Wordless Wednesday: Zion National Park

Pee Ess: Brutus, my equally uber-geek Mom knew that she had some Star Wars stuff in there, but since she also had a veiled reference to Dr. Who, she could just play fast and loose with intergalactic travel!

Wordless Wednesday: All the Good Things In Life

*kissey face*
-Fiona

New Hike!

Warning: this post is Very Picture Intensive. Those of you with slow internet connections should just use your imaginations. For those of you with high-speed internet, these pictures are well-worth biggifying.

Okay. So, Mom and Dad took me on a new hike yesterday. Mom has this big map of all these different trails, and trail heads and things, and decided that we would 'try' a hike that was started "somewhere" off the Dalton Wash road.

For those of you who don't know Dad, "somewhere" always makes him a little nervous. He likes directions to be a little more specific than that. Especially when the road is a dirt road that seems to go up at about a 60% grade. Mom wasn't worried because she wasn't driving!

Anyhoo, after a couple of wrong turns and a glimpse of a somewhat creepy guy camping up on the mesa, Mom and Dad found a place to park that suited them, and off we went, not having any idea as to what to expect.

At the start, it was just another dirt road. Ho-hum. I won't bother to show you more dirt road pictures, as you get the idea. We went on for a while, until I decided that I needed a drink. FYI, Dad carries my water (and his), while Mom carries the backpack that has extra clothes, food, dog treats, etc., etc.

Now even if you biggify that picture, you might miss my water drinking technique.

Note the tongue curl-age. This is so I can most efficiently drink out of Dad's water bottle. (Yes, we share. I kiss him on the lips, so it's not like sharing a water bottle is that much different. I mean, I've already got Dad's cooties at this point!)

Once we got off the dirt road, we found ourselves on a very up-and-down trail with lots of slick rock. Mom says I'm a "mountain goat". Last time I checked, I was still a doggie.

Photo-op! (Neither of my grandmothers should panic at this photo - we were no where near the edge!)
Pretty cool scenery, huh?


And then back to the slickrock. I was the trail guide!

Another photo-op! This picture is well-worth biggifying; Mom and Dad seemed to be pretty impressed with the scenery. Me? I was looking for elusive jack rabbits.


See, I told you I was the trail guide! I kept my eyes peeled for this rock markers so we didn't get lost.


Wow, there's a lot of rock here, Mom! But don't worry I'll guide you safely.


This is a 'window'. It can be created by wind or water, but we're guessing wind on this one.

HI!!! Heehee!!!

More drinking. I was interested in the pool, but Dad insisted that I drink out of the bottle, instead. Spoilsport! ;-)


Me and Mom at the edge of the world! (Not really, it just looks like it!)


Me and Dad in front of more of this 'scenery' stuff.

I really don't know why Mom says I'm a mountain goat. She might be confused, though, because she's got really long legs all of a sudden. Maybe it's an 'Alice in Wonderland' sort of thing...



Oh wait, her legs are normal again! More scenery stuff. And trail markers.

There are trails that run all over this mesa, and after looking at the mesa on Google Earth, Mom and Dad want to come back and do some more exploring. Which sounds good to me, because I like walking up and down the rocks. And scoping out the occasional rabbit/lizard. So, this was actually a pretty cool hike; I'm glad Mom found it. I can't wait to go back. And I can't wait to see what other new hikes Mom finds.

Now I'm going to go take a nap with my little big sister, because looking at all of these pictures is wearing me out!

*kissey face*
-Fiona The Intrepid

Wordy Wednesday

I may have to put Mom back on warning (we went on a hike today, and due to a little mis-communication, Mom didn't bring the camera) as I met some Really Big Dogs (note from Fi's Mom: they were horses) - I even got snooter-to-snooter with one of them, and Mom didn't get any pictures. *sheesh* But, we know where they live, and I hope I can go see them again. (Assuming that we can find a path to the horses that doesn't involve barbed wire - don't worry, no accidents - and burrs.... Otherwise, we may have to seek out other horses.)

