Kelley Point Park

We ventured out to a new park (for us) this week. There are some pretty high standards I look for in places to visit–specifically, a water source and somewhere to play and hike. Not too hard to fulfill where we live, but those are MY standards. Mom? She was just bored with where we normally go.

Kelley Point Park, one of the many parks maintained by the city, is right here in Portland. And water? Imagine the Willamette River meeting the Columbia River.  That’s a LOT of water!

Willamette and Columbia River confluence–Sauvie Island is to the left.

OMD, I was in doggy heaven and I guess those fishermen were in fish heaven out there on the river.

Uh, Mom. Let’s get going!

I was here!

Fishing on the Columbia

We found a beach and I had a most satisfying roll in some very fine sand.

Then a swim in the mighty Columbia.

That’s Washington across the river.

No ball, but sticks work.

Lots of shakin’ going on.

Somehow all that sand fell out of my furs.

All in all, we thought it was a very fine park–four paws up! It’s a bit far from our house, but that’s okay for an adventure every once in a while.

The Smith and Bybee Lakes Wetland Park was just down the road a piece, a place we’ll save for another day.

But look what we found.

Tree snags

Someone was very creative!

Portland on Dwellable

Digging for Dollars

You know how hot I get when I run, run, run and then have to wallow in the nearest mud-puddle? Well, it’s the same when I go to the coast, except there’s no mud. I just race out to the surf and lay down to cool off. Then there’s the problem with what to drink. I was drinking the ocean water even though Mom took lots and lots of fresh water with us. She kept telling me to ‘leave it’ and I think I finally figured out why. (Mom says, if you’re squeamish, don’t read what I did). That’s the weirdest water–you drink it and it comes back up so fast my head spins. Sometimes it was coming out both ends. So, this last time, I didn’t drink the ocean water! Mom was sooooooo proud of me. Instead, I had the best time frolicking in the waves.

Then I had a thought about earning some green papers. Do you remember that some bipeds used to Dial for Dollars? That was way back before I was born, but Mom remembers.  I wanted to take that one step further and Dig for Dollars.

Aha! I found one.

The dig begins

Now I’m digging in earnest

It’s not easy to find a a perfect dollar, but perseverance wins and success was had! 

Do you think this’ll get me a whole lot of green papers, Mom?

Cannon Beach on Dwellable

Patterns in the Sand

On a recent trip to the beach with my pals, Toby, Heidi and Macy, we noticed the tide was really out–further than we’ve ever seen it.

But since we don’t live at the beach and only visit occasionally, that doesn’t mean much. It did mean, however, that there was more beach to run on. And run we did!

Let’s play, Toby!

Uh, oh! Heidi’s after me.

Who’s ready to romp?

Is this doggy heaven, or what?

There were several other dogs on the beach that day and they joined in the fun.

Further down the beach, we noticed some interesting patterns in the sand,

something we don’t usually see when we go to the beach. Called wave-formed ripple marks, they are caused by the “right kind of winds, waves and currents”. And, interestingly, there were two distinct variations of ripple marks. Not only did we have pretty patterns to look at, the sand was hard, making it easier to run.

All good things have to come to an end, so we all piled into my friend’s dogmobile for the trip home.
We were a bunch of tired pooches!

Sand & Sea Condominiums on Dwellable

The Mountain is Mine!

Or so I thought.

What does that mean, you ask? Well, let me tell you about my first real adventure in deep snow. We all piled in my friend’s car (that would be Heidi, Toby, Macy and me) and off we went to Mt. Hood.

On the way, we stopped and Mom handed over some green papers for a sno-park pass. It was a good thing because tickets for LOTS of green papers were being written left and right. We finally got there and Mom and her friend put on these giant shoes and we took off up the hill. I realized pretty quickly this wasn’t going to be a piece of cake. The snow was hard on top and all soft and squishee underneath. I tried walking on top of it, but kept falling through. Maybe digging a path would help!

What’s down there?

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That didn’t work, so we trudged along, one step at a time. I did find out you shouldn’t step on Mom’s giant shoe.

Oops, Mom. Do you need help up?I did find some spots where the snow was hard enough to hold my svelte 40-pound body. My buddies didn’t fare as well…our tongues were hanging out pretty quickly!On the way home, we made a quick stop at 1000 Acres. That was in case we weren’t tired enough (or something like that).

I was able to get in a little herding practice and had just enough energy left to dig a hole.

We decided the next time we go on a mountain adventure, we should go right after 3 new feet of snow fell instead of waiting until it warmed up and the snow got all hard on top (but not hard enough). At least I didn’t find any pot!

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And

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You are NEVER going to believe this—when we got home, I didn’t have to have a bath!

