Opie came to us at 18 months old and with high energy. We loved him so much as a foster dog that we just had to adopt him, even with all that energy. His original name was “Panther” but we were determined to change that! After trying a multitude of names, Mike flippantly suggested “Optimus Prime” which I nixed immediately. A friend of ours then suggested O.P. mostly as a joke, but then when said out loud, it turned into Opie which we both really liked. The name worked perfectly for all generations since he could have been named after the Andy Griffith Show’s Opie, or Optimus Prime of the Transformers, or Sons of Anarchy’s Opie.

This dog LOVED to chase the ball but he did have one quirk. Once he chased one ball, he would “lock” onto that ball and would not chase any others. That became a hassle at dog parks when another dog would take his ball and Opie would REFUSE to play with any other ball but would stare at us eagerly for us to throw the right ball. If we got his original ball back, he would refuse to retrieve it because it was now contaminated. Opie was also our most fanatical water dog. When we first got him, he jumped right into the hot tub with us because it looked like a pool to him. We set up a kiddie pool in our backyard and he was always in it. Even if the pool only had a few inches, Opie would lay on his side and kick and wiggle to get as wet as possible and come out with a big grin on his face. No matter where we were, if there was water (including mud puddles), Opie would wallow on it.

During our RV travels, Opie loved all the places we visited. It gave him a chance to sniff many new spots and mark so much more territory. Opie’s higher energy made us take longer and longer daily walks; however he would still get restless so we started to hike with him. It started small, just a couple of miles maybe once or twice a week which settled him down. But we made a terrible miscalculation! Instead of tiring him out, we increased his endurance and stamina so we had to increase our hiking distance and frequency. Before we knew it, we were taking 5-8 mile hikes a couple times a week and his daily walks had also increased. Mike also planned our campground stops either at county or state parks with a lot of walking trails, or nearby hiking trails. Due to Opie, we visited some amazing hiking spots like Sedona AZ (one of our favorite hiking spots), Ouray CO, and many national forests. Thanks to Opie, Mike and I found a new appreciation of National Parks by hiking their many trails.

One of my favorite Opie hiking memories is climbing Mt. Bierstadt, one of the “easier” 14’ers in Colorado. A 14’er is a mountain with a peak over 14,000 ft in elevation. Due to the higher elevation and lack of oxygen, Mike and I had to take lots of breaks to catch our breath. Opie had no such issue, he would happily find random other hikers and walk with them for a little while before coming back to us to see what was taking so long. By the time we finally reached the peak, the hikers there recognized and greeted Opie like an old friend. I’m sure Opie walked twice the distance that we did and ended up only half as tired as us.

Unfortunately Opie’s heart had no space for squirrels, groundhogs, and cats. His favorite activity at Tucson campgrounds were to find groundhog burrows and dig furiously until his muzzle and paws were coated in dust. I’m sure the groundhogs had a great laugh at Opie’s expense. Even as Opie got much older and slower, a squirrel’s chirp would still immediately catch his attention and he would frantically look for his arch-enemy.

Opie was our first (and hopefully last) “Boop”-ing dog. One day, Opie gently touched my leg with his nose while we were eating. I looked down and he was staring at me so cutely, I did the natural thing… I gave him some food. His food-motivated brain realized he had hit the jackpot so the booping dog was born. Opie’s booping (increasing in frequency and force whenever I ignored him) became a regular fixture in the RV, house, and car. I’m surprised his nose never developed calluses from the amount of booping. If I ignored him, he would get desperate enough to boop Mike which sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t. Opie’s booping still makes me smile.

When we settled back into a house, Opie was thrilled to finally have full-sized windows to stare out of. He loved to lounge on the dog bed in Mike’s office and watch the neighborhood’s goings-on. In his golden years, Opie was happy to relax and take life at a slower pace. He still loved his daily walks and would immediately rush over doing a little happy dance when it was time to go out but he was also happy to be near us, nap on a comfy dog bed, and boop us if we had food nearby. Opie made so many friends on our travels—dogs and people alike—and many people still ask after him even after we’ve settled back down.

