A busy and chaotic travel schedule last week and I'd only do that for my Dad, Shirley, Jennifer, McKenny and especially Samantha. The top picture is of Samson's home the past two weeks as he is in Obedience school. The venue is nice out in the country, but also pretty barren as he wasn't even allowed a blanket or toy in his kennel as the owner won't take on the responsibility of the dog chewing it up and ingesting it. I understand, but the pup is such a toy hound that he must be going nuts. I'm sure he thinks we have abandoned him by now as we dropped him off last Monday and won't pick him up until this Friday afternoon. Darla is absolutely heartbroken that he is gone, but I'm sure he will return a new and better dog for the experience. I talked to Dale yesterday and he said that Samson is really coming along on his training an he has him off the leash and walking right by his side as he walks the farm. Dale was also surprised at how little Samson knew as far as come, fetch and heel. When he said that to me, I told him that's what we are paying you for. Friday can't come soon enough as we really miss the little guy.
So we dropped him off Monday morning and when we pulled up to the gate of the farm, we called a number that was posted and no one answered. We waited about ten minutes and we saw a bike heading down the path from the main house. It was a tall lanky older man, who looked like something out of Deliverance. We hadn't seen Dale in about fifteen years and he looked familiar, but had he aged that much? It turns out it was Dale's father who helps out in the kennels. We met Dale up at the house and toured the kennel. It was pretty grim with about ten dogs all placed in small crates and the crates were rocking back and forth as the dogs barked. I almost lost Darla at that point, but we signed the paperwork and handed Samson over for his training. Dale trains hunting dogs as well and had about six hunting dogs in residence and his program lasts three months for the hunting dogs and costs over $2000. He also offers a Duck hunting only course for nine weeks at $1500. He knows dogs and dog training so I look forward to seeing how our dog does.
Tuesday we were up early and off to Canada via Seattle. We flew in about 9:30, collected our rental, A Kia Soul like McKenny has, and drove on to Canada, about a two hour drive. It was raining and we stopped at the border to buy Dad a handle of Canadian Club. I stopped at the second Duty Free and the larger bottles are at the first store. I walked in the rain to get the booze as you can't backtrack once in the Duty Free area. More on that later. We got to Surrey about 12:30 and enjoyed a hot bean soup that Shirley had cooked up. She had a turkey for dinner and we were able to visit with Cam and Kathy and Al and Sherry over dinner. Tyler came over for dinner as well. It was a fun night and good conversation with the Millers and Nowakowskis.
Wednesday morning was almost a complete disaster for me as I got up to take my shower and noticed a bath mat to put down in the tub to keep from slipping. Unfortunately I placed it down while the tub had running water and when I got in, it slipped like a skim board and I went down like a sack of oranges, crashing through the curtain and on to the floor of the bathroom. I'm sure it sounded like a plane hit the house to Dad and Shirley downstairs. Darla came in as I was rolling around on the floor like a turtle turned on it's back. I honestly don't know how I kept from cracking my head on the toilet or breaking my back or butt when I landed. It all happened so fast. One minuet I was stepping into the shower and the next I was on the floor with the shower curtain and rod on top of me. I was sure that I would end up with a stiff back and not be able to walk the next day, but the hand of God was on my shoulder and I was fine.
That start to the day should have indicated that it was a good day to stay in bed. Instead, we loaded up and headed to White Rock.. Dad took the Cadillac even though I offered to drive. On the way I mentioned that Darla had never seen the Peace Arch. Dad said we could drive to the border, park and walk to the Peace Arch Park. Dad was looking for "Zero Avenue", which we never found. He pulled into the Duty Free to ask them for directions. As we pulled in there were spike strip and signs posted that you could not pull back out. Obviously the Duty Free is not available to Canadian citizens to shop and drive back home. We pulled out of the shop and up to the US border as we were all close to panicking. Darla had our passports, but Dad and Shirley hadn't prepared for a foray into the US. We found a side street that took us back to the Canadian side and breathed a sigh of relief until we realized that we were heading right to the Canadian border. We were in Purgatory. Dad pulled up to the border and we waited for the one car to finish their business. Unfortunately Dad did not wait for the light to turn green and pulled up to the booth. There we met an officious little woman who chewed Dad out for not waiting for the light to turn green. He explained our dilemma and her response was, "That still doesn't give you the right to run a red light." Wow, I was afraid to see Dad and Shirley strip searched for running a red light. The woman grilled them about where they were born and what our business was in the US. Dad explained again that we never entered the US. She told him to open the trunk and searched it finding a tin of rolled US pennies. She checked it out, but shut the lid and sent us on our way. We not only enjoyed our fish and chips at the Beach House in White Rock, but said thanks for nor being thrown in jail for running a red light at the border.
