CRAZY!

We entertained these cows for a moment or two.

And finally reached a pull out by the Rio Grande River. That other shore is Mexico. How cool is that? We made it to a far edge of the USA.

These Hoodoos didn’t welcome dogs, so we just looked.

And looked.

After that, we headed for the Terlingua Ghostown and the Annual New Year’s Day Black-eyed Pea Cook-Off. There were a lot of people, and dogs, and public beer drinking – I elected to leave Chico in the (open) car in his known-and-loved crate – not a place and time where I wanted to manage my dog (and perhaps someone else’s). By the time I had a bowl of the different peas (all mixed together, yummy but not leaving much opportunity to decide if one was best) – it was 3:30 and we were 100 miles from “home.” So, Big Bend National Park had to wait until the next day.

The low angle of the sun and fading light made for a lovely drive back to Alpine.

The next day, after a coloche for breakfast (it looked like a giant pig-in-a-blanket to me, but it’s a regional delicacy, here’s a picture of one from another blogger), we headed out again. I looked at a lot of beautiful places:

Sotol Vista panorama.

And no matter where we go, Chico is most interested in how places smell.

But, he has something like 5000 times more smell receptors than we poor humans do.

But, he has something like 5000 times more scent receptors than we poor humans do.

Big Bend is pretty far from almost everywhere else in this country, but if one has a chance to go see it, even with a one-day drive-through like Chico and I did (a few days hiking would be great – though NOT dog friendly, like many national and state parks, dogs are allowed on paved roads and in parking/picnic areas only), I say do it.

Distances of a hundred miles are nothing on the Texas scale of things, so driving back to my hotel, feeding and walking Chico and driving twenty-fives miles to Marfa to eat at a recommended restaurant, Cochineal, seemed perfectly sensible and I did it. And it was worth doing. What a yummy, well presented meal.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alpine, Big Bend, Big Bend National Park, CochinealMarfa, Marfa | 1 Comment