Coast to Coast

Today we had to leave Jellystone but couldn't go without one more walk around this little bit of doggy paradise. It was so still out and the reflections were beautiful in the water.

Here, come and join us for a peaceful walk this morning.

Here is one of the Boo Boo Bungalows. What a beautiful setting to wake up to in the morning.



From there we walked down this very pretty trail. It just so happened a bird flew right across the path as I snapped this shot.



Only one thing could be better than one Wazzu - and that would be two of Wazzu.



I managed to get a shot of the Great Blue Heron and his reflection before he got spooked by our presence.



Here's a picture of the waterslide I mentioned yesterday. In addition, they have a paintball area, miniature golf, indoor swimming pool, a skateboard park and many other fun activities for kids to do. It really is quite the place. But I must say I'm glad we were there all by ourselves. I imagine it's a bit different with 400-500 people there - and probably over half of them being kids.



Near our RV was a small play area for real little kids. A dog I used to have, Buddy, loved going on slides with me - large slides. I thought maybe Sparkie would like to go on the baby slide.



But Sparkie took one look at it and thought it must be some new kind of agility object. So, in keeping with that theme, she decided she'd better fly.....you don't want to touch the yellow!! Ha ha.



Unfortunately, it was time to leave. We headed across the state to the eastern coast of Florida.

When we arrived at our next destination, St. Augustine Beach, we weren't too sure about it. Heck, at Jellystone our street name was "Squirrel Lane." Here we saw street names like "Shark Fin Lane" and "Barracuda Avenue." We were thinking maybe we should turn around!

But we decided to give it a try. After getting settled we went to a nearby beach. I don't know the real name of the beach but I'm thinking it would only be appropriate for it to be named "Jellyfish Beach."

There were hundreds of jellyfish on the beach - both up on shore and in the water. These are Moon Jellyfish.




In this picture, notice the little bumps - these are all jellyfish. And the whole beach, as far as you could see, had hundreds of these jellyfish just dotting the beach.



I'm guessing this is probably a jellyfish but doesn't it almost look like "Jaws?"



The beach had some pretty little birds as well.



This Ruddy Turnstone seemed to be finding plenty to eat.



And here is the cute Western Sandpiper.



A flock of gulls took off as we approached. As you might imagine, with three dogs, we don't sneak up on too many things!



As we got further down the beach we came to a state park. There was a boardwalk there that went out over the dunes. I snapped a couple pictures of the beach area.






From there, we could see a lighthouse off in the distance. We did drive there later but we were so close then that you couldn't really get a good picture of it.



On the walk back we saw some Pelicans wave surfing. This is the coolest thing to see in person. Mike and I could watch them do this for hours.



We also saw a guy surfing. But he wasn't nearly as much fun watch and certainly wasn't nearly as talented as the Pelicans.



Back at the RV park I took a short walk. I came upon a Bird of Paradise plant. Unfortunately, they were a little past their prime as you can see. But it still is pretty.



Debbie
1/30/07

Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park

I really didn't think I'd be writing anything today as it was just a travel day with a stopover just for the night. We were really worried when we pulled into a park that holds over 100 RV's and there was only ONE rig here. Not usually a good sign.

I don't know why it's empty but you can sure tell it's a popular place in the summer. And I'm sure it's an absolute zoo. There are two very large, irregular shaped lakes that support a lot of different water activities. We saw various types of rental boats and signs about fishing. In addition, there is a huge water slide area in the park. From what we were told there is about an 80 acre area that is used by ATV'ers during the busy season.....which from the looks of it here is not now.

Since we pretty much have the park to ourselves we were able to let the girls be off leash most of the time. It really is a beautiful place. Too bad we're here just overnight.

Wazzu fell in love with this place as we were pulling in to our site and noticed that we live on Squirrel Lane. We found that it was named this for a reason!



The view from our RV is very peaceful.



We got a big kick out of all the street names - Pine Cone Lane, Happy Avenue, Picnic Basket Avenue - but our favorite was Boo Boo Loop as we had a dog nicknamed Boo Boo. On Boo Boo Loop were a few cabins that were called Boo Boo Bungalows - but they didn't allow dogs!

As soon as we got settled we took the dogs for a walk. Right off the bat we saw an extremely large Great Blue Heron. He didn't want to leave the area but he was not at all pleased that we were walking around "his" lake. So he would fly from spot to spot trying to claim his lake but stay out of our way.



The girls were running around wild as they are always very energetic the day after a trial. Trials seem to really work their brains but really they aren't all that much excerise for their body. Early on in the walk they came charging back to me when suddenly they turn to smell a "rock" in the water. They both jumped straight up when the rock moved!