Government Camp on Dwellable

A Frisbee on the Beach

We went to the coast last week…just a day trip…to a beach near Pacific City. My friends, Toby, Heidi & Macy were staying there. I was sooooo excited to see them!

‘Scuse the blurry picture. We were all about the action!

I have a pretty good nose for finding things, so I was pretty intrigued about this floppy, rubbery thing I found at 1000 Acres recently. You know I’m totally ball-obsessed  🙂 , and a Frisbee has not been my game, but this floppy, rubber one was pretty intriguing. Mom pulled it out and we practiced.

And practiced.

This was a new game & I was getting the hang of it. That’s Cape Lookout in the background–I bet there’s a lot to look at out there! Someday we’ll go there.

Meanwhile, back to the beach…

The water was C..O..L..D, but there’s nothing like it for a good cool-down. I wasn’t crazy enough to go out in those big waves though. But, let me tell you, there were some hu-mans that were! We went to Pacific City (just a hop and a skip down the road) for lunch and saw a couple of these hu-mans out in the water trying to catch a wave! Mom tried to take a picture of them, but they never would get up on their boards. Maybe they needed some lessons?

This is a haystack rock, which was formed by lava flows sometime before I was born. There are actually two of these ginormous rocks along the Oregon Coast–the other’s at Cannon Beach. Do you think this looks like a gorilla head? I do.

After lunch, we decided to go back to the beach for a long walk. I ran. Mom walked.

There were a bunch of these little bubbles on the sand…they are Sea Gooseberries, a type of jellyfish. Yep, that’s right!

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And we saw some bigger jellyfish too.

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On our way back to the car, we went past this tree house that went way up to the top of the tree. I bet you could see forever up there!But, there was a sign that said “No Trespassing”. Do you think that meant me? I’m really trying to stay out of mischief….

Pacific City on Dwellable

Trillium Lake

The big dogs–Toby & Heidi

The day started out perfectly–the sun was shining and we were going for a hike. Mom took me to our friend’s house and we got in the car with her 3 dogs (Toby II, Macy & Heidi). Somehow, we all fit!

I squeezed between Macy & Toby (They were my very first friends when I was a pup!)

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You’ve met them before.

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They’re my pack.

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Heidi doesn’t scare me anymore. She’s just a big goof of a St. Bernard. We arrived at Trillium Lake and all piled out of the car…ready for our adventure! There are 12 glaciers on Mount Hood…you can see several here.  There sure isn’t much snow! In fact, Mount Hood has lost more than a third of its ice since first measurements in the early 20th century.

There’s a nice path around the lake, so we took off! I found several stumps.

That was a BIG tree

The sun was shining through the trees.There were walkways over areas that probably are pretty wet. It’s been really dry here in the Pacific Northwest, so there was no extra water anywhere! (It started raining today, so all that changes!)This is my new buddy, Heidi. We have a good time together!

We stopped for lunch here and I got my furs wet.I think this is where I found the marijuana.

Mom thought it was some kind of animal skat…you can sure tell she knows nothing about drugs! 🙂 I guess it’s a good thing I ‘drop’ when she says ‘leave it’. Even so, I had to sneak a bite. Let me tell you, it was even tastier than skat. 😦  I’m all better now and ready for my next adventure! (Yeah, right, Sage. You’d better not do this again!!)

I’ll leave you with some more views of Trillium Lake.

Hood River on Dwellable

Ocean Adventure-Part II

During dinner at Tidal Raves in Depoe Bay (Wyatt’s Mom over at Gardening with Wyatt recognized that gorgeous view), Mom decided to find another beach for an evening romp. Just a bit down the road is Moolack Beach. Ya’ know that sun-in-my-face photo from last Wednesday? That’s the place.

It was a little scramble down a cliff,No problem.

Because at the bottom was this wonderful beach with no hu-mans or dogs anywhere! Well, except for Mom and me. It was all a dog could want.

Way off in the distance is Yaquina Head Lighthouse…can you see it? One day we’ll go visit it, but today it was all about Moolack Beach and me.

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I loved the tidal pools

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My furs have to get wet somehow and I know that’s the bestest way in the whole world to cool down after a crazy ball-playing session. .

Come on, Mom. Get the lead out!

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After a little scramble up the rocks, we headed back to our hotel for a much-needed night of rest!

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We wrapped up our little anniversary-cation at the “D” River in Lincoln City. It’s supposed to be the shortest river in the whole world.

Really?

Newport on Dwellable

My Ocean Adventure

Bags were packed and stuff was being hauled out to the car. It was Mom & Dad’s anniversary.

What does this mean? Was I being left behind? I was a bit worried, but pretty soon I was going out to the car too! YIPPEE–an adventure!!

And, not only was it an adventure…it was a beach adventure.  One of my favoritest places to be! Surf was up the day we got there.

