{17oct2011: Eastern Washing part 2}

(See part 1 here)


Day two of our weekend out east was white water rafting day through River Recreations! We weren't about to leave Darwin in the tent or in the car so I drove her back to Yakima to the day care and then headed back to the camp site to load up the car and get Jason. We weren't sure how safe it was to leave all our camp stuff out so we packed it all back up. 
After a bit of trouble finding the rafting group (we didn't get updated direction to their meet up spot and were waiting at the wrong area for a while) we finally found them and had a blast. I've never gone rafting before and the Tieton River outing was marked as a 3-5 level. I was a bit nervous, but it turned out that the dam that was supposed to be opened that week to let a ton of water down the river (making it super fast) didn't get opened, so the river was shallow making it more technical to get through. We had fun with our guide and managed to get down without getting stuck. The same can't be said for other groups and because our guide was the lead for the day he had to hang out at the back of the pack to make sure everyone got down. The whole thing took a lot longer than we planned and by the end we had to forgo lunch and jump in the car to rush over to pick up Darwin. (no pictures of river rafting... Jason though I would fall out of the raft and lose my camera. I didn't fall out btw.)
Once we had Darwin we picked up food and managed to snag the same camping spot (while the road traffic noise wasn't ideal, being right on the river was nice cause it was so hot that weekend).

On Jason's last trip for work he went to Vietnam and during some down time managed to shop and bought me a hammock (I've always wanted a hammock)! It was still early afternoon when we re-setup camp so we hung up the hammock as well.


{these Govino Wine Glassesbtw are great for camping. I love them!}

Darwin was more relaxed this second day of camping by the river/highway. She explored more and didn't spend as much time barking at the car noises.

For dinner we made pizza hobopies! (I don't know what the real name for them are... Jason's mom introduced them to me a couple years ago and they are so fun! Basically sandwiches you toast in cast iron pan things.) We even made Darwin one. She loved it.

Sunday we had no big plans so we laid around and relaxed in the morning. Darwin spent the time in the river and hiding out in the shade.

As freaked out as Darwin was by the road noise, when it was time to go she wanted to stay (as usual). While we sat in the car watching her, she walked around keeping a good 30 foot between us. If one of us made a move to catch her, she'd dart off. Eventually I got her and we loaded her into the car and headed home.

{you can't catch me!!!}

We took the scenic route home over the Chinook Pass and were able to see some great views.

Overall it was a fun weekend and I'd totally want to go back to Eastern Washington soon! Maybe one day I'll win the lottery and can stay in a teepee at Cherry Wood and do horseback wine tasting! And I'd definitely would want to try rafting down Tieton River when the water level's higher. 

{13oct2011: Eastern Washington}

Groupon and those other discount sites are a great way to get out to see and do things you may not have originally thought of doing. One item we recently bought was a white water rafting adventure. It took us to Eastern Washington, where I've never been, so we made a weekend out of it.
A month or so before our weekend get away I saw a post on a Washington tourism blog I follow about Cherry Wood Bed Breakfast & Barn in Zillah. They not only are a B&B but also rescue horses and lead winery tours by horseback. How cool is that?! So of course I show it to Jason and we decide to do it!
So early early one Friday morning we head out east. We booked a Friday horseback and winery tour so we needed to get there by 11. They offered to keep Darwin in a kennel, but we were worried about the heat (it was a 90+F weekend) so we decided to take her to a doggy day care instead. We picked Pomona Pet Services in Yakima and they were great, so friendly and totally in love with Darwin. They were a small facility with an indoor area and an outdoor enclosed yard with a little plastic kiddie pool (which Darwin loves to stand in). We only didn't take into consideration how out of the way it is from all the activities we had planned (45 min drive from horseback riding and water rafting spot), but other than that it was a great place.
So we hurried over east and dropped off Darwin then headed to Cherry Wood.
{hello mini horse!}



Besides the horses they had a few dogs on the property. This one followed me around a bit as we waited.

These were Jason and my horses, Nevada and Latago.
We had a few late comers (I hate tardy people!... maybe not hate, but am bugged by them) so we got a later start than planned, but then we were off.





