In early December I took a birthday weekend trip up to Seattle to see some missed 4-legged and 2-legged friends. The visit was just what I needed, but I do wish I could have stayed in the fair state of Washington. Waylon felt the same way, as evidenced by his texts the day after I left… D’awww I’ll be there next weekend! I’ll cancel Christmas with my family! Sigh. Thanks…
Probably my favorite thing about my travel style is the capacity for crazy random happenstances. Admittedly I’m not the most outgoing person, but I seem to bump into the right people at the right place and time. I was too busy having fun in NZ to write about it when it happened, but I ended up joining a group of internationals when I was on my hike up/down Mt. Doom….
I feel like I always mention how I’m not a fan of change, but I’ve given myself a lifestyle centered on change. I was reminded of that once again the night before last as I slept in a much-loved place: Waylon’s kennel at Pack Forest. After staying with a good two-legged friend in northern Seattle for a week and a half**, it was time to venture south to visit last…
As training rolled along, it started to become clear who would be dog handlers or orienteers. Some dogs seemed to get stressed with having a different handler each day, so the bosses decided to try figuring out which people and dogs worked well together sooner rather than later. I think most of us entered the program in the hopes of being handlers, but we knew from the start that there…
And so, after all of that, I found myself entering a month of CK-9 training in Pack Forest in late October. By a month I mean 1.5 months, which of course means almost 2… or something like that. Not long after arriving for training, I learned that Washington contains a micro time zone – namely, Pack Forest Time. The CK-9 program doesn’t necessarily run on normal time; during training we…
After leaving Pack Forest, I had a couple of days to see some of Washington with my rental wheels. First stop? A cider mill! With it being autumn, I knew if I could find one, I absolutely needed to go. Alaska’s great, but there are no cider mills with hay rides, pumpkins, fresh cider, or fresh cider donuts. 🙁 Lattin’s Country Cider Mill fit the bill and cheered me up…
“I’m going on an adventure!” In Peter Jackson’s latest film, that’s what Bilbo shouts as he hastily leaves Hobbiton, paper flapping in hand and backpack barely packed. I know exactly where Bilbo was coming from with his last minute decision to leave home and take off to unknown trails. When I left Fairbanks in late September, there were 3 possibilities for my short-term future, as I saw it. Job with…