A Romantic Getaway for Five

I have been trying to get Al and I away towards the end of the summer for a little pre-anniversary interlude before school starts.Last year we did a long weekend to south-west Washington state for a couple of nights, with a concert at a winery amphitheater in between.This year we needed to conserve--both time and money, so I opted to stay closer to home. We headed to Easton, WA, one of the last little towns on the east side of Snoqualmie Pass, before one drops down in to the Seattle metro area. I had taken Kate to a poker ride at Silver Ridge Ranch last year, and the trails were pleasantly flat, for the most part, and surrounded by trees. Silver Ridge has a RV/tent campground, but also has a small lodge, operated as a bed and breakfast. There is one room designated for canine companions.And all of the sites, including the lodge, have the optional use of corrals!

So Sunday afternoon we were off: Maddie and Kate, Sandy, and Al and I!
We let the girls settle a bit in their corrals while we got checked in and found our room, then I saddled up for a quick afternoon ride.

Maddie was very compliant about "ponying" Sandy. She was much more worried about RV's and bicycles and tents and such in the campground. Once were were moving along, Sandy just sort of settled in beside her. (We only got on opposite sides of a tree once!)Here we are skirting the edge of the Easton "airport" to get to state forest land.Wait!
The photographer has Kate's ears in the photo! Could it be?
Yes, Al said he was game to go for a ride...
This would be the first time he's ridden since we left the Spokane area, eleven years ago. (What with ride-able mares having babies with them, and Corky's seizures, I just didn't have anything I could trust with him.)

It was a short ride, maybe 2 or 3 miles. Maddie was striding out well, with only a few balky moments in the deep, dark, threatening woods.
But Al was way out of practice, and Kate took a little advantage of that, squirreling around, lagging back, then trotting to catch up (a tactic grandson Mike had encouraged). Plus, in the disorganized effort to get both of us mounted and dog in position, I had forgotten to double check Al's stirrups, which it turned out were several holes different, so he was off balance and awkward.The real issue for Al, however, was that he was (rightfully) worried about Sandy: the footing was soft once we got off the airport 's gravel fringes, but she isn't very fit, having been confined largely to the yard after all the problems with the neighbor dogs. After the ride, she didn't seem any the worse for wear, though she slept really well that night.
One very pleasant surprise was that, away from her own turf, Sandy did not show hardly any of the dog-aggressiveness of home! She greeted several campground dogs pleasantly enough, and wanted to play, though I was really hesitant to take any chances with her off-leash. The only snarling she did was when this little Jack Russel tried to snitch some of her breakfast. Otherwise they played well.

Monday morning the girls ate their breakfast while I mucked. That's the lodge (and the morning scenery) in the background.

At first, Al was ready to head home first thing. I had forgotten how close the freeway is, and the constant drone of traffic sort of spoiled the location for both of us. But I told him I wanted to get Kate out for a bit, to remind her a little about proper trail manners. After a hearty breakfast, Al decided he was game to go out again.This ride, we opted to leave Sandy behind, so I could focus more on helping Al and Kate have a pleasant time. (We opted to leave her in the trailer rather than either the truck, which she knows, or the lodge, which she didn't--the trailer would be cooler and with less visual stimulus.) She stayed quiet as we left and was happy to see us when we returned.

With Al's stirrups evenly adjusted (though still a bit long for my liking), he was much more comfortable. He declared that he wasn't going to use his reins as much, and therefore Kate was happier and better behaved as well.

She was happy to tag along behind, and Maddie was very forward, and much braver about the woods.

Al did push Kate up to lead for awhile...

...but she kept looking back to make sure her buddy Maddie was still coming.It was a much more pleasant ride all the way around, as I didn't have to worry near as much about two green horses, a green rider and an out-of shape puppy-dog.

We got back to the lodge, packed up and headed for home. The girls were glad to be back in their pasture, Sandy was glad to be back in her yard, and we were happy to sleep in our own bed again.
It was a brief, but welcome get-away.

Heavenly Doggie Daycare

Heaven has a new puppy care-giver.

Our dear friend Lucille no doubt was greeted at the pearly gates by our Aussie "Chewy" where they can now both walk without pain.Rest In Peace, Lucille.