Over the past six months, Opie’s health began to truly decline. He had a lot of hind end weakness and muscle atrophy, but his GI issues were also getting worse. Opie caught pneumonia (for the second time) and vestibular disease (for the second time) and his body just couldn’t fight anymore. We put him to rest on August 21st. Opie added so much to our lives and we will miss him terribly.

Opie loved being camped right next to the beach.

While the RV resort is basically a huge paved parking lot and we expected it to be tight, there was enough camping space to be comfortable, and there were a surprising number of trees which softened the “parking lot” feel. The area is hopping busy on the weekends with vacationers and weekenders. Jet skis, speedboats, and waterskis pack the Bay while the parking lots overflow with RVs. It’s fun to observe the activity but it does get old quick when the weekenders insist on cutting through your campsite regularly.

Opie was ecstatic (as were we) by the fact that not only were we right on the bay, but we were close to THREE dog beaches. I’m quite sure not only did he stay damp the entire time we were there, but he also brought three pounds of beach sand into Rover! Impressively, at all the dog-friendly spots we noticed the dogs (and owners) were quite well-behaved. The dogs would play, chase, and wrestle, but no fights broke out. There was almost no poop on the ground–everyone we saw picked up after their dogs. The atmosphere was casual and friendly. It’s a marked difference from the dog park in Virginia. Perhaps there is something to the stereotype that Californians tends to be more laid-back and relaxed and it trickles down to their pets.

Fiesta Island Dog Beach

Fiesta Island allows off-leash dogs on the entire island. There is a large fenced-in area with access to the bay and large flat field to run around but anywhere on the island, and you are allowed to let your dog roam off-leash (under voice control). One side of the island faces Mission Bay so the waves are rough (especially with all the recreational vehicles) and there’s a lot of sea vegetation on the beach but that’s where most of the dogs romped. The other side of the island faces two isolated coves where the water is much calmer and tend to be more deserted. While Opie liked romping with the dogs, he enjoyed wallowing in the calm cove water when he wanted to cool off. Of the three dog areas, it was always the least crowded.

Ocean Beach Dog Beach

We also visited Ocean Beach, nationally famous as one of the first official leash-free beaches in the US. It’s about a mile long with areas of rough waves (we saw surfers enjoying the water here) which curves around into a calmer channel with a strong current but no waves. It was the most crowded, and parking is sparse if you arrive after 11am in the summer.

Coronado Dog Beach

Lastly we visited Coronado Dog Beach, located right next to the North Island Naval Base. The waves were not too rough, and while the beach is smaller than Ocean Beach it’s still very popular (parking is a challenge in the summer afternoons). While Opie enjoyed playing with the dogs, fetching his ball, and wallowing in the water, we enjoyed watching old military planes fly around the Naval Base. The beach only has on street parking and you need to walk along a sand path to get to the beach. A word of warning though, the sand path to the beach gets VERY hot by the afternoon so watch your dog’s paws! At the entrance to the dog path is a water fountain with a hose to wash off the sand when you’re finished, which I thought was a brilliant idea!

Meat Roaff!

San Diego is known to be dog-friendly and I would whole-heartedly agree. While at Coronado, we decided to eat at Bluewater Boathouse Seafood Grill, a dog-friendly restaurant, so I could quench my seafood craving. We ate on their patio and they had a separate menu for dogs! We couldn’t resist and ordered the Meat “Roaff” for Opie. It’s a full meal with ground beef, squash, rice, and crumbled Milk Bone. Opie loved it and licked his bowl clean. I enjoyed my cioppini (yes, it’s a San Francisco dish but it was good even in San Diego) while Mike found his burger to be just OK. We also ate at Shades in Ocean Beach, another dog-friendly restaurant. While they also had a dog menu, it wasn’t quite as fancy. The diced ham meal was just cold lunchmeat ham sliced into small pieces but I don’t think Opie was complaining.