The rest of our trip was fun as we went to the 99 Nursery and saw the Christmas decorations and then went Thursday night to Al and Sherry's for a pot roast and all the fixins. Dad and I watched the Dallas Cowboy game later and I headed to bed about 10:30 as Friday was a marathon. Dad sat and watched the Cannuck game as Darla and Shirley kibitzed.
Friday we were up for Shirley's monkey bread and then on the road by 9 for our flight from Seattle to Sacramento. We arrived in Sac at 4:30 and had already packed Darla's truck with about $7500 worth of her jewelry inventory under black tablecloths. Luckily nothing had been disturbed and we were on the road to Monterey and in town by 8:00 PM. We were able to get a two bedroom hotel room at the Comfort Inn in Monterey and it was comfortable for all five of us. We kind of got our wires crossed as McKenny had plans Saturday to drive to the Bay and sell some of his records at the local record shops. We had thought we were going to all visit Monterey and Pacific Grove, but McKenny was up the next morning and off to San Jose at 9 AM. Darla and I took Jennifer and Sam to our favorite breakfast place in Pacific Grove, Toasties, for breakfast. From there we went to the butterfly sanctuary in PG. It was a bit anticlimactic, but luckily the docents had a digital telescope trained on the neighbor's eucalyptus tree that was housing about 200 butterflies all grouped together for warmth and security. From there we drove over to the Pacific Grove golf course and saw a family of about six deer walking up the 9th fairway. We got out to take pictures and Sam ran to the fence. There was a foursome on the hole and Sam went back to the car and had a little snit. I asked what was wrong and she said, "That golfer looked right at me and then chased the deer away." I had to explain to her that the golfers had paid to play and the deer were in their way. She wasn't pleased. The guy looked right at her and them shooed the deer away.
We stopped at the beach and watched the waves and Jennifer and Sam collected shells. Sam found a 15 foot long sea "something" and was dragging that around with her and we had to finally corral her and get her back to the car. We stopped at the cliffs and park in Pacific Grove and Jennifer and Sam walked down to the beach and took the picture of us staring down at them from the bluff. They walked the trail from the beach up to the cliff that the surfers use and came back up. We had to take Darla to her party in Marina and then drove back to Cannery Row and shopped the outlets. I bought Sam a new backpack, some candy and a pretzel. We stopped at a magic shop and the store owner spent about a half hour showing Sam magic tricks and we left the store with about $25 worth of magic tricks for her to use on her friends.
We picked Darla up and heeded back homeward bound. We stopped in Stockton and met McKenny at the Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Sam couldn't wait to show her magic tricks and we had some laughs at the table.
McKenny left Sunday morning for a DJ marathon at the radio station at Stanford University that ran from 4PM to 6AM Monday morning. He dropped Jen and Sam at Bill's house in Folsom and they drove up to Nevada City to see the Christmas decorations. They even had dinner at the same restaurant we ate at with Steve the week before. I played golf and actually won my flight with an 85, net 69 which won me $48. I also won another $21 in skin money. I am making a little comeback in golf and have another game set for this Saturday and then tournaments the next two weekends.
Jen and Sam got home about 5:30 and we had lasagna for dinner and then invited Jordan next door over and Sam and she went in the spa which you can see in the pictures. It was a great visit and McKenny did a great job with his record sales and his marathon. He got back here about 8 AM and they were off for the 10 hour drive back to Vegas.
We certainly enjoyed our week and weekend with family and it was fun, exciting, fast paced and I was exhausted when it was all over. I finally got a good night's sleep Monday and Tuesday night. I think I'm good now. Dad and Shirley and Darryl and Cheryl are in Nuevo Vallarta at our resort there. It would be great to be there, but we need to save money for the wedding. I hope everyone is great. Be happy. Ciao.
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