Sire's Play Day!

Monday, August, 30, 2010

It rained here all night so when we woke up we thought we would just be hanging around camp all day. But yesterday it did the same thing and the day turned out to be beautiful. So, we took a chance and decided to make today all about Sire. (If you not into dogs, don't read this.) Its all about him.

We drove into town and parked down by the Arkansas River. The past couple of days we witnessed dog after dog having a great time in the water. Today was Sire's turn. As soon as he smelled the water, he was in it. He had a great time. We let him get wet for a while and then took him for a long walk.

The walk lead us to an abandoned railroad yard. It just totally amazes me how everyone, all around here, just leaves. They just up and walk away and leave everything where it was when they decided to go.

We ended up back on the river and we sat on the shore  for a little over an hour playing fetch with Sire. The current was too much of a challenge for him to chase a stick, or ball,  so we sat there and watched them float downstream and  lost alot of tennis balls. Some dog will be really happy with all the balls just floating by. Kinda like prospectors panning for gold around here.Wahoo, free balls!

We then walked the town streets with him. This place is very much like Oregon. If you have ever been to Oregon, everyone rides bicycles, eats healthy and has a dog. Everywhere. Sire was nervous with all the people and traffic and busy-ness going on around him so we stopped and had lunch at an outside cafe. The women in the cafe where we ate, came out with a banana split boat filled with vanilla ice cream and said it was for our dog. I'm telling you, people are so weird about animals around here. Anyway, of course, he gulped it down and loved every bit of it.

After lunch we shopped alittle and then headed up the road to Monarch Ski Resort. It is 25 miles out of town and we were curious to see how  it compared to the other ski areas we have already seen. Just before we reached our destination we saw a gondola ride up to the top of a mountain. We pulled in and would you believe it - on the sign they have printed "Pets allowed". No way!!!

So we entered inside and took Sire along. We went across the continental divide - AGAIN - and were at 12,000 feet. It was 46 degrees up there and I forgot how very cold that is. They told us this morning it snowed for over an hour. The winds were around 40 mph so we stayed in the observatory and did not walk the path that is offered.

Sire did well in the gondola. If you know him, he is afraid of everything so this was a big ordeal for him.He survived it.

We just arrived back at our temporary housing unit and he is sound asleep. (I bet the cats enjoyed their peaceful afternoon too, without the lug.)

Overall, if Sire were a child, I think he would have had a great play day. First swimming, then ice cream, then a ride in the gondola. I think he'd fit in good with all the other spoiled dogs around here.Okay, enough about Sires day.

Tomorrow we leave Salida and head to Canyon City. I have no idea if its North, or South, or East or West. I just along for the ride.  We hope you had a good one and thanks for reading.