Last year in San Diego a friend recommended Hodads, a burger joint. We went to the one in the Gaslight Quarters and loved the burgers and gigantic milkshake. Lucky for us, the original Hodads is located in Ocean Beach so we ended up getting Hodads take-out a couple times. Since it’s not dog-friendly, we found a nice stretch of grassy park overlooking the bay, spread out our blanket, and enjoyed the view while sharing our fries with Opie.

Touring Old Town San Diego

We did have an adults-only day out to Old Town San Diego. Old Town is an historical park located inside the city and commemorates early San Diego. Frommers has a nice self-guided walking tour of Old Town which was fascinating and educational. I have to admit that I found the San Diego Union Printing office to be the most intriguing of the buildings. It’s a prefab home that was built in Maine, shipped all the way around Cape Horn in multiple pieces, and reassembled in San Diego in 1851. You walk around Old Town and all of a sudden you see a very New England style home right on main street! The visitors center also has free tours twice a day.

We also wanted to visit Balboa Park, the nation’s largest urban cultural park. While Balboa Park was created in 1868, it didn’t really begin to take off until San Diego was to host the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, to commemorate the opening of the Panama Canal. Many of the buildings and museums were created specifically for the exposition, such as the Museum of Man, the Old Globe Theater, the Cabrillo Bridge, and the Spreckels Organ pavilion. Since then, Balboa Park has continued to grow and now boasts 15 major museums, 16 gardens, the San Diego Zoo, and numerous other venues and buildings.

Touring Balboa Park

Since we were bringing Opie with us (yes, he really does rule our lives), we didn’t go inside any of the museums, but we did another self-guided walking tour and saw some beautiful architecture and gardens. We visited the Speckels Organ Pavilion, which houses one of the largest outdoor pipe organs. They provide free concerts in the summers and weekends but our timing didn’t work out. While the Japanese Garden doesn’t allow dogs, there’s a nice overlook near the visitors center where you can see parts of the garden. I also spent some time gawking at the San Diego Museum of Man. The exterior has some amazing features and statues. It also looks like something that belongs in historic eras from Spain or Rome. Balboa Park is immense with so many different things to visit. I would love to visit some of the museums (without Opie) the next time we are in San Diego.

Museum of Man

We enjoyed staying right inside the city, it has a lot of great advantages. We were only here for a week though due to the premium cost. We were so pleased by the location that we decided if we come back to San Diego in the winter, we would stay in Mission Bay for a month due to the cheap off-season rate and convenience of location.

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I’m fairly certain Opie either sends commands to me telepathically or he’s just really good at making me feel guilty. Either way, Opie successfully made the Catalina stay all about him.

Rain for us meant snow in the Catalina mountains.

Last year we spent a lot of time in Tucson sight-seeing which is a far cry from our stay this year. Honestly after our record-breaking drives to get to AZ, the snow, and the cold, we just wanted to soak in the AZ sun and thaw out. We do have friends in Tucson so we spent a lot of time hanging out with them (and their internet and laundry machines). It’s great since they have the same taste in games as us, so we played a lot of silly cards games like Munchkin, Exploding Kittens, and Ninja Burger. Meeting new friends on the road is a lot of fun, but hanging out with friends we’ve known for almost 20 years is priceless.

A friendly game of Munchkin with friends.

When we weren’t socializing, we spent a lot of time hiking/strolling/ambling through Catalina State Park. The park borders the Bighorn Sheep Management Area/Coronado National Forest. Since they are trying to reintroduce Bighorn Sheep, dogs are not allowed on those hiking trails. However there are a lot of other great hiking areas within Catalina SP. I know the little stinker knew it too so when I wasn’t busy, I’d see Opie sitting very still watching me intently while projecting thoughts of hiking into my brain.

Opie loves a nice hike.

Due to the cooler weather the prairie dogs stayed indoors but that didn’t stop Opie from trying to entice them out. He’d check out all the holes and even tried to help renovate and expand the entrance to one of them.

You don’t mind if I invite myself in, do you?