We stopped at three wineries (had lunch at the second) and at the last stop I made friends with this guy. They rescued him as a stray and he's a total lover.
 
Since we started later than planned we were running behind and had to rush back to the B&B so we could head out to pick up Darwin from daycare. See the teepees... you can stay in them at the B&B!


We collected the wines we bought (if you buy wines along the tasting the wineries deliver them back to Cherry Wood so you don't have to carry them around) and hurried back to Yakima to pick up Darwin. We then stopped quickly at a market to get dinner supplies (steak and mashed potatoes of course) and then headed out towards RimRock lake near Tieton where we planned to camp (also near the rafting area). We found a free spot next to the river.



It was a great spot for the most part, right on the river, no one near us, but the highway was right across the river. Boo. It wasn't too bad, cars couldn't really see us, but the traffic noise freaked Darwin out. She kept thinking a car was pulling up to our site and barking. She had a pretty sleepless night (she was "on guard" all night watching the car lights pass and trying to hear for strange noises)... poor girl.

***I realized there are no Darwin pictures in this post! Don't worry she'll be in a lot in the next post!
***Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, if you haven't read it I highly recommend it, it's so good!

{23sept2010: camping and anniversary}

More camping pictures!  If you missed the first half of camping, check it out here.
On Thursday our other friends came out and joined us with their 8month old baby girl for her first camping trip.
Darwin had to check her out.


They also brought their dogs Torch and Oso.
Torch

The baby was an amazing camper.  She enjoyed the dogs, the fire, the people, the tents.  But I don't know if she enjoyed the outdoors as much as Darwin did who sucked it all up as much as she could.



Darwin enjoyed camping so much that on Friday when it was time to pack up and go (we had to get home before Saturday morning college football kickoff) she did not want to leave.  As everyone packed up the cars and was ready to go, we found Darwin laying in the dirt at the campsite holding her ground.  We got her up and let her take one last drink from the lake before corralling her into the car.

As much energy as she had trying to stay at the campsite, she was also that tired and kept falling asleep in the car.

The drive down the mountain we had an even better view of Mount Rainer.


On our way home we stopped to get breakfast at a great little place in Black Diamond and I also got Darwin her first ice cream cone to make up for pulling her away from camping.



And that was our last camping trip of the year.  Hopefully we'll get more in next year.

On a completely unrelated note, one year ago today we started this blog for Darwin, all thanks to our first blog buddy, Moose!

To celebrate I thought we should pass on a book we won from Stella, which if you remember is written by the holistic vet we are now taking Darwin to.

It's an interesting read about holistic medicine/treatment for animals, especially if you don't know much about it.  

If you want to be in the drawing for the book let us know in a comment and we'll pick a name this weekend!

{20sept2010: camping trip}

The other week we took a couple days off before Labor Day weekend to get one last camping trip in (college football season was starting and Jason has to be home on Saturdays for football).  This time we went with our friends and Darwin's bff, Juneau, and they took us to a great spot a couple hours south east of Seattle.  

This was a view of Mount Rainer on our drive to the spot.  
We left Seattle around 530 and didn't get to the camping spot til close to 730-800.  Being that it's the end of summer the sun goes down around that time, so as soon as we got there we quickly set up tents in the dark.  It was raining earlier in the week and it was sort of a last minute planned trip, and no one brought dry wood, so we all scattered about looking for reasonably dry pieces so we could start a fire.  We had a little luck, but most of it was damp so we had a small smokey fire, and it was FREEZING that night.  By the time we got to camp, my car said it was 48F outside, meaning that it was probably below 40F throughout the night.  I had been feeling sick earlier in the week and Darwin was tired too, so we both headed to bed earlier, trying to keep warm (without much luck).  It was a rough night, let me tell you.
But in the morning we all got up to a beautiful warm sunny day.




We spent the morning sitting out in the sun, reading, walking the lake and doing some fishing in the lake.
{Dar taking a walk with Aileen and Joo}

And for the first time (maybe ever), Darwin actually laid down on the ground and relaxed! She's becoming an outdoorsy city dog!

More pictures to come!