I was so disappointed to find out that my close up pictures of the turtle didn't turn out at all. It was a very large turtle and it had an extremely large head. But after having gone through the experience of having Sparkie try to pick him up he was in no mood to stick around.



So he took off quickly and headed to the bottom of the lake. I stood there waiting for him to come back up but Mike told me they can stay under there for months. I'm not quite that patient.

But Sparkie wasn't about to give up. She spent the next 15 minutes water scenting. I'd never seen a dog do that before - it was so interesting to watch. But it must not work too well as she never found the turtle again.



We continued on around the lake a bit more when Slugger found a big prize. He was looking for another turtle when he came across this big 8' long branch. He tugged and tugged and pulled it out of the lake and then of course spent 10 minutes trying to eat it to shreds.



Sparkie saw how much attention Slugger was getting for his part in cleaning out the lake so she went off and found a stick just her size to tear up.



As we continued on around the lake, Slugger decided the lake needed some dredging. The problem was he was convinced it was a four day job and didn't want to leave.



While we were waiting for Slugger to finish his task, we noticed all the trees around had water lines about 6' off the ground. These trees were about 30 yards from the edge of the water. I'm not sure what time of year the water is that high but it was very obvious that it really wasn't all that long ago as the lines on trees looked very fresh.



The guys didn't want to be finished with their very exciting walk but although it was very pretty it was extremely cold - for us humans anyway! On the way back we walked through a pretty grove of trees that are only a few hundred feet from our RV.



And about 50' feet from our RV in the other direction is this view. I don't know if you can see it very well in this small picture but there is a reflection of the moon in the lake.



It's really a shame we have to leave here in the morning. It is so peaceful, spacious, and beautiful. It's like having a couple hundred acre piece of property just like we've always wanted. Forest land for the Mike and the girls, lakes for Slugger, and flat land for me. If only it was warm.

Debbie
1/29/07

Who Would Have Thought?

This weekend we were at an agility trial at the fairgrounds in Baker, FL. The arena was nice in the fact that it was very large, covered and had bleachers on both sides. However, I really didn’t like the surface at all. It was very soft, loose sand – kind of like doing agility on the beach. It may not have been a problem for most people but it sure caused a lot of havoc for me – and sometimes the dogs.



It was a rather cool weekend (50’s)– even downright cold at night getting down to 25! Saturday we had some pretty good rain showers and Sunday was a bit windy. But there was a great food vendor on site that had hot and very tasty food. First thing Saturday morning Wazzu learned about the food vendor and wanted to drag me there after every run. The lady that worked there noticed Wazzu right away and seemed to fall in love with her. She would feed Wazzu hamburger patties, hot dogs, and bacon. I had to keep limiting how much Wazzu was allowed to have as I needed to be able to motivate Wazzu to run. Between the food vendor and the cool weather, Wazzu was very happy all weekend.

This trial was a different atmosphere for us as there was more than just one event taking place. This was a three day trial with Friday being an ASCA trial – which of course we weren’t entered in. But all three days, held in the same arena, there was agility, confirmation, and obedience. It was interesting but I must say the agility dogs looked like they were having a lot more fun than the dogs that had to spend hours standing still being brushed only then to just get to trot around the ring once or twice and then get thrown back in their cages. I just can’t imagine Sparkie in the confirmation ring – even if there was such a thing for mixed-breeds!



Wazzu really made me smile this weekend. Before each run she was engaging me in play. Usually I’m having to try to motivate and excite her in any way I can. But this weekend she was doing her bucking bronco imitation and was playing tug (well her version anyway) with me every chance she could trying to get me to give her a treat. This is always a good sign as that’s when she tends to run her fastest.

And run fast she did. Her Jumpers run on Saturday was probably one of her finest runs of all times. We worked distance that would have rivaled the best of distance teams anywhere. She totally acted like she had walked the course beforehand. We didn’t Q through as on the third to last jump she hit an especially soft patch of sand and didn’t get the push off she was expecting and just ticked the bar. But it didn’t matter one bit to me as the run was truly a thing of beauty.

Sparkie was more wound up this weekend than we’ve ever seen her. I know many of you can’t believe it is possible for her to be more wound up than she normally is but she outdid even herself this weekend. I really thought she was going to make herself sick as she was in such a frenzy.

Fortunately she didn’t get sick but she did miss a number of contacts – after all why run when you can fly. She certainly left nothing to the judges imagination! In addition, Mike was thinking an obstacle or two in advance, which is what usually works, whereas Sparkie was thinking four or five obstacles in advance. Fortunately she managed to make most of her errors on the same runs so they still managed to go 4/6 both days.

