Five for Friday, Edition #27

1) Once again, a huge shoutout to all of you for the continued outpouring of cards, packages, texts, emails, and everything else.  Your support really has meant everything to me. I vow that I shall pay all of your kindness forward.

2) I am probably not going to do a recap of my trip to California because, to be honest, it wasn't a great time for me. I was so worried about my mom and then my mom died WHILE I WAS AT THE WEDDING RECEPTION, and then we were there, but I was wishing I wasn't, and it wasn't great. There were highlights (the happy couple! the ocean! meeting J!), but I wasn't at my finest (a very public apology to J for not getting me at my best - in another time, I absolutely would have wanted to go to the beach to watch the kite surfers and search for seashells and done more than just a couple exhibits of the museum). 

If I'm being honest with myself, I do not know that I'll want to think much about this trip in the future. But here's a picture of me being me at the beach so you'll know I really was there.

3) Let's talk about my leg. Have you ever seen the x-ray? Let me find it and show it again. I had recent ones taken, but I don't know how to get a copy of those.

This injury took place in 2011 and over the years, as with the frog in the boiling water, I have started to have more and more problems with it.

I talked with an orthopedic surgeon who suggested two basic things: 1) remove all the hardware that is currently there, which would be a surgery more invasive than the original surgery, and then put in NEW MODERN hardware or 2) fuse the ankle so that it didn't it move. As you can imagine, neither of these options were appealing to me, so I set up some physical therapy appointments.

They haven't been magical, but they have been helpful. I no longer get out of bed and nearly fall over because the pain in my leg is too great. I am no longer taking Tylenol multiple times throughout the day. Can I run? Still no. Can I jump? I mean, sure, if I don't mind chewing Tylenol the next day. But as long as I don't do crazy impact things, I can do all the things. Let's call it a win.

4) I'm taking a page from Elisabeth's blog here and giving you some things that have made me happy recently. 

a. I had a giant, all day long presentation (in front of 100 faculty members of my college) on Wednesday and it's done. It went mostly well, but they were working on the HVAC system in the student union, so it was boiling in our room and I was sweaty upon sweaty AND SO WAS EVERYBODY ELSE. But it's done! And I never have to do it again.

Yesterday a lot of people came to my office to say that the training was super useful and helpful and that our team did a great job. I also had a few emails. I'm coming up on two years in my current job and I'm finally starting to feel like the faculty realize that I'm helpful AND I'm starting to feel knowledgeable. Our team is great, too. I was going to post of picture my boss took of me at the event, but there are too many other recognizable faces in it, so just imagine me looking like a boss lady (drenched in sweat) holding a microphone and having a hundred people staring at me. 

b. On Wednesday after that presentation I went to a yoga class at the community center and it was a mat class! No standing poses! Perfect since I'd been on my feet all day!

c. My SIL called me. That's it. That's the happy thing. She's really one of my favorite people in the world.

d. Birthday presents from my husband including some new earrings and a new yoga bag! A bit ago, I asked people for advice on a yoga bag that would carry my mat, blanket, two blocks, and a strap. Basically, people told me it was impossible and I gave up on my search. When I was at a class recently, someone had a PERFECT BAG and I asked them about the bag and then I asked for one for my birthday. (NOTE: That's an Amazon link. The company that makes the bag is a small business and when you go to their home page and try to buy directly from them, they send you to Amazon. I have accepted this as reality. Please don't throw eggs at my blog.) I have a blue bag. It is everything I have ever dreamed of in a yoga bag. (Okay, fine. Yes, I would prefer if it had a fun print or color, but you get what you get and you like it.)

You can wear it as a backpack or just have one strap slung across your back messenger bag style. 

It has a blanket, a mat, two blogs, and a strap, and you'll notice there's still room at the top. When I take it to campus to do yoga, I add my leggings to the bag. PERFECTION.

e) Zelda the Cat recently went on strike and refused to eat her food. I researched and researched and we started her on a new food and she loves it and I refuse to think about how expensive it is. But now both Hannah and Zelda are eating WITHOUT ANY ISSUES and this has been so rare that I'm loving every meal time. 

5) I'm just going to leave a photo collage of the last several days here with no explanation, in the style of Allison.

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When's the last time you were at a beach? Do you have a recent purchase that makes you happy?

A Long Weekend in Seattle

Bestest Friend and I spent a long weekend in Seattle - we met up at the airport on Friday morning and she left on Monday morning (I spent the whole of Monday at the airport, but pretend that never happened). 