Opie and I really enjoyed strolling Canyon Loop Trail, a relatively flat easy hike through the foothills. It’s an easy 4 miles roundtrip from the campground (the trail itself is only about 2.3 miles). The trail does cross a large wash multiples times. The first time we walked the trail, there was some water flowing through the wash which required stone-stepping to cross each time. The second time we walked the trail, Tucson had received a full day of rain therefore the water was a lot higher. I made it across the first crossing with dry feet. The second crossing I lost my footing and got slightly soggy feet. At the third crossing, all the stepping-stones in the middle of the creek were submerged. Since we were past the halfway point, I just shrugged and got my feet wet (even more). Of course Opie loved each water crossing and didn’t bother using any rocks. The last crossing is through a very large sandy (no rocks) wash area. There was no avoiding the water here. This time the water made it to my calves and gleefully filled up my socks and shoes. Unfortunately for Opie, that was the last time we walked that trail!

One step at a time…

We also took a stroll up the 50-year trail which follows a ridgetop for a few miles. We got a nice view of the campgrounds from the trail and saw a lot of the AZ vegetation here. We had to be extra careful that Opie lifted his leg high enough whenever he decided to pee on a sharp plant! The Bridle Trail took us right by the equestrian center. While Opie barked his excitement at the horses he saw, they just gave him the stink eye and watched him pass. We even met some other dog lovers while outside with Opie. They have a cute little chow-mix named Pepper and they’ve been full-timing since October. It was nice to meet new people and hopefully we’ll see them on the road again.

Taking a break on the 50-year trail.

Due to El Nino, we did get a fair bit of rain (and a little bit of snow) while at Catalina… last year we never saw a drop. Unfortunately that meant our campsite became quite flooded. While I got soggy socks and grumbled, Opie looked at the brighter side of things and enjoyed soaking in his private pool until we moved to a drier campsite.

Opie’s private swimmin’ hole.

Our 11 day stop in Catalina went by way too quickly so Mike promised the next time we’re here, he’ll just make the maximum 14 day reservation to give all of us even more time to enjoy the area (and Opie to guilt me into more hikes).

A drone’s-eye view of the campground.

Our Max was part Great Dane (average life span 8–10 years) and part Labrador Retriever (10–13 years). Over the past 10 months or so, Max’s health was slowly deteriorating. He gave us quite a scare last November when he was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia while we were in Texas and had to be hospitalized for a few days. After a couple months of gradual recovery, he was mostly back to his old self but never fully bounced back. Between his laryngeal paralysis, degenerative myelopathy, and old age, we knew he didn’t have a lot of time left. He still enjoyed short walks, long naps, and sniffing out (and receiving) bits of our dinner (he could barely see due to cataracts, but his nose more than made up for that). Boy did he get spoiled!

Being taller than the dinette table has its advantages.

In October 2014 at a campground in Florida, another camper who was disposing of a dog ramp they no longer needed saw old Max and his weak legs and gave us the ramp to help him get into and out of the motorhome. The ramp helped Max and us immensely (we’ve since passed it on to another camper to help his dog). In March, even the ramp was not enough, so Max received a Help’EmUp Harness which again made a big difference in his mobility. With its front and rear handles, we were able to give his back legs extra support on walks, when getting up, and when using his ramp.

Max sporting his new Help’EmUp Harness.

Since Austin, we’ve had “the discussion” several times when Max was having a particularly bad week, but he always bounced back the next week and his mind was always alert. Unfortunately in LaCrosse, it became clear that his body just got too tired to carry the burden any longer. We made the extremely tough decision that it was time to let Max go and on August 12, Max crossed the Rainbow Bridge just shy of 13 years old.

As many of you know, we’ve been volunteers for Labrador Retriever Rescue for many years. Max was one of our many foster dogs in 2004, but we fell completely in love with him and couldn’t let him go (check out his profile on the Lab Rescue web site). He was the first foster dog we adopted (but not our last!).

Foster dog Max in 2004, before we adopted him.

Max was the kindest, largest, and most chicken of all our dogs. He was known to hide behind humans when 10 pound dogs would bark menacingly at him. His sweet deposition helped numerous toddlers learn to like dogs. They would come close to him and because Max never made sudden moves and spent a lot of time laying on the ground, they could do anything to him and he would just wag his tail and give them one good lick.

