come to the woods, for here is rest
Jun. 5th, 2016 11:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ironymaidenoriginally C was supposed to be home for two weeks. but the treatment schedule opened up a bit, so we pushed his flight out a week - which meant that we could get in some camping.
prior to the whole cancer thing, our plan for the summer was to go camping as much as we could and get Leela used to the idea (or determine that it was never going to work) before our annual trip in July.
i was thrilled that this was going to work out, and started to make plans to go somewhere relatively close so that it would be easy to bail if the dog freaked out. there weren't any reservable sites available at our first pick location, but they had first-come, first-served sites, and C could run there during the day and nail one down.
two things happened: one, there wasn't a site left at our first choice location that could take our tent; two, C lost his calm (i think before he could visit our second choice, i'm not clear on that). i reserved a site for Saturday night at a fallback location after a couple terse text messages and headed home from work.
C had been kind of foot-dragging with the whole project. i didn't understand why. (C loves camping.) he didn't understand why until he was up around Granite Falls. it was too similar to his parents' place in New Hampshire. going to stay in the mountains just outside a small town didn't seem like fun anymore, it was the thing he was supposed to be taking a break from. so we hugged and cried and went out to dinner at The Gerald, a place with a celiac chef and craft cocktails, the opposite of stupid New Hampshire.* C slept in his own bed, and it was up to him if we were going to go anywhere on Saturday or not.
on Saturday we got up, went out for coffee, and once C's breakfast had settled, he was willing and we were off. Leela doesn't love the car. i had given her some benadryl to make her a little drowsy, and rode in the back seat with her. she proceeded to drool copiously in a way i had never seen. like, soaking my pants copiously. i spread my flannel on my lap to help sop it up, which was good, since it caught the vomit :/
after puking, Leela felt much better and lay down for the rest of the ride. fortunately, dog vomit is basically scentless, so i just had to keep from spilling until we arrived. after that, pretty much everything was fine.
Dash Point feels surprisingly isolated for being on the edge of Federal Way and under a flight path to SeaTac. the park has a salmon stream and a pleasant hiking trail along it through a second growth forest, from the campground to its outlet on a Puget Sound beach. we saw rabbits, and ate the occasional salmonberry, and Leela splashed in the stream. the sound, well, that was a step too far. (we didn't go down early enough for the minus tide.) there were wee six or eight inch waves. Leela could see that other dogs were playing in the water, and she would run up to the edge, but then THE WATER MOVED and that was not okay. i guess if the waves came up past my knees i would be a bit wary too.
we made steaks and baked potatoes with the campfire, and generally chilled out. between the tree cover and being relatively close to the shore we had steady cool breezes and as long as we stayed out of the sun the temperature was great. Leela slept pretty well in the tent, although she did alert a couple times during the night. (placid Molly did that too, so i feel pretty okay about that.) the important thing is that she didn't flip out every time someone walked by the campsite. she didn't mind being on a run (we attach an elastic lead to climbing cord run between a couple trees; leashes are the law). she totally loved walking in the woods, and picked up on the campsite being "home" immediately.
C did okay too. it was definitely not-NH.
the campground was busy, mostly families. i was delighted that it was only maybe 50 or 60 percent white people, and not all of those white people were speaking English. ditto the day use side of the park with the beach. parks are for everyone <3 <3 <3
the only problem heading home was that when we parked the car, Leela didn't really want to get out. eventually i had to pick her up, which is hysterical because she sticks all four legs out as far as she can, like some kind of deformed starfish. still, it was pretty easy. we can do this again.
*there was filming going on a few tables over, seemed to be people in the music business telling anecdotes. didn't recognize anyone, wasn't going to get in their way to find out. we live in a city, motherfuckers.
prior to the whole cancer thing, our plan for the summer was to go camping as much as we could and get Leela used to the idea (or determine that it was never going to work) before our annual trip in July.
i was thrilled that this was going to work out, and started to make plans to go somewhere relatively close so that it would be easy to bail if the dog freaked out. there weren't any reservable sites available at our first pick location, but they had first-come, first-served sites, and C could run there during the day and nail one down.
two things happened: one, there wasn't a site left at our first choice location that could take our tent; two, C lost his calm (i think before he could visit our second choice, i'm not clear on that). i reserved a site for Saturday night at a fallback location after a couple terse text messages and headed home from work.
C had been kind of foot-dragging with the whole project. i didn't understand why. (C loves camping.) he didn't understand why until he was up around Granite Falls. it was too similar to his parents' place in New Hampshire. going to stay in the mountains just outside a small town didn't seem like fun anymore, it was the thing he was supposed to be taking a break from. so we hugged and cried and went out to dinner at The Gerald, a place with a celiac chef and craft cocktails, the opposite of stupid New Hampshire.* C slept in his own bed, and it was up to him if we were going to go anywhere on Saturday or not.
on Saturday we got up, went out for coffee, and once C's breakfast had settled, he was willing and we were off. Leela doesn't love the car. i had given her some benadryl to make her a little drowsy, and rode in the back seat with her. she proceeded to drool copiously in a way i had never seen. like, soaking my pants copiously. i spread my flannel on my lap to help sop it up, which was good, since it caught the vomit :/
after puking, Leela felt much better and lay down for the rest of the ride. fortunately, dog vomit is basically scentless, so i just had to keep from spilling until we arrived. after that, pretty much everything was fine.
Dash Point feels surprisingly isolated for being on the edge of Federal Way and under a flight path to SeaTac. the park has a salmon stream and a pleasant hiking trail along it through a second growth forest, from the campground to its outlet on a Puget Sound beach. we saw rabbits, and ate the occasional salmonberry, and Leela splashed in the stream. the sound, well, that was a step too far. (we didn't go down early enough for the minus tide.) there were wee six or eight inch waves. Leela could see that other dogs were playing in the water, and she would run up to the edge, but then THE WATER MOVED and that was not okay. i guess if the waves came up past my knees i would be a bit wary too.
we made steaks and baked potatoes with the campfire, and generally chilled out. between the tree cover and being relatively close to the shore we had steady cool breezes and as long as we stayed out of the sun the temperature was great. Leela slept pretty well in the tent, although she did alert a couple times during the night. (placid Molly did that too, so i feel pretty okay about that.) the important thing is that she didn't flip out every time someone walked by the campsite. she didn't mind being on a run (we attach an elastic lead to climbing cord run between a couple trees; leashes are the law). she totally loved walking in the woods, and picked up on the campsite being "home" immediately.
C did okay too. it was definitely not-NH.
the campground was busy, mostly families. i was delighted that it was only maybe 50 or 60 percent white people, and not all of those white people were speaking English. ditto the day use side of the park with the beach. parks are for everyone <3 <3 <3
the only problem heading home was that when we parked the car, Leela didn't really want to get out. eventually i had to pick her up, which is hysterical because she sticks all four legs out as far as she can, like some kind of deformed starfish. still, it was pretty easy. we can do this again.
*there was filming going on a few tables over, seemed to be people in the music business telling anecdotes. didn't recognize anyone, wasn't going to get in their way to find out. we live in a city, motherfuckers.
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no subject
Date: 2016-06-06 01:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-06 02:28 pm (UTC)She didn't see the first one. Leela is motion-activated and she must have been looking the wrong way when it crossed our path. Once she did see them they seemed to be in the duck and pigeon category: interesting, but not worth chasing.
no subject
Date: 2016-06-06 01:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-13 02:55 am (UTC)