I'm going to condense this because is there anything more boring than somebody else's trip, but here's what we did if you're interested in the TL;DR version. I'll go into all the details below.

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Friday
Seattle Aquarium - Okay. Maybe I wouldn't normally pay that price for what it is, but it was fine. 
Public Market - This place is so much fun. Very crowded, so be prepared for that. 

Saturday
Underground Tour - Eh. Bestest Friend and I are bad at guided tours. LOL. Maybe it was our fault more than the fault of the tour. 
Seattle Center - What a beautiful area to wander around. 
Permanent jewelry - So much fun. 

Sunday
Whale watching tour - Really fun!
Fremont Market - Very impressive!
Gas Works Park - Beautiful!

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Accommodations

We stayed with our friend Jason. Jason went to Bowling Green with us and if you can stay with Jason, I would recommend it 10/10. His condo is beautiful, he gave us explicit instructions on transit, and he gave us a list of things to do every day. He had Perrier for me every morning. He has a million board games and owns more scarves than I do. He is the perfect host.

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Getting Around

Transit in Seattle is amazing. We took light rail from downtown and then busses everywhere we went. Google maps has amazing instructions, so we didn't even need a separate app. We bought an Orca card ($3) at the light rail station and then put $20 on it to get through the weekend. $30 would have been even better!

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What We Did

We met at baggage claim! It took forever to get bags. I wore a mask most of the time when I was in the airport or on a plane because it was so crowded. 

Seattle Aquarium - $54.95

There's an octopus! And sea lions! And giant manta rays. This was fine. I thought it was kind of expensive, though, for what it was. And it was very crowded. As someone who is still currently of the "we're in a middle of a pandemic" mindset, this was a challenge. I am not sure I'd highly recommend it, but if you're into marine biology, it's fun. 

Pike Place Market - This is the place where they throw the fish, you know? It's a warren of hundreds of restaurants, shops, buskers, and entertainment. We just kept ending up here and finding new places to eat and shop and admire. It's right on the water and only a couple of blocks from the bus stops downtown and I was so glad we spent as much time here as we did. 

In the middle is Jason, our host. In all photos of me with Jason, I am closing my eyes. It's just a thing. 

There is a skywalk between the top of the Ocean Pavilion of the Aquarium and Pike's Place Market that has breathtaking views of the city. We were there when the weather was TOP NOTCH and the sky was blue and the temps were in the mid-70s with no humidity. There are NO BUGS in Seattle, so I didn't even worry about not having any bug spray on me.

Taken from on top of the Ocean Pavilion. 

Beneath the Streets Underground Tour - roughly $32 a person

So, there was a fire and original Seattle burned down. They wanted to rebuild, so they did crazy things like building on top of existing foundations. That means that in the oldest part of Seattle, there are underground tunnels that were original Seattle streets. That sounds cool, doesn't it? Unfortunately, this is tour guide dependent and our tour guide just wasn't as amazing as he could have been.

Okay, this is a cool fact. These are leftover skylights from the underground. They were clear at one time, but the sunlight has turned them purple. They're so cool and now if you see them on Seattle streets, you'll know what they are. 

She looks like she's going on a real expedition here. 

Seattle Center - This area of the city is where the Space Needle is, as well as a couple of other museums and the International Fountain. There were street vendors and a concert going on when we were there and it was fun to just hang out in the wide green spaces and see people coming together in community. We didn't go into any of the museums or anything, but it's very pretty.

Storica Studio - Ever since Stephany wrote about getting permanent jewelry with her book club, I've been wanting to do it. Bestest Friend and I had a couple of hours to kill and I sort of jokingly said we could get bracelets and she was so excited to do it! We made an appointment at Storica Studio and were there in half an hour. 

This wasn't cheap, but Nina, the lady who welded them on for us, said it should last 18-24 months. I guess we'll see! I'll obviously update you when I break it because you know I will break it. 

We took a photo with Nina. Of course we did. 

Whale watching tour - $137

We were out on a deluxe ship for four hours watching whales. There was a naturalist on board telling us where to look and about the different marine mammals. Huge thumbs up. Definitely worth the price of admission. There was a dog named Motown on board.

There are sea lions on that buoy. 

It was no one's fault but my own, but I was underdressed. It was chillier on the water and I was wearing a dress and my duster, but I was just not warm enough. I should have packed a pair of leggings, but I did not and I would have enjoyed this more if I had some leggings, but that's my fault, not theirs. 