What a face!

Max tolerated and welcomed the dozens of foster dogs that came through our house over the years and even welcomed three more canine brothers into the family.

Max was such a sweet-natured dog with a mischievous streak. He loved carrying things in his mouth, so he would regularly drag out our dirty laundry and strew it everywhere. When I would come home, there would be a trail of dirty clothes from the bedroom into the hallway and sometimes halfway down the stairs!

It’s hard to believe that just two years ago Max was still jumping in the pool.

Since he was so tall, he could easily reach the countertops and therefore food was often a self-service item for him. He helped himself to half a bucket of halloween candy one year with no adverse reactions at all! Then he jauntily pooped out silver candy wrappers three days later. Max snagged some apple crumb mix (just add water) from the pantry and helped himself. When I came home, his legs, muzzle, and dog bed were covered in hardened apple crumb, making it difficult for him to hide the evidence or blame another dog.

Handsome devil…

One year Max gained weight at an alarming rate over a few weeks. We took him to the vet and ran all sorts of tests which showed nothing. One day I happened to be working from home, heard some odd noises in the laundry room and snuck over to see what was going on. Max had figured out that he could just nudge our wall-mounted dog food container’s handle slightly open to self-feed! The goofball was gaining weight due to all the extra food he was sneaking! He was the only one tall enough to reach the handle, but the other dogs were very happy to participate by cleaning up any evidence that spilled onto the floor.

So THAT’S why Max has been gaining so much weight!

Just in the past 18 months since we started traveling, Max visited 21 different states, swam in the Atlantic, Pacific and many lakes and rivers in between, and made many new friends at our various campgrounds. We miss him terribly already, but we’ve also been smiling and laughing as we reminisce about all the adventures (and misadventures) we’ve been through together. If you knew Max, we hope you’ll join us in remembering him…

How lazy can you get?

Quail Run Dog Park, Mesa AZ

Max enjoying the Tolt river, near Seattle WA.

After watching Opie trying to ingest as much greenery as he could find, I watched him throw it all back up. Opie enjoys eating small amounts of long-bladed grass and it will pass through his system without any issues. I’ve also seen him frantically eat grass one or twice and throw up his food, I’m assuming, when he had an upset stomach. I figured this must be one of those times until I saw him throw up and immediately start grabbing at more greenery. I pulled him away and took him back to Rover where I gave him some hydrogen peroxide mixed with ice cream (tip for dog owners: carry hydrogen peroxide, it’s a safe way to make a dog vomit; the ice cream makes it palatable) in case he had eaten something poisonous. After vomiting again, I brought him back into Rover and watched him carefully.

His throat muscles would spasm sporadically and when he would eat food, it would spasm more often. However his disposition seemed completely normal so I was completely stumped and a bit (ok, a lot) freaked out. The worst part of this whole thing is that the closest city was about 45 minutes away and we had no cell signal or internet connection at the National Park. We bundled Opie into the car and headed for the closest city, hoping that we could find a vet that would see us.

Once we got cell signal in town, we started frantically calling vets in the area. None were able to see us, and they said the closest emergency vet was in San Jose, another hour away! Opie’s disposition still hadn’t changed, with the exception of the throat spasms he seemed fine so I figured it was not life-threatening. We spread our search further and finally found a vet that would see us, about 30 minutes further in Gilroy. Dr. Kayashima at Orchard Veterinary Hospital listened to me and watched Opie closely. After a few minutes, she thought he might have something caught in his tonsils and was trying to eat anything to dislodge it. Apparently in California, foxtail grass is a real menace to dogs’ throats, nostrils, lungs, and feet. The foxtail grass dries and the seeds break apart but they have small barbs that hang on tenaciously and can work themselves deeper into the body. She would have to sedate him and use a scope to check his tonsils and throat to see if there was anything lodged there. They rescheduled the rest of their afternoon appointments so she could go straight into surgery with Opie.