However, I'm not ready to fire Mom yet, because she and Dad have been taking me hiking almost every day; and decent hikes, too. 4-5 miles every time, and Dad says we'll probably start going on longer hikes. I like the hikes because the scenery is great, and I feel Very Sleepy in the evenings. Which may be part of Mom and Dad's Plan. But that's okay, because any day that includes hiking and napping is a Good Day in my book.

Today Mom took Mr. Bufus to the vet for a follow-up on his bladder infection, and he has been declared "all better". Not that it was life-threatening or anything, but I know that he's glad that he doesn't have to take those icky anti-biotics any more!

Mom say that tomorrow we are going to go to a totally new place to hike, but here are some pictures from a hike we did yesterday; it was the same place as the last pictures, but we went further, and it is Really Pretty there!


I prefer the up-hill side of the trail! ;-)

Perfect water break - my servant gives me water, and we've got a great backdrop to boot!

I don't know why this picture prompts Mom to say, "You are such a Retriever!" Just because I like to pick up sticks here and there....

Livin' life on the edge!

Nappy time!

Again, we are going someplace totally new tomorrow - not that I don't like this hike, but I can't wait to see more of this scenery stuff!

BTW, Mom wants to apologize for not helping me keep up with bloggies; she has been working on Christmas presents for people, and that has cut down on my bloggie-reading time. She tries to catch up here and there, but you all type so much! ;-)

Here is one of the presents she has finished. She's got piles more to do, though!

*kissey face*
-Fiona, The Intrepid (I don't know what that means, exactly, but Mom and Dad say that whenever they take me on these hikes!)

The servants are back in line

After a little beating, a little withholding of kissey face, and a stern talking to, the servants (meaning Mom) are back in line.

Mom and Dad took me on a hike today, and (get this) Mom actually brought the camera! Can you believe it?!? (Yeah, me neither!)

Since I can't go into Zion National Park, Mom has done a bunch of research and got a bunch of maps of the area that show trails on BLM (Bureau of Land Management, for those of you who don't live in states/countries that have big chunks of land that need managing...). And there are A LOT of BLM trails. Apparently some of the best mountain biking in the country is on the BLM land around the National Park. And mountain biking trails are also perfect hiking trails.

So, today we went on a section of the JEM trail. Mom documented the hike.

C'mon, Dad!!! Let's GO!!!

This looks like it could be interesting.... Let's see if Mom picked a good trail.

Hey... There's a river down there!

Wow. We're kinda high up here!

I don't know what you're looking at, Dad; I think I saw something on the hill side that looks much more interesting than that scenery stuff.

Oh. So that's what you were looking at. Got it!

Wow!

No pee-mail here, so Mom better get out the map!

That's a long way down! You get to walk near the edge, Dad, not me!

Okay, good trail choice, Mom. Now, do you have any treats in that backpack of yours?

We'd better get moving Dad. I think those clouds are building.

I mentioned that you get the cliff side, right?

Back to the car!

After-hike nap! (Well-deserved, I might add! It was really fun! And 4 miles - which isn't a bad start!)

And we did make it home before the rain:

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for taking me on such a great hike! I can't wait for the next one; I've seen Mom's stack of maps, and I just KNOW that she's going to find someplace else just as good!

*kissey face*
-Fiona the Intrepid

Pee Ess. If you want to see pictures from a hike Mom did two days ago with a group from the RV park, click here. They went to the top of Cable Mountain and looked 1,800 feet to the canyon floor below. And I couldn't go. Boo, hiss! (But she's got some pretty cool pictures, even if they don't include me!)

First full day in southern Utah

Ohboy, ohboy, ohboy!!! Yes, that would be my Retriever side coming out. Why do you ask? ;-)

So, today was the first full day in southern Utah, and because Mom forgot one of TaiChi's meds, she had to find a pharmacy that carried the eye drops, and get them phoned in and then go pick them up.