Fremont Market 

The Sunday Market in Fremont is hundreds of vendors selling vintage, homemade, and kitsch. We had so much fun.  We got there with only about forty-five minutes to wander around and I wish we had left ourselves a bit more time. 

Gas Works Park 

I have to admit that we were pretty exhausted when it was suggested we go to Gas Works Park. But we were assured that the view was amazing and that it would be worth the effort. I was so glad we did. This park used to be the site of a gasification plant and you can see the industrial remains still. There's a big hill with glorious views.

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Eating

Just picture me doing this the whole time

We ate a lot at Pike's Place. Three standouts are The Crumpet Shop, Jack's Fish and Chips, and Mee Sum Pastry. 

Crumpets. I legit ate most of that. I think Bestest Friend ate maybe 1.5 of those crumpets.

We ate dinners at a Mexican restaurant (where we had dinner with Jason's friends - is there anything more that I like to do than bring straight Midwestern lady energy to a gay man's birthday party? I'm sparing you the photos, but I think you all know exactly what it looked like) and a Thai place that were both good, but I do not have their names. We ate seafood at a place called Chinook's the last night we were there and the seafood chowder was to die for.

Mixed reviews on Biscuit Bitch, but I did eat that biscuit like I hadn't had carbs in years, so if you're willing to wait AN HOUR for biscuits, give it a shot. The crumpet place is better, though.

I did not have bad food in Seattle. 

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There was an incident where we got to a bus stop and there were fire trucks and an ambulance. Some guy had ODed and we watched them Narcan him. He came to, refused treatment, they all left, and he ambled off. All of this happened in the eight minutes we were waiting for a bus.

There are a lot of unhoused people in Seattle, especially in the downtown area. They all seemed polite and reasonable to me, but you should know that going in. 

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Have you ever been to Seattle? What's your favorite thing to do there? If you haven't, what would you like to see there?

Five for Friday, Edition #26

1) Update on my mom: It's not great.

2) Do you remember Blanche the Puppy? Well, her human decided to take a new job in New Mexico and is abandoning us. I'm sort of peeved because I was starting to become real friends with her and now she's leaving and I'm sad (there are only so many women of my age without children who I know in my town). ANYWAY. In between the craziness of my travel and work schedule, I put together a drinks thing at a local bar tomorrow night as a going away party. Do I bring a present for her and/or Blanche? I don't want her to have to move something useless, but is there something meaningful? A bag of road trip snacks? A fancy pen? One of those notes cut out of magazine letters ransoming Blanche so she doesn't leave?

3) July was supposed to be fun. I had the trip to Seattle (which I'm going to try to write about this weekend) with Bestest Friend. Next week, we're supposed to go to California for a wedding. The California trip could be canceled at any second (see bullet #1) and can we talk about how I let my husband figure out the dogsitting logistics and then when I followed up with the dogsitter, they had already booked a different dog for that time? So I've been utilizing all of my personal network to attempt to find somewhere/someone for Hannah. I don't have time for this and I'm sort of upset with my husband and with the dogsitter. 

I think we have Hannah figured out, but now I'm struggling to find someone to come in once a day to take care of Zelda. *sigh* 

Bestest Friend and I have matching wallets. We did not plan this. 

4) I was recently at an airport (MSP, to be exact) and I had a choice of Dunkin, Starbucks, or Caribou. What's your choice? What's your order?

Seattle preview

5) I don't want to actually write this up in my Seattle recap, but Delta had some sort of data breach thing and my trip home was not fun. My original flight was supposed to leave at 1:30 and I got to the airport early in order to spend time with Bestest Friend and at some point, I got notified that my flight was postponed until 2:30, which meant I'd miss my connection. I talked with someone at Delta and the best they could do was book me at a midnight flight and I'd get to my home airport at 8:15 the following morning. I wandered around the airport futilely in an attempt to get on a standby flight, but I was at SeaTac for an entire day. 

It's not the worst airport to be stuck at, but it certainly isn't the best. Delta didn't even offer me a food voucher and their representatives basically told me to go fuck myself, so while all my flights were fine, I'm still a bit upset by the whole thing. At least I was just by myself and I didn't have kids with me or wasn't trying to find food for Dr. BB to eat.  Still.  

Overall, I'm glad I went on the trip, but it ended on a down note. 