Travelogue: Washington Wanderings

If you're looking for a horsie post, you can skip this one (though there are two rather large equines towards the end). I'll be back tomorrow with some silly Sunday videos.

Al and I went away for sort of a mini-second-honeymoon last weekend. It started out as a trip to see Jackson Browne in concert, and ended up being a very pleasant meander through south-central Washington. We left Ellensburg about noon, after determining that Jackson's (the colt, not the singer/songwriter) butt swelling was somewhat benign. We headed south through Yakima and turned south-west at Toppenish on Highway 97.
After leaving the wheat fields of the Goldendale plateau, and the main road, we came over this hill....
...into the Klickitat River valley. TREES! First some sort of oak, reminiscent of the live oaks of central California. Then a nice mix of pines and firs as we moved farther up the foothills of the Cascade range.

This was a fairly open area.
A little ways further and we discovered the valley had become somewhat of a canyon.
(Hey! Who's that under the tree, and what's he shooting?)
(Oh, just some gal taking pictures of the canyon.)
Then suddenly, the road emptied out into this plain and gave us our first really good shot of Mount Adams to the west.

And Mount Hood off to the south.

Quaint little motel/inn in Trout Lake, at the base of Mount Adams, where we stayed Friday night.
Each room has it's own special bear.

The morning view out our window--better than any motel I've ever stayed in before!

Our porch, with guest.
Our gracious host, Dave, and his daughter, Sarah (who makes killer sweet potato waffles for the continental breakfast).

The next day we wandered south toward the Columbia River gorge.
We're getting closer to Oregon: Mt. Hood over the rooftops of White Swan.

We stopped at a rest stop overlooking the River.
Can you say "The Bridges of Klickitat County"?

This old tree caught my eye.

On it's other side a sign that says:
"I am approx. 300 years old."

We putzed around the rest stop for about an hour, hoping to catch a train on it's way through one of the tunnels on either side of (and directly under) us.
No trains, but Al caught this guy swooping through.
(If you en-big-gin the photo, you'll see that his head is red and featherless--some sort of vulture?)
We had to settle for a train on the opposite side of the river.

This fellow was biking from Astoria, on the Oregon coast, to Green Bay, Wisconsin! When Al said he'd always wanted to do something like that on his bike, but figured he'd missed his youthful chance, the fellow reported that he is 54 years old!! We had passed him before the rest stop, and he passed us again when we arrived in Lyle, but I never got a decent shot of him riding.

We took the time to explore the "Old Hwy 8" route that went above the River.

We passed this cute carriage, pulled by two monstrous draft mules.

The only photo I got from the front--a quarter mile later I wished I had stopped.

Coming back down to the water,

we spotted this humongous kite! (The handler is down on the sand bar, behind the bluff overlooking the River.)

The highway bridge at the confluence of the Klickitat River and the Columbia.
(There's that cute photographer guy again!)
The little railroad hotel that we stayed in after the concert on Saturday night was a bit of a disappointment: a cute concept, but it couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to be a posh gourmet hideaway, or an out-of-the-way bed and breakfast. It was so unremarkable, we didn't even take any pictures.

Leaving town the next morning, heading north-east up the lower end of Klickitat River.

Whose that sharing the roadway? This little herd of deer, two does and their three fawns, still with spots, were coming down the hill towards the river. They had steep basalt cliffs to their right, and a drop off worthy of a guardrail to their left. They could have scrambled out either direction, but it would have been difficult.

What do we do, mama deerest?

Should we jump over the side here?

No, I think we're okay going a little farther.

Here's our regular path to the river, kids.
Thanks for waiting, humans.

It was nice to be able to just turn off the engine and wait for this group to pass. How pleasant, not being in a hurry to get anywhere!

Back over to the dry side of the state!Al and I were in denial about heading home, so we made a brief side trip...

We visited this State Park at the site of an early military post.

A replica of an old log barracks. I love the symmetry.

Well, we couldn't stall any longer; it was time to head for home (and a waiting puppy dog).
One thing that grows well in the lower Yakima Valley is hops (for brewing). Very few people would know what this crop was, suspended from guy wires....
Dropping down into the green of the Kittitas Valley.

Mount Stuart just visible through the haze (from recent brush fires).

They're here!

Al gets mobbed.

Happy puppy!

Good to be home!