I love, love, love water, but I wasn’t crazy enough to go in THAT! Those waves even sucked my ball out, but if you wait long enough, they brought it back. Waves are nice like that….

I thought we’d go home–that’s what we usually do–but there was a reason for those suitcases. There are lots of places that like dogs along the coast and the one we stayed at, Historic Anchor Inn, was a place we’ve been to before (Mom reminds me I ran out our cabin door at 1:30 am that time…I just wanted to explore. I guess my only defense is that I was less than a year old then). But, I behaved impeccably this time, I’ll have you know.

Dinner was in Depoe Bay (not me…I wasn’t allowed) and Mom & Dad saw a whale crossing the bay…blowing out it’s blowhole. (Mom wished she could have gotten a picture, but it was too far out). Pretty cool, huh?

Next stop…Moolack Beach. Check back tomorrow for more of my adventure!

Depoe Bay on Dwellable

Monday Mischief: Zigzag Falls

I told you there was more to my blogiversary adventures and you’ll have to wait to see what my ‘mischief’ is.

Our next venture on our blogiversary trip was to Zigzag Falls, which is on the Zigzag River up near Mt. Hood.

I was getting a little confused with all the zigging and zagging stuff, so I had Mom do a little research for me. She found out that the river comes from the Zigzag Glacier on the southwest side of Mt. Hood and goes through the Zigzag Canyon and then out to the Sandy River (next to my most favorite dog park in the whole world—1000 Acres). I still didn’t know why it was called Zigzag, but Mom said this is what she found:

“Pioneer Joel Palmer crossed the deep ravine of Zigzag Canyon near the timberline on Mt. Hood on October 11, 1845. He described the crossing in his journal:

The manner of descending is to turn directly to the right, go zigzag for about one hundred yards, then turn short round, and go zigzag until you come under the place where you started from; then to the right, and so on, until you reach the base.

The Zigzag River is no more crooked than adjoining streams, therefore the stream was most likely identified to fellow travelers on what was to become the Barlow Road by the manner of crossing and not for an especially irregular alignment.”

We did a lot of that zigzagging going up to Mirror Lake, but Mom called them ‘switchbacks’. She said they could also be called ‘S’ curves. I’m really confuserated so I checked out the Zigzag River and didn’t think it was very crooked! But in the spirit of adventure, on we went to the falls.

We got to them pretty quickly…just a short hop and a skip from the trailhead…but we were OK with that after all the zigging and zagging we did earlier.

There are a gazillion falls around Mt. Hood and this one is nice. Not as spectacular as some, but how many are full of zigs and zags?

Pee Ess: I hope you notice the cleanliness of my furs. I wanted to present the cleanest image of me for such a momentous event. 🙂 I think you could even call that a bit of mischief!!

Welches on Dwellable

Mirror Lake

Today is my Blogiversary! Two whole years and what a fun couple of years it’s been. There have been good times (rolling in the mud, for one…) and there have been some bad (my poor Toby—I do miss him), but with the help of all of you, it’s been worth every minute.  My Aunt Sally came to visit all the way from Texas and Mom said “Let’s go hiking!” There’s no better way to commemorate my blogiversary, at least that’s what I say.

Off we went. We stopped at the Ranger Station near Mt. Hood and got some trail maps (are more hikes up there in my future?). Mirror Lake was our destination and is a fairly easy hike off the highway. We started here…a raging river coming out of the forest. I wasn’t allowed to go into it, but I really didn’t want to.

We hiked into a gorgeous forest. It was a little eerie with the fog hanging almost right over us. We saw lots of downed trees that are composting in the forest. Mom says it’s food for the soil. I practiced my agility and did a little rock sitting.

And walking over a bog bridge.

We found a stream where I got my furs wet, even though it’s not hot (maybe 60 degrees F. (15 degrees C.))We finally got to the lake. The fog was really low.

We walked around it and came to a spot where I could go swimming for a bit. The fog was even rising off the lake! If it hadn’t been so foggy, this is what we’d have seen. That’s Mt. Hood. Mom says we’ll just have to go back…

We did see some pretty flowers. We weren’t sure what this was, but this lily was stunning!Mirror Lake is a glacial lake at the foot of Tom Dick and Harry Mountain. That’s it in the distance. Beyond the fog….there’s 3 peaks that are part of a 2-mile long volcanic mountain and is only about 5,066 feet tall. Because of this, it’s considered a foothill of Mt. Hood. On the way back, I checked out a hollowed-out stump. There were lots of stumps in the forest, but this one was particularly interesting. Maybe there was a treat inside!

We finally got back to our car and took off. I thought we were through, but Mom turned off onto another road.  What’s next?

Check back for the next installment of our blogiversary hike.

Rhododendron on Dwellable