Well, we’re home a day early from vacation --- and you might think that’s a bad thing but quite the opposite. Our vacation didn’t go as planned but if you ask Christian, this was the BEST vacation ever! We all had a great time, but more on that later, first the boring stuff about the vacation.
The impromptu plan was to head to places we could bring Chewie with us --- that brought us to the Blue Lakes (near Clear Lake) Wed/Thurs and leave on Friday. Then on Friday head up to the Avenue of the Giants (specifically to Leggett since they allow dogs to roam freely) to check out the drive-thru tree and the giant redwoods. Finally we would head over to Fort Bragg/Mendocino for the remainder of Friday, Saturday and Sunday… At least that was the plan!
I booked a room at The Lodge at Blue Lakes and we arrived on Wednesday. It’s a GREAT little place right on the lake. The lake was great too… It’s a no-wake lake so all boats must go less than 5mph, but we rented one anyway. Our room was a mountainside (aka parking lot view) room, but it wasn’t a big deal. On Wed and Thurs I TRIED to book a room in Mendocino, Fort Bragg, Little River, Ukiah, Leggett, etc… NO LUCK! Everywhere was booked! And I mean EVERY room, every hotel!! I ended up looking up events in the area and it looks like in Fort Bragg they had a Pro-Am Golf Tourney and in Ukiah they were hosting the Babe Ruth Little League West coast championships games. There was NO way we were getting a room! But we were having such a great time at Blue Lakes and they had 1 room available for Friday night (nothing on Saturday though), so we extended our stay at Blue Lakes one more night and then came home on Saturday. We still made it out to the Avenue of the Giants on Friday, but instead of moving on to the coast, we returned to the lodge. Coming home a day early turned out to be nice so I could unpack and clean up and get organized before returning to work. Also made time to take Christian to see Guardians of the Galaxy!
So what did we do while at the Blue Lakes?? Each day Christian would wake up around 7am and go to bed between 9 and 10 pm and during this stretch how often did the subject of video games come up?? NONE!! How about TV??? NONE! From the time we arrived through the time we left, he never once mentioned wanting to play video games or watch TV!! He would get up in the morning and the first thing he would want to do is to head out to the lake!
When we arrived at the lodge on Wednesday Christian was… Christian --- meaning he went out and found other kids to socialize with. He went swimming and met four other kids, all younger, and they played in the water a couple of hours. They were leaving as we were heading out to dinner. When we got back, Christian went back outside and met another kid --- a kindred spirit! For the next three days they became very close friends, swimming, fishing, crawdad hunting, kayaking, rope swings, boating, etc… They became inseparable – and now Christian has a pen pal as we exchanged contact info so we can all stay in touch. Meeting his new friend and hanging out with him is what made this trip the best ever for Christian.
Fishing was good, kind of… No big fish were caught, though we did try a little bit. However, about 20-30 blue gills were caught – so as far as Christian is concerned this was the best time fishing ever! He even cut up some fish for the first time (they used it as bait in a trap for crawdads).
Crawdad hunting was something new for Christian but he loved it. Toward the end he was picking them up himself without getting pinched! Over the course of the three days they probably caught at least 30-40 crawdads (probably more). Christian and his friend also made Claw necklaces.
Boating was also fun. Even though there was a slow speed limit, we still towed an inner tube behind the boat and it was a barrel of laughs!
This vacation reminded me a lot of the days when I was a kid and heading up to Clear Lake. Enjoying the lake, fishing for small fish and loving catching them, swimming and having fun. There were no roller coasters, rides, video games, TVs --- just playing outdoors with friends and family and LOVING it!
Oh, how did Chewie like his first family vacation and how did he do?? He was AWESOME! He was mellow, quiet in the rooms, but playful when people wanted to engage him. The first night there he met a friend and they played Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Chewie even swam in the lake and I got him to walk from shore into the lake on his own (a big step since he has been terrified with water). When we went out for dinner we sat outside and they brought us a bowl of water and a dog biscuit at the Blue Wing Restaurant in Upper Lake. Being a puppy, Chewie slept the days away, but he had a blast too!