And when she Q’d there was no one who could touch her. One run she beat the next fastest dog by 30.24 seconds! Many runs she won by over 15 seconds. She ran faster this weekend than I think she’s ever run. She was just a blur.

Wazzu was the fastest of any dog in Touch N Go – since that’s one of the runs where Sparkie forgot all about the “Touch” part and just did the “Go” part! Sunday when all was said and done and the High In Trial was announced it was my dear sweet Wazzu’s name that was heard. Yeah Wazzu!!

Oh, there is one other very notable thing about this weekend that I didn’t mention. Little Slugger. He was only entered in one Tunnelers run each day. Saturday, while he ran, he was a bit too slow and missed time by a little more than a second.

Sunday’s course was much more difficult for him as there were a lot of turns and call offs. We figured he didn’t have a chance but would enjoy getting to participate nonetheless. Did he ever surprise us! He took off really fast. Not only did he run so fast that he was doing his cute little head bop but he turned immediately every time Mike called him. He may have gotten a bit of a headache though as at one point he and Mike collided and Mike kicked him in the head. Slugger looked a little stunned as to why Daddy would kick him but he shook it off and continued on doing the course perfectly.

But most surprisingly was when the results were posted. We were sure hoping the kick in the head didn’t cost them so much time that they missed a Q. As it turns out we sure didn’t need to worry. Slugger easily made time! Not only that but he beat Wazzu – and she had a very nice run.

Oh, what a weekend.

Debbie and HIT Wazzu
1/28/07

Destin

Today, like yesterday, we took a driving tour after Mike and the dogs had a nice hike. This time, however, we went in the opposite direction. Very shortly it was clear that we should have stayed in Destin rather than Navarre. Destin is the upscale area whereas Navarre is a "secret."

Anyway, there is a lot to see and a lot of beautiful water. The water here reminded us of the Caribbean and the sand was so white. The problem is, as I mentioned yesterday, they don't allow dogs on the beach at all. There were a lot of places we would have liked to stop and walk around but we passed them by.

Just as we were about to turn around and go home we saw this one beach access where we could park the car and see it while we took a short walk. Wow, what a place we happened upon. It really was beautiful and as a huge bonus we happened upon a "bird party."

When we first arrived we saw a beautiful beach. On one side of the penisula were many yachts as well as catamarans and fishing boats. There was one small fishing boat where it was obvious the person lived in the boat. I'm thinking it is a bad idea for a pack rat to live on a boat. We've never seen so much JUNK on a boat. It's amazing it could stay afloat. On the mast I noticed a cute little stuffed animal wearing goggles.



As we walked to the other side of the peninsula (only about 50 yards across) we could see the bridge we came over to get here. Notice how blue the water is.



As we were walking back toward the car we noticed all these very large bird footprints.



Then we noticed a whole bunch of birds just hanging around. There were many kinds but most were pelicans.



Suddenly a school of fish must have come by as the birds all started flying around and diving into the water. It was really quite a sight to see - and we were so close! In this picture you can see the birds flying around but notice how white the sand is on the beaches here.



This spot was so pretty. The birds were fun to watch but I think the white sand really made the water look so blue. It was a very pretty sight.



Here you can see a pelican diving down to get a fish. This particular one did make a great catch!



We were so close to the birds that we really could see everything that was going on so clearly. Both Mike and I were very excited to get to see everything so up close and personal! This one flew by so closely we thought we could reach out and touch it.



He then circled around and started to soar close to the water.



Sure enough....he came in for a landing.



Then he floated around basking in the sun.



After watching the birds, we headed back to the car. Right near the car was a fisherman. I don't know if he was actually catching anything but we noticed that he was throwing a fish to each of the two Great Blue Herons. We thought that was so nice of him. After getting closer we were really happy to see that the guy had fed them as one of them didn't have a foot. That makes it very difficult for this poor guy to get food. It's very possible that fisherman is keeping this bird alive.



This guy was standing right in front of our car. The dogs were all silent but were keeping a very close eye on this guy while he ate his fish.



On the way home we passed these two HUGE buildings that had whales, sea turtles, and other water life painted on all sides. There were signs all over the road directing you to the "Whale Wall Watching Area." Turns out we could see it much better from the road.

It was a very interesting place. It was a boat sales, storage, and service center. These buildings where huge. Each building was probably two football fields long and probably three stories tall. Inside each building were hundreds of yachts. They had them stack three tall - like the boats were on shelves. Then they had this huge machine (kind of like a fork lift) that would reach up and get the boats down.