We grabbed some food and came back an hour and a half later to a furiously barking Opie (apparently the sedation drugs really made him hyper after he woke up). Dr. Kayashima did not find foxtail seeds but she did find a lot of sharp long grass blades lodged in his throat. She pulled them all out and scoped down his esophagus to make sure nothing else was stuck.

Opie was given a clean bill of health and we got to take him home with us that evening. I’m definitely pleased with how quickly the clinic was able to get Opie on the table and fix his issue. It was pricey, as expected since it’s surgery. I guess we’ll be eating bread and water for a while to balance the budget!

Opie relaxing on the couch

It appears that Opie takes after his Mom when it comes to drugs. I have terrible nausea to anything stronger than Advil and apparently Opie is the same way. He spent the entire night just laying in a sphinx position with his head up. When he would get tired and his head dropped down to the bed, it would only be for a few minutes, then his head would come back up and he would be drooling with nausea again. We ended up kicking Mike onto the couch to sleep (since one of us would have to drive Rover the next morning) while I spent the night keeping Opie calm. The meds finally left his system at 5am and both of us were able to catch a couple hours of sleep before morning.

It took Opie almost two days to recover from the drugs, lack of sleep, and soreness of the scoping. I was sad to see Opie so subdued but once he was fully recovered and energized again, I kind of missed the subdued Opie! He has fully recovered at this point and needless to say, his grass-eating privileges have been completely revoked indefinitely.

Back in Virginia, we didn’t have these types of grasses but apparently in California, it’s a well-known danger for dogs. Sheesh, each new state has given us new challenges for the dogs. Sand spurs in SC, FL, and TX; javelina in TX and NM; pneumonia in TX; rattlesnakes and lizards in AZ; and now grass in CA. At least while the dogs haven’t escape unscathed, they’ve been able to recover after each adventure.

If you’re planning to visit California with dogs, be sure to read this article from the L.A. Times for more information!

We were surprised to find that Thanksgiving week is a big camping week, at least here in Texas. Our Houston stay was cut down to just a day due to unavailability of RV park sites after Monday, and none of the RV parks in Austin had availability. Fortunately, for our day in Houston we got to visit with an old friend from Virginia who had moved to Houston a couple years back. As for Austin, we found a campground about 30 minutes south in San Marcos that had one campsite left, so we booked it for the week, figuring we’d move closer to Austin after the holiday.

During our day in Houston, our elder dog Max took unexpectedly ill. He was very lethargic and wouldn’t get up, and more worrying, he refused to eat or drink for probably the first time in his 12+ years of life. Max has always been an extraordinarily healthy dog. After an after-hours trip to the emergency vet in Houston, exams, blood tests, and the following day a trip to an animal hospital in Austin (since we had to leave the full RV Park in Houston), his x-ray and ultrasound showed a lot of fluid both in and around his lungs: Max had pneumonia.

Max the dog, on the road to recovery!

Due to his deteriorating state and his not eating or drinking, we had to leave him overnight and the next day to spend the night on an I.V. along with some antibiotics. We were able to take him home the next evening, but back the following day for more treatments. Fortunately, the antibiotics did their job and within about 10 days Max was 90% back to his old self (and still improving), and a follow-up x-ray came back clean. As an aside, we can’t say enough good things about South Park Animal Hospital in Austin—they were fantastic!

During all this, Thanksgiving came and went. Thanksgiving (and Christmas) have always been Kathie’s day to cook for the whole extended family (with lots of help, of course), so this year was quite a change for us, being away from family, and having a tiny kitchen. Instead, we found a nice restaurant in San Marcos (Palmer’s) that offered a complete Thanksgiving buffet dinner all afternoon. So, we had our turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, bread, cranberry sauce, and more, but without all the work, and no clean-up! Of course it wasn’t quite as good as home-cooked, but we weren’t complaining!

It may not be home made Thanksgiving dinner, but it was tasty, and nothing to clean up!