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Sound off in the comments. Which coffee/tea purveyor do you choose? What present should I give to Blanche's human? 

Packing: How Not To Do It

So many people write post after post about how they pack and I'm always so impressed. Do you want to see how an incompetent person does it?

I packed for three days of being someplace and two days of travel on either side. I'm not checking a bag because you all know I'm too frugal for that and I don't want to wait at baggage claim when my flight gets in at midnight, you know?

For both travel days, I wore a black wool& dress and my long duster. I wore my glasses because no one wants to be wearing contacts if travel days take 22 hours (spoiler for future posts). I wore bracelets and earrings and no other jewelry. 

Clothes
Three dresses
A scarf (yo, I get cold)
Underwear/bra/Jockey skimmy
Tshirt/yoga pants for sleeping
Flip flops (I thought I would need them if it rained and it turned out it did not rain and these went unworn - I have regrets about packing them)

Bathroom stuff

Electric toothbrush
Toothpaste 
Toothpicks
Floss
Medicine - Tylenol, Flonase, Zyrtec, steroid cream for my eczema, birth control
Shampoo/conditioner/face cleaner
Contacts
Dry shampoo
Sunscreen
Small tube of lotion (could have skipped this - there was lotion where we were - I had to take out hand sanitizer because I ran out of room in my quart bag and I wish I had not packed lotion, but had packed hand sanitizer)
Deodorant
Makeup - Face and eyelid primer, foundation, blush, eyeshadow, mascara, lip gloss, associated brushes and sponges
Hair brush 

Makeup remover wipes

Note: I had two quart bags for liquids. One was medicinal/prescriptions (toothpaste, steroid cream, Flonase) and the other had all the other liquids. 

Food and beverage

Almonds
Granola bars (6) 
Fig bars (four two-packs)
Empty water bottle
Gatorade Zero powder packets

Miscellaneous

Phone/earbud charging cable
Line a day journal/goal tracking journal
Physical therapy band/towel

Purse
Kindle
Earbuds
Wallet
More lip gloss

Pens 

Phone

I packed everything that wasn't in my purse in my LL Bean backpack and that was that. 

By the time I returned, I didn't have any food left except for one package of fig bars and some Gatorade packets, I had finished my dry shampoo so I tossed that bottle, and I had dropped my Benetint liquid blush all over my friend's bathroom, so I also tossed that bottle. That meant that the liquids were easier to pack on the way out. Also, they didn't make me take out my liquids at SeaTac when I left, so that was nice (and weird). 

There were no vacuum seal bags, no fancy four-wheeled luggage, no packing cubes. But I used everything (except where noted for lotion and flip flops) and never had any issues with fitting it into an overhead plane compartment or carrying it around. 

What snacks do you bring when you go to the airport?

Heat Wave*

This past weekend, I left the house. I KNOW. Big steps. Actually, I'm going to be leaving the house a fair amount in the next month, so be prepared for a lot of these fun updates.  

The youngest child of one of my best friend's from high school graduated from high school himself and I trundled myself off to Michigan to go to his open house. Some of you might not be aware, but it's been HOT here in many parts of the United States, including where I live and where I was going. 

After a harrowing drive in peak construction season (at one point I texted my husband that I had gone four miles in 45 minutes), I was told to arrive at the house where the open house would take place the next day, which was my friend's parents' house. No one was there despite the dozen cars in the driveway. I started to imagine I was in the middle of a horror movie and was slowly making my way to the barn where I (obviously) assumed I was going to find a massacre when my friend texted that they were doing family pictures and would be there soon and I should make myself at home. 

My friend's parents, who I will call Mike and Judy because those are their names, are a delightful couple. And Judy immediately put me to work in the kitchen chopping fruit for a fruit salad and I WROTE DOWN THE RECIPE. You're welcome.

1 watermelon
4 cantaloupes
2 honeydew melons
3 big giant containers of strawberries
Red and green grapes (I didn't get exact measurements, but roughly 2-3 pounds of each)
2 pints blueberries
Those big bulk cans (you know the ones? you buy them at restaurant supply places?) of pineapple, pears, and mandarin oranges

Anyway, I did some kitchen stuff and then we went to my friend's house where I slept on the couch like I am twenty-two.

The next morning, it was NINETY DEGREES BEFORE I ATE BREAKFAST. I thought I was going to help do things like chop more fruit and put up photographs, but instead I helped put up a tent and decorate tables and did I mention that it was like a gazillion degrees?

