And a good time was had by all

Boy, does that vacation seem a long time ago! Like it wasn't even this summer. I don't know why we couldn't stay there all the time in those nice, cool mountains. Now I'm confined to the house most of the day as it's HOT and STICKY here. I don't like it one bit.

You're probably wondering if we chased off that coyote yet. Well, it's still around, but hasn't been too bothersome recently, which is good, because the Fish and Game people have been a bit busy with another visitor.

This guy doesn't live around here anymore.

But let's get back to my vacation.

Of course, I got to ride in the front seat most of the way. It's my favorite place to ride, even though my travel bed is in the back, I just go there if I'm really tired. That's usually on the way home. Actually, I think Mum should ride in the back because she takes up more than her fair share of the front seat when she insists on riding in it with me.

Some of the time I do have to be in the navigator's seat, helping Dad by keeping my eye keenly on the road, and my paws pointing the way. You never know when I'm going to have to leap to action and take over the driving.

This is where we camped, near the lake. I had my very own special camping table. Yes, it's true. The keen-eyed among you may have noticed this is in fact my ramp for getting in the back of the car. Apparently, it weighs quite a lot, and took up some of the luggage space Mum and Dad had reserved for (in my opinion), frivolous and unnecessary items. A second cooler for wine and beer, for example - see what I mean? Who needs that? Anyway, it meant it had to serve double duty.

I could have run for miles on the mountain. This is the place with the biggest meadow in the world where we went last year. You can't even see how big it is in this picture. I think it would take me a whole day to run from one end to the other, but I didn't get a chance to find out. Mum insisted on keeping me close by, because we saw a bear on one of our trips up the mountain road. I've never seen a bear, but I smell them a lot when we're up there.

Although there are lots of lakes where we go camping, no one is allowed to swim in them. They're for fishing only. I love to fish, so it seems a bit unfair. To make up for not getting any water time, on the way home, we spent a whole day at the creek with the blue/green water. I swam and swam, and fished and fished, and finally got so tired, I had to find a shady spot on the beach to recover.

Now, that's what I call a vacation!

Vacation Photos

On the road. We stopped at a creek on the way so I could cool off.

Soon, we turned off to a very bumpety road and there were lots of things to see, so it was time to climb into the front onto Mum's lap.

This is where we camped. No one else was there, so I was allowed to run around as much as I wanted, without a leash or tie-out. The creek was lovely and cool, and there were lots of strange creatures scurrying around on the bottom that I tried to catch. Mum said they were crawdads. I wonder where the crawmums were? We didn't see any of those.

Way high up at the top of a mountain there was a huge field of grass. I love running through grass, especially when Dad is getting ready to catch me.

This is where we stayed for the rest of the time. It was much cooler than by the creek and there were critters everywhere. Some chipmunks were hiding between the rocks around our firepit and I had to keep a really close eye on them. We also saw elk and wild turkeys. They didn't look anything like what I eat for my dinner, but I guess Mum & Dad know what they're talking about. Sometimes I think the mountain air makes them say funny things.

I had to stay on the leash at this campsite because of the bears. We didn't see any, but I could smell they had been around. This is my tent. It has a lovely big bed inside where I can really stretch out. Mum and Dad insist on getting in there with me, so I have to spend a lot of time staking out the best parts because they try and push me to the side. I'm an expert at stretching out to 3 times my normal size and doing my lead jello act (as Dad calls it) when they try to move me.

The lake was just a short walk from my tent. I had to go down there a few times to check up on the ducks and herons.

Here's Dad playing stick with me.

I'm doing my special "coyote" pose here.

We had to say goodbye to the lake when I was just beginning to get to know everywhere. I looked so sad, Mum and Dad said they would bring me back "soon".

And now "soon" is almost here and I'm dreaming of the elk calling out in the forest at night and all the bird calls early in the morning. Ya boo sucks to Sedona. Someone keeps turning up the heat and I don't like it one bit!

Road Trip!

I've just been on the best road trip ever and I have tons of photos to show you guys, but I can't make the photo button work. I've had to wait ages for Mum to help me get on the computer. She's been all busy since we got back. Lots of people have been coming to see and she gives them all a massage. I don't know why, because they're coming to see me, but it seems to make everyone happy. Anyway, I hope I get to show the pictures before we go away again. I was so happy up in the cool mountains with the meadows and lakes that Mum and Dad are taking me back for a whole 10 days!