A Long Boring Day and Then The Best Day!

I fell asleep at the hotel as soon as I hit the bed. I was so pooped from hanging out with Emmitt that even though I slept all night, I didn't want to get up the next morning. I told Mom to hit the snooze button on the alarm but she told me that we had to haul you-know-what because today was going to be our long car day. Great. Carry me to the car please!

To quote my good pal Salinger, we left Colorado at the butt crack of dawn. Since it was so cloudy when we arrived the previous day, Mom decided to finally take some mountain pictures as we continued west.

We made good time and were soon into Wyoming. Of course, Mom had to pee so we stop at a rest area. Mom checked the temperature before she got out of the car and yelled "Yikes!" It was only 54 degrees in the middle of nowhere Wyoming!

Everybody climbed out of the car to pee and I even met another traveling dog at this stop. Things were going okay until I saw this sign. You might need to biggify the picture to read the words that say "Watch For Snakes & Scorpions" What? Why did we stop here to pee if there are dangerous animals lurking around every corner? I guess I don't need to tell you that this rest area was all Mom's idea.

Since we were scheduled to be in the car for 14,863 hours this day (Mom's note: 16 hours) I decided to settle in and get caught up on my sleep. Emmitt's sweet mom Melissa made me these cool donuts that I snuggled up next too. They are good to play with or use as pillows.

Somewhere in Nevada Mom stopped to refuel. It was dinnertime so she got food for her and Dad, jumped back into the car and off we went. Hello! What about me? We had driven for at least a half hour before Mom realized that she hadn't fed me. I was so mad until Dad decided that he would give me his french fries. French fries for dinner? Delicious!

Not much happened at the end-of-the-line Nevada motel other than a lot of sleeping. Mom was way exhausted and she passed out as soon as we checked in. I rolled out of bed early the next morning and was ready to roll. "Let's go people! We need to get to Cali. Chop, chop!"

Mom drove to Cali while Dad worked in the back with me. He's loving that mobile office and he may never want to work at home again.

It was slow going as we entered Cali due to road construction. The scenery was so beautiful, lush trees resting on sloping mountains. And then we got to San Francisco. It was just as beautiful as the mountains but in a different way. The bridges, the building, and the Pacific Ocean. Oh, and the traffic.

Soon we were on a crazy winding road. We took it to another road, then turned and there was the Ritz. Dad jumped out of the car to go golfing while Mom and I checked in.

The pet friendly rooms are guest cottages 200 yards from the main hotel. I didn't care that I couldn't stay in the actual hotel building because I knew it would be much quieter away from all the action. Quiet means good sleeping so I was excited to see our cottage.

As I walked in the room I noticed that it was a little warm. The ceiling fan was whirling away but the air conditioning seemed to be off. Hmmm. Mom checked all around the room and couldn't find the air conditioning controls despite finding an air conditioning-like knob. She picked up the phone and called the front desk. I knew it was bad news when I heard "Oh. Okay." What? They said what? There's no air in the cottages? Get us the haaiilllll out of here! I can't stay in a place that doesn't have air conditioning. How is that pet friendly? Mom opened the windows and as she was deciding how to keep me cool there was a knock at the door.

Puglet's human Amanda was here! She scooped me up and gave me all kinds of kisses. Puglet and Dutch were in the car and they came to the hotel to hang out at the beach. Hooray! I was finally going to meet my man Puglet. I really felt like I already knew him but I wanted to sniff him in pugson.

Mom carried me out to Amanda's car and Puglet and Dutch came bounding out. After doing the obligatory greeting and sniffing, we headed to the beach.

The only beach I had ever been to was at the lake by our house but this was different. This beach was connected to the Pacific Ocean! I could hardly contain my excitement as we played on the beach. Puglet goes to the beach almost every day so this was old news to him but as I delicately placed my paws in the sand, I knew it was going to be a great day.

Puglet and Dutch played fetch and ran around the beach while I hung out with Mom and Amanda. I was having a hard time walking in the sand but I was perfectly happy to just watch the action. Puglet's friends Boka and Miley soon showed up with their human Laurie and then it was a real party. Boka and Miley are dalmatians just like Dutch. As soon as Laurie showed up Puglet told me their human always carries lots of treats so we both gave her the stare. It totally worked and between their human and Puglet's our tummys were happy.

Mom took this picture to prove that I'm a beach baby just like her. She said we are going to move to the beach come hell or high water. I'm not sure what that means but I'm in!

Puglet had more energy than a pack of wolves. That dude didn't stop! Mom would throw the ball in the ocean and Puglet would retrieve it - like a million times. He almost got taken out to sea a couple times but he's really smart and knows when to go into the water and when to wait. I really wonder where he learned all these skills.

Mom still can't believe she got Dutch to look into the camera. Maybe he didn't realize that the phone had a camera in it. Whatever the case, I love this picture. These guys rock!

But no visit would be complete without a visit to my favorite restaurant, Popeyes. I even got to go inside. Can you believe it? Apparently, dogs go everywhere out here just like when Puglet goes to Planet Best Buy and Home Depot. They would never let me in a Popeyes back home. I must move out here!

We got a whole bunch of nuggets and headed to a park to have a picnic. There aren't any pictures of us eating the Popeyes because between the five of us all the nuggets were gone in minutes. We all shared and everyone got enough to eat - not! I mean we all shared but I could have eaten all the nuggets by myself. I'm not a hog so I just ate what was given to me. And then the playing started.

I stood on the sidelines while everyone got crazy. The almost all white dog is Boka and he's chasing Miley while Dutch kind of tried to get in on the action. Soon, Miley just started chasing Puglet and Puglet loved it. Watching him reminded me of how fast I used to run when I was his age. He zipped by me so fast my head was spinning. He even jumped over the ledge where I was sitting and a couple of times I thought he was going to slam right into the ledge. That guy sure can play hard.

I can't thank Puglet and his human enough for such a great day. It was all I dreamed it would be and more. It was great meeting them and Dutch, along with Boka, Miley, and their human. Puglet has organized a special Stubby World Tour Meetup for this Saturday morning so if you're in the Bay Area please stop by. We are going to rock Crissy Field like it's never been rocked before!