One of only four photos I took all day. 

By the time the party started, I was a bedraggled mess and while my friends could go home for a quick shower and change, I did not have the wardrobe for that options. Anyway, the graduate was celebrated, food was eaten, and no one passed out from heatstroke. 

BUT IT WASN'T OVER because Saturday was also Mike and Judy's 50th wedding anniversary! So later that night a whole new group came over to the house, the grandkids all did funny and/or cringeworthy performances, and more cake was cut. 

I went back to my friend's house, took the coldest shower I've ever taken in my life, ate pizza, and slept on their couch again. 

The next morning, I stopped at South Haven in Michigan to enjoy an hour on the beach. Unfortunately, it was still eleventy billion degrees out, so my brilliant "go to the beach" idea was not unique to me.

Lake Michigan is amazing. White sand beaches, shells, and all the trappings of an ocean without the annoying salt water. 

I took three times as many photos in that one hour than I did the entire day before. Then I drove home. 

Monday was actually Hannah's sixth Gotcha Day, but I missed it, so I made Dr. BB take my photo with her yesterday morning. This was the best we got.

Do you want to see some outtakes?

The tongue!

Ears flat, cringing away from me - this looks like I abuse her. 

Then I came home from work to find she is once again in GI distress. Please send good thoughts to me while my husband is at a conference and won't be home again until Friday night. Let me make it through. 

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*Look, if you're not singing this song, I don't know what's going on in your life. 

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When's the last time you were at a beach? Do you have travel plans this summer? 

Cool Bloggers Walking Club - Week 4

It is time for another round of Cool Bloggers Walking Club (CBWC), as organized by Elisabeth. Try to walk ten minutes day and show us where you've been!

On Easter morning, I tried to find fun things I'd never noticed before on our walks. This seal on the post office and a pineapple in front of a local business made me giggle.

Sunday, April 20
37-minute morning walk with Hannah along the riverwalk
35-minute walk with Hannah before bed

I had noticed the big E+S on the day it was done, but I hadn't noticed the tiny matching one on the ground until Sunday morning. 

Monday, April 21
32-minute morning walk with Hannah
32-minute walk with Hannah after work - Cold and windy. Thanks, I hate spring.

31-minute walk with Hannah before bed

"Hannah, look at me!" "But I can smell all the way to Brazil right now."

Tuesday, April 22

26-minute morning walk with Hannah - Spitting rain and 35 degrees. I hated every minute of this. 

33-minute walk with Hannah after work - GLORIOUS afternoon. Sunny, warm.

Wednesday, April 23

36-minute morning walk with Hannah

27-minute walk with Hannah before bed

Thursday, April 24

42-minute morning walk with Hannah - I didn't need a coat. I threw on my Craft hat and took off. 

46-minute walk with Hannah after work - DUDES! I WORE SANDALS. It was 70 and sunny. 

34-minute walk with Hannah before bed

Sometimes I take her for a "walk," and all she really wants is to sit and chew.

Friday, April 25

41-minute morning walk with Hannah

Saturday, April 26

83-minute hike - I am in Michigan and on my way to places, I stopped at a park and hiked around for a bit

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Do you try to stop at local trails when you travel? Are you yay or nay on the Love graffiti on the tree?

Five for Friday, Edition #12

1) This was my first full week in the office since December 16-20. It's exhausting to have to work all day! But it's also been rewarding and full of interesting tasks. There have been a number of people inquiring about coming back after having been gone for more than a decade. Those are always fun cases to work on. I'm also working with returning students who have done prior learning and want to get credit for classes they already know the material in and that requires me to do a lot of coordination with lots of different people across campus, so that's been an experience since most faculty are not really checking their email regularly. BUT! I am going to make it through this week somehow. 

Wednesday's work clothes. Wait! Are those your new shoes, you ask? YES, THEY ARE.

If you want a pair of your very own, here they are.

2) Last week I had a trip to Michigan. I spent a day with my mom, I spent a fun afternoon with Maya, and then I went to a funeral. Womp womp. I mean, it was fine. One of my high school friend's father died. I went to the visitation on Thursday night and the funeral on Friday. On Thursday night, I went with three of my other friends out to dinner and then we played board games. On Friday night, I went to one of my friend's cottage on the lake, and then I drove back on Saturday. It was a whirlwind and the snow seemed to follow me at every step. Back here in Wisco, there's no snow. 

