Yes, I realize this post is long overdue and I apologize. On many days since I last wrote I’ve been traveling between one spot and another, keeping my guardians company. On other days I’ve been napping, which shouldn’t surprise anyone now that I’m a Senior.  (My how time flies!)  Nonetheless, no two days are the same, and I’ll try to convey that in the photos I’ve chosen to post along with a few words of narrative.

August, 2015 with my good buddy, Terry, in the morning at Main Beach

When in Laguna Beach, on many mornings I’ll connect with Terry, one of Laguna’s renowned watermen, a real estate agent, and a nice guy too. Terry has been a lifeguard, surfs of course, and can’t imagine being too far from the California coast.  He’s one of the Laguna denizens I know at Main Beach, and in the future I’ll mention a couple of others.

Last November my guardians and I were invited to Thanksgiving with relatives in Idaho;  even though it’s a long, long drive from Laguna, my family didn’t find that too burdensome so we took off.  Much of the drive was beautiful but nothing topped driving up US 395 on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada:

Typical view of the southern Sierra from 395 near Lone Pine, CA

While on that segment my guardians took a 2 mile detour to visit Convict Lake, base camp for a long day hike one of them took earlier in the year.

Me & the Convict Lake boathouse.  A sliver of the lake is visible on left.

Through California, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington we went over two long days.  (But, to be sure, drives don’t stress me much – I have my bed & am almost always resting easily – er, dogging it.)

Our destination and home for a few days was Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a town/city of about 46,000 humans and quite a few dogs.  As it’s known to locals, CDA has a lot going for it:   a nice downtown that’s situated adjacent to beautiful Lake Coeur d’Alene for starters.  Other noteworthy attractions, to me at least, include the world famous Hudson’s hamburger store, the Bakery by the Lake and its quite tasty dog treats, and Figpickels Toy Emporium.

Front door of Hudson’s, in CDA since 1907

Hudson’s interior just after opening

CDA also has a very nice public library which itself is near to a wonderful lakefront park with trails that I love, Tubbs Hill.

Sadly, we don’t have photos of me in the Thanksgiving festivities.  But I was there with all family members including two from my peer group.

Soon after Thanksgiving we began the trek back to California.  We routed ourselves through Portland and stayed a couple of nights so we could spend time with our friends there and also see a niece we’d also seen in CDA.

I’m being held captive behind the Portland hotel counter awaiting my guardians’ return from dinner.

From Portland we drove down Interstate 5 and ducked into Eugene for a wonderful lunch at a Vietnamese hole in the wall.  Then on to a quick night in Ashland, OR and on to San Francisco.

From SF my guardians flew to Cleveland to see relatives while I stayed in the City and networked with my friend and admirer, Judith, and her lawn bowling friends.  Upon return of my guardians, we got back in the car for the day drive to Laguna so we’d be there for Christmas with our Laguna family and the holidays with my many friends there.

So, you can see the last few months of 2015 were busy and, I hope, a good enough excuse that you’ll understand my not writing sooner.

Here I’m in Portland’s Pearl District with my lifelong pal, Bill.