Once Max started improving, we looked into campgrounds closer to Austin, but we found that we rather liked where we were in San Marcos at Pecan Park Riverside RV. It was quiet, spacious, very inexpensive… and we were already there. There’s something to be said for inertia! Instead of packing up and driving someplace new, we decided to stay put for a while. We were in a brand new section of the RV Park, so once the Thanksgiving campers cleared out, we had the place almost to ourselves.

The view out our living room window… at an almost empty RV park.

Since we’re traveling all over the country and want to ride as many roller coasters as is feasible, last month we bought 2015 Six Flags Gold Season Passes when they were on sale. For less than the price of two admission tickets, a gold season pass gets us into all Six Flags parks for free for the remainder of 2014 and all of 2015, and gets us free parking at all parks. Parking alone costs about $20 at each parks, this is a deal where we’ll save a lot of money and have a lot of fun!

About an hour south of San Marcos is San Antonio, home to Fiesta Texas, one of the 12 Six Flags amusement parks in the U.S. Since it’s winter now, the park is only open on weekends, from 4pm to 9pm, so we took a drive there one Saturday after we were comfortable leaving Max alone for a few hours. We arrived when the park opened, and it was pretty deserted! By the time we left at 7pm though, it was more crowded and full of activity. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality and fun-factor of the coasters we rode. The three that stuck with us, and which we look forward to riding again some day are Iron Rattler, Goliath, and Boomerang. By late winter we should be in southern California, and we’ll be sure to visit Magic Mountain (especially since it’s free free free with our passes!).

Fiesta Texas… we didn’t have the highest expectations, but came away pleasantly surprised.

Also once Thanksgiving was over, we decided that even though we no longer live in a big house, we should still have a Christmas tree. Since the weather here has been in the 60s and 70s, I think the tree is even more important as a reminder us that it’s actually winter! We went shopping and chose the second-smallest artificial tree we found (another first for us—all our trees before have been real ones that need water and smell like pine), one string of lights, and one pack of miniature ornaments. The tree fits perfectly on Rover’s dashboard and is like a little reminder of home.

It may not be big, but it does the job!

We used the rest of our time in San Marcos to catch up on our hobbies (sewing and baking for Kathie, programming for Mike), see a couple movies (Interstellar and Big Hero 6), get some minor work done on Rover, get Red waxed, replenish our supplies at Costco and the supermarket, give Max a bath, and generally relax. We never actually made it into Austin (except to the animal hospital), instead opting to take it easy. We’ll keep Austin on our list for next year!

First Kathie made coffee cake, then cinnamon rolls!

Most dog parks are just a fenced in area with either grass, mulch, or gravel where the dogs can run free, interact with other dogs, and play ball. Dog Wood Park is a dog park on steroids. It’s a 42 acre park with over 25 acres fenced in. They have separate areas for small dogs, an agility section, a 10 acre forest with trails, and the awesomeness big-ass area (my words, not theirs). The largest area contains an open field for running around, shady area for playing/resting, and a huge pond with a beach to make it easy for dogs to wade into the water.

There was something very satisfying about unleashing the boys as soon as we went past that entrance and watching them run around the park-like setting without having to call them back when they roamed too far. Opie had a complete and total blast. He spent the entire two hours swimming, playing fetch, and exploring the woods. He never stopped moving. Max was a lot more laid-back but even he had a bit of fun. Since the pond is sloped, Max had no problems wading into the shallow area to cool off a bit. He even engaged a few of the dogs in play for about 2-3 seconds each.

The forest was nice except for the biting flies that landed all over us and the dogs. Ugh. We ended up moving pretty fast to keep them off us but Opie still enjoyed sniffing (and peeing on) everything. We brought some sandwiches and enjoyed lunch at a picnic table while Opie continued to chase and fetch his ball.

We finally left only after Opie slowed down and showed no interest in chasing the tennis ball. They have a nice water station at the park entrance so you can rinse off your dogs when you leave. We got them cleaned off and (mostly) dried for the trip home. Both passed out in the car (unusual for Opie, not for Max).

We considered it a successful day, especially since it took two days for Opie to recover his urge to play ball.

Dog Wood Park, in Jacksonville FL