First off, I have to say this traveling is not exactly all it's cracked up to be. Ok, I am over being carsick, but I am really homesick. I know these are human words, but they actually pretty much convey how I, a dog, feels. At home I have only one dog in my life--Emma--and now I really appreciate her. On the road there are so many dogs that I feel pretty overwhelmed. Not only are there dog smells everywhere Fif and I get out to "relieve" ourselves, but even in the motel rooms I am surrounded by dog smells of every type. To be fair, Fif has come up with some innovative places to stop for a stretch of the legs, but yesterday even in a remote area I swear I heard some kind of barking--maybe a wolf or coyote?
Well, I have no idea if this is to be my life forever, so I'll stop with the whining and show you some of the stuff we've done in the past couple of weeks.
This was the day we drove through Yellowstone National Park. The first photo is actually the very last Fif took that day. In more than three weeks we've only seen rain during the day one day and that is our Yellowstone day. At the end of the day as we came into Montana, the sun was low and the clouds parting. It was one of those days I heard Fif mutter, "I'm stopping one more time for a photo. Sure glad you aren't whining about it like a person would..." Can you see the faint partial rainbow?
The GRAND Tetons were truly magnificent! Or so Fif says.
One of those places we like to stretch our legs. Nice and quiet.
The weather on Yellowstone day was so cool Fif said I could stay in the car while she watched Old Faithful go off. (Sure were lots of people who took their dogs right down to the seating area, which the literature said wasn't allowed. Seems stupid to me to think dogs would like to be where a geyser was spouting.) Anyway, it started raining, which didn't really daunt Fif and some other folks, like the ones in this photo. But then a ranger came along about 10 minutes before Faithful was to blow and said to clear the area because lightening and hail were imminent. Fif ran for the car.
Some of the sculptures in the cemetery were really neat.
So far, the only bear we've seen. However, read on for close encounters...
This is Windy Windy Boy and she got that name because she was named Windy (her first name) by her parents. She is part Cherokee Indian and is a general manager at the motel where we stayed. She married a full-blooded Salish Indian named Windy Boy. The tree where Windy is standing is where a mama bear and her cub climbed a couple of years ago. As you can see it is right next to our motel. Windy told Fif that one day she was standing a few feet from this tree and she felt something lick her leg. She reached behind her and patted it on the head, then turned to see it was a bear cub. A few feet behind was mama standing on her hind legs. Windy ducked into the motel. When help came the bears had climbed this tree so the people with the darts had to go to the second floor to reach the bears. Meanwhile, Windy and the other motel employees were very concerned about the bears being hurt when they fell so they gathered up all the (brand-new) pillows in the motel and put them on the ground till they provided a "mattress" about 10 feet in diameter. The bears were not hurt when they fell and were taken back to the wild. Apparently, a forest fire not far away had driven them into town to find food.
Some wildlife in Yellowstone.
And in Packwood, Washington. This handsome male elk was just a few feet behind us while we were eating dinner in a quiet park at the edge of town. We didn't notice him until Fif saw a man taking photos from the highway. She turned to see what he was photographing, gasped, hustled me into the van (leaving behind the food on the table) and got this shot.
Finally, we are as far west as Fif says we are going--the Pacific Ocean in Oregon! I honestly don't know why anyone wants to wade in water that moves and get sand between their toes.
Although the sunset last night was kind of pretty.
And lastly, my friend Emma at home. Where I long to be.
Hang in there, Lyla!
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