I don't know if you've heard of the Wyland Galleries but all the statues are made by a guy named Wyland. His works are awesome and aren't cheap by any means. Anyway, according to the wall this was his doing. It must have taken forever. Next door there was the largest Wyland statue I have ever seen. Makes the one we have look very little. In most houses it would look pretty good sized.

After we got home we were ready to settle in for a nice evening. But the guys at the Naval Base had other ideas. We were hearing noises that we hadn't heard before. At one point Mike said "What is that noise?" I replied that I wasn't sure but I thought it sounded like the air brakes of a semi truck. Mike replied "No it doesn't, it sounds like a dinosaur burping." HUH?! Who has heard a dinosaur burp!!

Later in the evening Mike commented that now it sounded like there were motorcycle races going on outside our window. (How do I say this so mom won't be offended?) I replied "Oh, are you sure it isn't a dinosaur ....ing? (passing gas)" Mike got all red and was laughing and laughing.

Well I hope the rest of you have better conversations than this in the evening!

Debbie
1/25/07

Best Kept Secret?

We're now in Navarre, FL. Where is THAT, you may ask. Well, apparently no one knows. Let me explain.

We needed a place to stay between our two agility weekends. So we drove most of the way to our next trial which is being held near Pensacola. We had reservations at Navarre Beach Resort.

The park is right on the beach - perpendicular to the beach. There are four rows of RV spaces. These rows go from the road to the beach. The closer you are to the beach the more expensive the spot - over $60 a night to be near the beach. Since dogs aren't allowed on the beach, even on leash, there was no sense in paying to be close to the beach. So we stayed about half way between the road and the beach.



Apparently, we are near some sort of Naval Base. They must all sleep during the day as it is very peaceful. But they are in full force at night shooting all kinds of things.

After Mike took the dogs on a nice long hike, we decided to take a little driving tour of the area. I must say this was definitely the most mystifying trip we've ever taken. We are on the mainland but just a mile away is the bridge to a very long and narrow island. There is a large sign there saying "Welcome to Navarre Beach, Florida's Best Kept Secret, Whitest Sand in the World." We are CERTAIN that it truly is the Best Kept Secret - and from what we can see it will continue to be a secret, and we definitely think it should remain a secret.

This was by far the most odd place we have ever seen. My goodness, where to start! The first thing you notice when your get on the island is white sand - everywhere. I'm not kidding you when I say that the entire landscape is sand. Every single inch of land on that island is covered in white sand. They have to plow the roads all the time just so you can find the road. The roads seemed very narrow but it was just because the sand was encroaching on to the road. People don't have to do any yard work as it's just sand. There truly was not one bit of plant life anywhere except right next to the beach where there was some of that real tall dry grass blowing in the wind. A few people had planted some palm trees in their yard to give some sense of life. But truly it was just all white sand.

From what we could tell, there must have been a storm at some point that hit this island. Most every home is built at least 15-20 feet off the ground on cement stilts. And almost every home there showed some strong storm damage. However, there really weren't all that many existing homes.

There were absolutely no stores of any kind on the island. But, there was MAJOR construction going on. There were at least 200 news homes in the process of being built. And what really confused us was that they were building 20 or 30 HUGE hotels or condo units. They were each about 30 stories tall and were very wide.

This island looked like a ghost town. Of the homes that were there, most of them were definitely unoccupied. And, I'd guess that 90% of them were for sale. Mike had just made the comment that at least you wouldn't have to do any yard work. Just about the time that he said that, we noticed someone had a small tractor - looked like a little snow plow but we're guessing that was his sand plow!

Anyway, there was barely any sign of life at all on the island except for all the construction workers building all this new housing. I don't know where they think they are going to find people to fill all these units. The island really wasn't all that pretty even. I asked Mike what insurance company would ever want to insure a house here as it looks they are heavily damaged fairly regularly. He said they get federal flood insurance. Let me just say, this really angered me. First, no one should be allowed to build on this island period. And secondly, we as tax payers shouldn't have to pay for all these rich people to rebuild their houses every year or two when they are blown to shreds and slammed by huge masses of water.

Okay, on to something different as that really upset me. But just suffice it to say that we were both mystified by this island. It really was the most strange thing we've seen in our travels.

This whole entire area (not just that island but this whole section of Florida), consisting of hundreds of miles of coastline, is just not for us. Not one inch of beach are dogs allowed on. In fact, I've never seen so many signs saying "No Pets On Beach." I'd say there is a sign every 100 yards or so. They also state that there is a minimum $500 fine for taking your dog on the beach. Why would anyone want to live here....well maybe people without pets. Hard for my brain to comprehend!

