Travels with Jack and Sam

November 2017 - January 2018
A 57-day adventure by Travels with Dogs Read more
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  • Day 14

    Tucson, continued

    December 9, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
  • Day 17

    San Diego and LA, 12/8 & 12/9

    December 12, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Did I mention in my last post that I was reluctant to leave Tucson? but we did, and were in the car for about 7 hours as we travelled to San Diego. Our campground is in Bonita, California, called Sweetwater. Another State Park and nice but not great. Of course the big thing being about the San Diego-area is the near perfect weather. At first I was not that excited about being in SoCal - I was not happy about the traffic and having the camper in 7-lanes of freeway traffic. But Harry has been fearless in his driving and he arranged our free day in San Diego (Dec. 9) so my spirits picked up.

    We went to Balboa Park which is 1200 acres smack dab in the middle of San Diego that has the Zoo and 17 museums (dinosaurs, the study of humankind, photographs, and automobiles to name a few) so enormous and we were there on a Saturday. Pretty much everything we do is dictated by Jack and Sam (thus the name of this blog) because museums, for example, are not yet pet-friendly. We would have liked to see an exhibit about cannabilism but had to content ourselves with taking pictures of the gruesome poster (see below) and except doggie treats from the docent.

    Saturday was also dictated by finding dog parks for Jack and Sam which we try to do often to compensate to them for their many hours of confinement in the car. We found an off leash park within Balboa but we had our real score when we drove up the coast 20 minutes to Del Mar and found a beach that allowed dogs. Del Mar is gorgeous, tony, and right on the Pacific. It also happens to be the very first place I ever visited in California way back when, so it was interesting to revisit.

    Next morning we did our usual pulling up of stakes and headed further up the coast to LA. I have to admit, I was still out of sorts, and Harry and I experienced our first bout of snipy behavior. In some ways that is not bad after living in each other's pockets for three weeks, but just the same, unpleasant. And that is the mood in which we arrived at Kathy Glasscock's memorial service at 2:30 p.m. in "The Valley." Kathy had many accomplishments, her most recent being as a landscape designer. Her memorial was a Buddhist 49th day after death service and we got to chant. Bayliss had people over to his house after and it was lovely to hang out with some old friends and experience the peace Kathy created in her own backyard.

    We spent this night at Hal and Ricki's back in LA, right next door to where Harry lived for many years. This was the first my mood started to lift because I did not have to pretend I was feeling anything but grumpy and I could solicit advice about how they dealt with being out of sorts with each other. Ricki seemed to think that I am a control freak which of course is not true, I just always know the best way to do something. There's a difference isn't there? What???

    Anyway, enough of this soul searching, you've probably stopped reading anyway. I am all better now and on Monday we moved to an RV place in Malibu for the next three nights, 12/11 through 12/13. Yummy. Don't hate on us although without my knowledge Harry did send a picture of me in the sunshine on a day when Ashfield was getting more snow. That was a low blow.
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  • Day 18

    Malibu, Oh Malibu, tis of you I sing ...

    December 13, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    I love Malibu and Topanga Canyon. For me this is the quintessential California experience. I don't mean the tony Malibu Colony parts, but the surfers off the side of Pacific Coast Highway, the coastline stretching out in front of you, the impossibly blue sky, the scrub, the fauna (right now parched,) the local restaurants.

    We are in an RV park about 20 miles from Topanga Canyon, on a ridge, so that when we pulled into our spot we had a view of the Pacific and could hear the waves. Delicious. This is the most expensive RV park we've been in at about $80.00 a night but the view alone makes it worthwhile. But it's also a nice park - wide spaces, nice bathrooms (I'll spare you pictures of the bathroom this time), a laundry facility with the best view of any laundry facility in the country. When you stay someplace like this, you have to resist the temptation to pop into Santa Monica or LA because you will get caught up in traffic and spoil this experience.

    We went to my favorite LA restaurant on Monday afternoon - Inn of the Seventh Ray - with our dear friend Hollis who introduced us and her son Ethan. Very Topanga Canyon, my food was infused with special elevating vibrations, etc. etc. and lunch was many hours. It's beautiful and well worth a visit if you come.