Maya is such a good host and if you ever invite yourself over to her house (like I have done TWICE now), she's sure to come up with a delightful agenda to entertain you. We went for a walk (the snow was SO PRETTY), we did some yoga together, and she fed me delicious food. I highly recommend her place. 5/5 stars

I also highly recommend hanging out with my high school friends, but maybe that's just the joy of knowing people for decades. We took a hilarious photo with one of my friends getting hugged on all sides from us, but the look on her face made it seem like we were assaulting her and we kept sending it to everyone we know and posting it on social media like we were sixteen and thirsting for attention. Anyway. That *gesticulates wildly* entire week happened somehow. 

Maya took this photo of me on the MSU campus. In case you can't tell what I'm doing, I'm holding up my hand in the shape of a mitten and pointing to it with the other hand to indicate where we were in the mitten while standing on a map of the Michigan counties. This is a Cool Michigander Thing. 

3) So, the good news is that Zelda's treatment for hyperthyroidism did work. But now we're dealing with something else. She is in pretty bad GI distress. For about a week, she literally threw up everything she ate. Then she got diarrhea AND threw up everything she ate. Now she can hold food down, but her litterbox is revolting. She's on her second course of antibiotics (have you ever had to hold down your eight pound cat and squeeze her skull to get her to take medication?) and her box is not showing any signs of improvement. Meanwhile, the vet is discussing what happens to "older cats" and how she's "losing weight and muscle tone" and how "you'll know when it's time." This last one possibly caused me to cry hysterically. She's thirteen and a half years old, which isn't a young cat, but it's not elderly or anything. OKAY, FINE, it looks like at fourteen, she goes from a senior cat to a geriatric cat, but age is just a number, right? RIGHT? 

I know Hannah gets a lot of words on this blog, but Zelda is truly my soulmate. I know that at some point we will have to make decisions about Zelda and those decisions will be hard. But I was not planning on making those decisions for several more years. Let's all hope that Zelda bounces back from this GI thing, her weight stabilizes, and we go back to talking about how it's just me and Zelda on the couch. 

4) I published my 2025 goals earlier this week and I want you to know that I'm already failing my 30-day goal and have eaten something sweet every damn day of this month so far. On the bright side, I have had water every day and my exercise goals are going well. Ugh. Let's see how this shakes out. 

5) There are so many things I'm looking forward to in January. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with some local bloggers, next week I'm taking off an entire day, and the following Monday is a holiday off work. I'm going to get to a museum on one of those days, right?!

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What shoes are you wearing right now? 

Our Adventure!

We went to a place called Justin Trails for a night last weekend. We did this because I requested a getaway for my birthday and this was a place we could take Hannah with us that was within a couple of hours driving distance. We only did a night because a) we weren't sure how Hannah would do with it, b) I don't really like being anywhere besides my house, and c) do you think money grows on trees? Ha ha ha. That last one made me think I was my dad for a hot minute.

It's a cool place. You can choose from tent camping places to glamping to actual suites in real buildings with real bathrooms. Hopefully you all know me well enough to know we stayed in a suite in the renovated farm house.

Hannah did okay. She was not crazy about hearing people in the other suite when they were going up and down the stairs and she did a bit of barking. This is actually a bit problematic because I think it means she would be a nightmare in a hotel situation and this limits our ability to travel, even if we take her with us. She also wouldn't eat dinner that night, so that's another worry. Oh, well. Some dogs aren't meant to be on the road. Also, my boss suggested we get a prescription for a sleep aid for her from the vet for this type of situation and I hadn't even considered that.

The resort had llamas, goats, and lots of dogs roaming around.

They also had hundreds of acres of maintained trails. I think we saw approximately ten acres of those because we were pretty worried about poor Hannah overdoing it. Sometimes she forgets she's an older dog who has a dodgy back.

But it was so much fun because we left her off leash and once we were out of sight of the house, we never saw another human or canine. 

And we even tried to do a fun selfie with the dog, in the spirit of Birchie, although Hannah was not the most cooperative.

That vein in my forehead! Folks, this is what it looks like when I don't wear makeup. Also, Hannah was PISSED that we told her to stay when she could have been RUNNING AROUND.

Oh, AND I made Dr. BB drive twenty miles to a well-reviewed bakery where I purchased myself a tiramisu dessert cup AND and a turtle sweet dream. #noregrets

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Do you ever take your pet with you when you travel? How does that work for you? Do you find it easy to get a pet sitter or board your pet?