Since the trial doesn't start until tomorrow we had all day to spend doing whatever we wanted. (Like most days! Tee Hee) After a leisurely morning we decided to find a place where the dogs could walk on the beach. Mike did a lot of research on the computer and found that most of the beaches don't allow dogs on them at all. But he did find one that looked okay.
The surgeon had told us that Slugger shouldn't run through the forest but that he could do pretty much whatever he felt like as it wouldn't really do any further damange to his knee. Since he won't be allowed to do much for quite a while after surgery we thought a nice walk on the beach would be fun for him.
We drove to Bodega Bay and even though the computer said dogs were allowed, the very first sign we saw said no dogs. It was really a shame as there was a beautiful trail all along the bluff overlooking the ocean. I would have loved to take that beautiful walk. It was so pretty - but of course we weren't going to hike without the dogs.
Mike got out to see what all the sign said and it turns out this is a great spot for whale watching. I wondered why there were so many people standing on top of this huge rock just staring at the ocean. Everyone must have had better eyes than me as they would all get excited and point but I just saw water - but it was pretty water. Finally I did see a whale! But it was far away - you can use your imagine much like I did as you try to find the whale in this picture.
The coastline really was spectacular. I could have stayed much longer than we did our mission was to find a place the dogs could walk around.
Before leaving, I had Mike and the dogs stand out on the bluff at the parking lot for the obligatory family picture.
But then Slugger didn't want to leave. He loved just staring at the water and smelling all the ocean smells.
While Mike and Slugger watched the water, I went to take some pictures looking the other direction. Even though it was totally different scenery it was still so beautiful.
In addition to being pretty, the ocean can sure be strong.
Because we were so high above the water, there were a lot of seagulls flying around below us. It isn't often you get the opportunity to get a picture of a seagull from above so I was determined to get one. But it wasn't meant to be. They were so close and so fast that I just couldn't get one in focus. But I did get one that was flying at about our same height.
I think my favorite place of all is the beach. I just think the ocean is so majestic. The coastline here reminds me a lot of the Oregon Coast except the water is so much more blue here.
There were a lot of rocks in the water which made for some interesting sights as the water came crashing against them.
Just as I was getting in the car I noticed a seagull yawning. I never thought about birds yawning before. Maybe he just had something stuck in his throat. Anyway, I missed the wide open mouth shot but managed to get him with his mouth still open just a little.
Now it was on to find a beach where the dogs were allowed. Not far away we found a nice little bay or cove area. This seemed like a nice little secluded area where people would stop for just a few minutes and then leave. Seemed like a great place for the dogs to have a little beach time.
Wazzu immediately showed her pleasure with the place.
Slugger immediately wanted to oblige and play with her but of course that wasn't allowed. Meanwhile, Sparkie found a plastic bottle on the beach and she entertained herself with it for at least 20 minutes.
All along one side of the cove was a hill. At the bottom of the hill next to the water was a rocky little ledge. We decided to see how far we could walk on that. The water level was low so you could walk out a ways but it was very slippery as there was wet slimey seaweed covering the rocks.
At one point we found a small cave back in the rocks. We tried to get the girls to go back in it but there was water dripping from the ceiling above and each time they got dripped on they would turn around.
While we were busy with our attention on the cave, Slugger found some nice mud to dig in. At first we were going to stop him but then decided this was his last chance to do something he really enjoys before his surgery so we let him go at it. Needless to say, he wasn't the cleanest dog when he got done!
Notice him licking his lips in the above picture. Guess what happens after that. Yuck!
Muddy or not, he is just plain cute (at least in his mommy's eyes).
As you might imagine, we wanted to get the mud off of him before letting him back in the car. So he got to trot along in the water to get washed off. Notice how he is three legged to help protect his injury.
While walking in the water helped clean him off a little, he was still muddy. So while the girls and I played on the beach, Mike took Slugger to the car to wash him off a bit more.
When Mike opened the back door, he tossed Sparkie's leash into the front seat. Unfortunately, the leash accidentally hit the head rest and careened into the passenger side front window. I hit just right (or just wrong) and the entire window shattered into a gazillion pieces. Mike didn't want Slugger getting cut so he took Slugger over and tied him to a log near the car.
A few minutes later when the girls and I came up to the car we saw Slugger tied up shivering and shaking and the window completely shattered. I thought someone had broken into the car. We put the girls on a sit stay next to Slugger while we tried to get all the broken glass out of the car. It was a huge mess. While Mike finished cleaning, I called our insurance company. Within ten minutes they had found a company near where our RV was located that could get the glass delivered to them and could also replace it for us in just a couple hours. Thank you State Farm!!
By now all the dogs were worried. They just wanted in the car. And shucks, now we were going to have to cut our afternoon short so we could get the car fixed. After getting the dogs cleaned up and in the car we decided that we really needed to find a place for them to take a nice little walk and relax a bit from all the stress.
We found this nice little loop walk in a park on the way back and we were the only ones there. To our surprise, there were these beautiful little fields full of flowers which I later learned are called Ice Plants. Even though they are considered an invasive plant, they were very pretty.
A couple fields had flowers all the same color.
But most of the fields had a couple different color flowers.
We hadn't seen many flowers in bloom yet this year so we really enjoyed looking at these. Here are a few shots of the Ice Plants.
Even though we were mesmerized by the flowers, this was actually supposed to be a bird watching park. We did see some Brants in the water nearby.
But now we had to rush home and drop the dogs and me off so Mike could get to the glass repair shop. A while later, Mike called to inform me that it was going to take at least two hours so he was going to walk around while the car was being fixed.
About 45 minutes later, I got a call from the glass repair shop saying that some of the glass must have gotten down in to the locking mechanism and they couldn't get the door open even after trying for over half an hour. They advised me that I needed to call the Honda dealer to see if they would be able to open it. When I talked the Honda service shop they said they couldn't get to it until Saturday afternoon but that we would have to get it over there right now and drop it off before they closed. This wasn't sounding good! So I told them I totally understood their situation and then proceeded to explain our predicament. After quite a bit of sweet talk, they said they could look at it today if we got it over there ASAP. Cool - now all I had to do was call Mike (who was out walking around town) and have him take the car over to the dealer.
But when I called Mike I just got his voicemail! ARG. Well, I'd done all I could do. There was nothing to do but just wait. Fortunately, Mike happened to walk back to the glass shop not too much later to see how it was going. They told him the problem and he called me to see what was going on. (He still hadn't gotten my message.) Anyway, he got to the Honda dealer and they got the door open in about two minutes. So Mike zoomed back to the glass repair place (it is now after 5pm on Friday evening) and the guy said he would stay late and replace our window. How nice was that! A couple hours later the car looks like new again - although the door doesn't unlock very well. Not a big deal as we don't use that door all that much - at least we won't any more!
After Sluggers leg injury, the gas station problem, getting lost, and the shattered window, our friends from Nevada don't really want to hang around us as they're afraid the bad luck might rub off on them. I've always heard things happen in threes. But we're up to four so I'm pretty confident we're done for a while. From now on - it's all good!
Debbie
4/21/07
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