Finding a pharmacy was no problem; Mom is an expert Googler. Teehee! But then Mom needed to call them. And neither her nor Dad's cell phones work here (we are in a Major Cone of Silence), so Mom tried their internet phone thingy, but while the internet signal here is good enough to play on the computer, it isn't quite good enough to do the phone thingy. So Mom got a local phone line hooked up to the House With Wheels (we have actual plug-in phones in the House With Wheels), and then spent (literally) trying to buy some phone cards online so that she could make long distance calls. Apparently buying phone cards is slightly more complicated that getting a license to carry a concealed weapon. So says Mom, and I have a feeling she knows.

Anyway, Mom finally got the calling card thing handed, and got TaiChi's eyedrops called in to a "local" (meaning only 20 miles away) pharmacy. Wanting to blow off a little steam after a few hours of mutter words that I am too young to repeat, Mom decided to take me on a little stroll.

Literally Right Behind the RV park is the Virgin River. They have a little embankment, and then some steps, and then there you are. I guess this is a low time of year for the river, as we had to pick our way through some rocks and marshy spots (some of us picking less carefully than others of us!) to the actual river.

Seriously. This is Right Out Our Back Door!!!

Biggify to get the full sense of it!

Pretty nifty, huh?

So after our little stroll, it was ready for Mom to go to the town of Hurricane (pronounced 'her-i-cun', not 'hur-i-cane'... for whatever reason...) to get TaiChi's meds and she wanted to check out a bi-sickle ride that she found on a site called "MapMyRide.com". It was a 20-ish mile ride and supposed to be fairly flat - which is the kind of ride they were looking for.

Mom asked me if I wanted to come along, and always being game to check out new scenery, I went along. I mean, you've got to know the lay of the land, right?

So we got TaiChi's meds, which was boring. And then we had to go to a hardware store, which was equally boring. Except that Mom was amused by the pink handguns. Hmm.. Aiming for a specific market?!? 'Aiming'. Heehee! Yes, I amuse myself!

Anyway, after the ROTE was done (and for which I got NO treats... but that wasn't entirely Mom's fault - she kept getting a little lost, and was focusing on where she was going and not so much on stopping at McDonald's. But she'll know for next time!), we went in search of this bi-sickle route.

And Mom got lost several times, but found the route. And talk about Middle Of Nowhere. But Mom didn't get pictures because she was too busy trying to follow the route. Did I mention that we got lost a couple of times? Including once turning into this neighborhood of little teeny houses all packed together like bees in a hive. It was a little creepy. But I barked when one of the neighborhood kids waved at me, so I guess it wasn't TOO creepy. Just the no yard part was creepy....

Anyway, after driving through ranch land forever, Mom came up over a hill and just gasped: "Oh wow!" Biggify this picture...

A reservoir in the middle of nowhere. Not at all what Mom was expecting! But Very Pretty!

And then down the road further? Sand dunes!!! There was even a big machine pushing some of the sand off the road.


It was REALLY cool! Mom's not sure if she and Dad are quite up for this ride yet, as there are a few more hills on the ride than Mom expected, but she thinks they might start off riding sections of it.

But it was a great drive! And Mom might go hiking tomorrow morning with the 'social group' at the RV park in order to scope out some local hikes that I can go on, because now that I am acclimatized, I am Ready To Go!!!! (If she doesn't make it out with the group, she did get some maps, but I think she'd like to go with a group first, so she doesn't get lost, because, well, her sense of direction is not exactly The Best....)

So... I'm really happy that we are here, and Mom and Dad seem to be really happy, too! TaiChi has been going on little walks, and Mr. Bufus has been making himself Quite Comfy in the House With Wheels. *happy sigh*. I love the House With Wheels!

BTW, the Road Karma donation went to Mollie Jo and Bobo's charity, the Mayfield/Graves County Animal Shelter because their Mom does a lot of driving in transporting rescue doggies, and it seemed like a good match. And besides, Mom has a big crush on Mollie Jo and Bobo! Thanks for all the good suggestions; we'll add them to the future donation list!

*kissey face*
-Fiona, the soon-to-be hiking 'doodle!