We didn't get out of the car on this trip so I'm sorry we have no pictures of this. You'll just have to believe us that this was a strange place.

Oh, you want to know how secret Navarre is? It is so much of a secret that when we put it on the internet to check the weather it says there is no such place! And when Mike tried to find it on his Streets & Trips software it also said there was no such place. I guess that's one way to keep it a secret!!

Debbie
1/23/07

It's A Farm!!

This weekend we participated in an agility trial out in the country (near Ocala, FL) on an 80 acre farm. The only animal on this farm was a horse. But that was good enough for Wazzu - it was still a farm. So she was one happy girl.

As you might imagine, with 80 acres there was plenty of room for the trial. In the front yard there was room for two very large rings, a food vendor, a few other vendors, scoretable, hospitality tent, raffle area, tenting/crating area complete with some nice large trees for shade, and plenty of room for parking for all.



Behind the house was a large fenced in area for off-leash play. Our dogs just loved that! Slugger doesn't get much chance to be off leash anymore. He loves playing keep away from the girls. He runs just as fast as he can with his little head bopping up and down. The girls chase him down, roll him over a number of times and then start beating him up. We always have to call one of the girls off as two against one just isn't fair. Anyway, this was a fabulous place for our guys to play for a few days.

Next to the off-leash area they had a large doggy swimming pool. It was very nice (although we didn't use it) and seemed to be well used. On the other side of the off-leash area is another large fenced in area where they kept the horse while the trial was going on.

Just behind the off-leash/pool area was a HUGE field. This is where they had all the RV's park. It was so nice and very convenient. There were no hook-ups of course but that was just fine. We could run the generator without bothering anyone else. I'd say there were probably seven or eight RV's back there.

Friday evening as the sun was setting there was a beautiful reflection in the barn next door - which as you can isn't very close.



The people that put on the trial were absolutely wonderful. It seems as though they had thought of everything....and a little more! Each dog received a wonderful check-in gift. There were a lot of gifts to choose from and they were nicer than most we see. Then to our surprise each dog got another check-in gift on Sunday. That was a first for us!

In addition to the normal ribbons, they not only had Title Ribbons, they also had Perfect Day Ribbons. There ribbons were unique in the fact that some of the streamers were completely covered with dogs. The also gave out special gifts to anyone that was attending their first trial.

They did not provide lunch for workers but they did have a very nice worker's raffle. The gifts were all very nicely put together baskets with a variety of items in each. According to the tags, the baskets (and their contents) were donated by various companies. It really was very nice.

In addition, they had extremely nice gifts and ribbons for High In Trial, HIT Vet, and HIT Jr. Handler. For HIT they gave this really nice sturdy bag filled with a lot of handy dog items. There was a collar and leash set, treats, a couple books and magazines, a retriever dummy, a drink bottle, some Go Dog, a picture frame and various other very nice gifts.



Neither of our dogs won HIT but we had a great time. Saturday Wazzu was happier than I've seen her in a long time. It finally dawned on us that we were on a FARM! Wazzu has always been a farm dog. Whenever we would go to my friend Shari's farm, Wazzu would come alive. Everytime we go to a farm Wazzu becomes a different dog. And this was no exception. Wazzu went 5/6 on Saturday. The one we blew, Weavers, was because Wazzu was going so fast that I just didn't call her fast enough. I had just assumed she'd come toward me but instead she went full speed ahead into the tunnel that was right in front of her. But she was absolutely fabulous on the day.

Sparkie on the other hand had gone two weeks without doing agility and she was a wild child. Her motto of the day was "why run when you can FLY!" And she did fly....right over every spot of yellow she could find. So she only ended up going 2/6 but she had a blast!

Slugger tried really hard today. We entered him in Chances for the first time in just about forever. He did really well. But he thought the dogwalk was the teeter so he wouldn't do it. But he did everything else nicely. He ended up 0/2 but we were very proud of him.

Sunday was a new day and much hotter than Saturday. It was in the low 80's - which I just LOVED. But my girl, Wazzu, thought it was way too hot. So while she was still happy she was much slower. We only ended up 2/5 but we felt as though we did better than the score showed.

Sparkie settled down today and was her usual brilliant self. She got 1st place in every run - even the NQ run. She was eight seconds faster than any dog in any height and division in Tunnelers. So she was back to normal going 4/5.

Little Slugger tried hard again today but was a little over time in both his runs. So once again he was 0/2. But he really did try hard and once again we were very proud of the little guy.

Too bad the trial is over. That means Wazzu has to leave her farm, Slugger has to leave an off-leash play area, and Slugger has to leave agility behind.

Big Sigh.

Debbie
1/21/07