    Our time here is devoted to visiting people so not anything too interesting for you but I do have some nice pictures to show you with more to come. Hope you are well! xoxo
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  • Day 23

    3 Days in Nipomo, 12/14-16

    December 18, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    I know many of you will have no idea where Nipomo is but it's worth a peek at your California maps - it's in the area of Santa Maria (as in Santa Maria bbq), near Guadaloupe. Our friends Casey and Susan Case live there with their two horses, Shamrock and Will, and they are at present down to one dog, Raleigh. We spent three perfect days there, along with their brother-in-law, Maurice, who was a refugee from the Carpinteria fires. He was pretty stressed out but still managed to make us fabulous Yorkshire pudding, guacamole and bread pudding out of panettone. The first pictures below are of scorched earth and smoke on our way up the coast.

    The dogs could not have been happier - Sammie tried to make friends with Shamrock, not so successful, and both Jack and Sam got to run and romp with Raleigh and Maurice's dog, Lily. I got to take 10,000 step walks with Susan, and Harry got to catch up with his dear dear friends from his Peace Corp and grad school days. sweet.

    The next two posts have more Nipomo pictures. xoxoxo to all
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  • Day 23

    And more!

    December 18, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 10 °C
  • Day 28

    Berkeley IS the Center of the Universe

    December 23, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 -1 °C

    Hello out there! We had another uneventful trip (PTL) from the San Luis Obispo (Nipomo) area of California on upward to Trianda and Gunther's house in El Cerrito. We left Nipomo on Sunday, December 17 and arrived some 8 short hours later in time for a very lovely Sunday holiday dinner of chicken and squash and a beautiful grain salad prepared by T & G and my dear friend Jocelyn joined us.

    El Cerrito butts right up to the San Francisco Bay and next to the San Francisco Bay is the world's best dog park. It's acres and acres with lots of places for dogs to jump into the bay and swim if they are that kind of dog - we put in 2 miles with the dogs every morning we were there.

    The other great thing about this dog park -- its called Point Isabel Dog Park by the way -- is that right in the parking lot there is a dog grooming shop and a cafe where not only can your dog go but they are off leash! It was fun and Jack and Sam were in dogs' heaven.

    This was a lovely three-day stay where we got to catch up with Trianda and Gunther (who we hope is doing amazingly well after his surgery) and Jocelyn and Vince, and a few Christmas tasks. Our recommendations for Christmas shopping are the 4th Street Shops in Berkeley and the El Cerrito Plaza, and the food at Tacubaya is the best - do not pass up the fish tacos.

    Getting close to Christmas!
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  • Day 29

    Transition - California to Oregon

    December 24, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ -2 °C

    Up until Berkeley we had been in pretty amazing weather and we had gotten very very spoiled. But we learned that change was in the wind - freezing weather in Oregon. We had to unhitch in El Cerrito and leave our camper in front of Trianda and Gunther's house (Thanks Guys!) because the camper cannot be in freezing weather - remember the 10-hour drive from Austin to El Paso? So with mixed emotions (happy and happier) we set off for Portland, the end point of this first phase of our trip, with just the Subaru.

    Again, and I am grateful for this, we had a lovely drive to our chosen mid-way point, Ashland, Oregon. We chose Ashland solely for the fact that it divided the 10 hour drive to Portland nicely. One thing about the drive north was that neither of us had ever been on the northern parts of I-5 and it was interesting to see what the landscape was like up there - so that's what we have pictures of below - our drive from Oakland to Ashland, and then in my next post I will show you where we stayed in Ashland - which turned out to be awesome! stay tuned!
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  • Day 36

    Our One Night Stay in Ashland, OR

    December 31, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 13 °C
  • Day 36

    Portland!

    December 31, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    We arrived in Portland on Thursday, December 21, in the late afternoon, under a grey lowering sky. On the following day, Friday, Harry and I took Stella, Dino and Ary to see "Cinderella" at the Northwest Children's Theater, again under lowering skies. This was the first time that all three kids were old enough to be totally focused on the performance. Stella and Ary met all of the cast members after the performance and had their programs autographed! That evening the sky gave way and we had freezing rain or snow from that moment forward. These days in Portland were family-centered and lovely and very rejuvenating. Thank you all for putting up with us and Jack and Sam - We had a great time! On Wednesday morning, December 27, we regretfully left everyone behind and headed out on the long slog back to Oakland, arriving at our favorite hotel - The Waterfront in Jack London Square - exhausted but in time for the evening sunset.Read more