All too soon we were thrown into the race of the big city.... plowing through traffic and dodging cars. We finally reached our destination, the Elk's Lodge in Garden Grove in early afternoon on Sunday.We've stayed here before, and though the actual parking spots aren't exactly luxurious - they're just blacktop - our space is larger than the one we had at the state park on the beach a few years ago.
A real benefit of stay here is their nice little park where we can take Shiner for walks.
Off to one side of the park the lodge members are constructing a memorial to members of the military. It's still under construction, but so far nicely done.
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| memorial in the Elks Lodge park |
As much as we prefer the rural life, we don't have too much trouble shifting gears, and we looked as this trip as an opportunity to introduce Shiner to a wide variety of experiences. She's met more new people, new dogs, and new sounds in the last couple of days, and who knows how many new aromas her sensitive little nose has picked up. We needed to find a place where she could run off leash, so we checked out Arbor dog park, just a short drive from Leisure World (where the folks live). The park is pretty nice! It was a bit of a challenge to find, just off Lampson behind the Department of Fish and Wildlife offices. On the first visit Shiner was the classic new kid on the playground, head down, tail between her legs, when two young huskies ran over and greeted her politely, then helped her chase her ball. Though she didn't do a lot of mingling with the other dogs, she did relax and had a great time playing fetch.
One of Shiner's new friends at the park was a Brittany Spaniel named Toby. . . Toby Tornado actually. His owner filled us in on Toby's story. Toby was already scheduled to be adopted by the gentleman we were talking with, and was living with a foster family in Oklahoma when a tornado struck, pulling him out of the house through a skylight. He wandered loose for several days and all concerned had given him up for lost when he was found and taken to a rescue shelter in Dallas, TX. Once all the connections were made with his adoptive parent, Toby was scheduled to be crated and shipped to him out here in California, but a stewardess who had worked with the adoption agency heard about the situation and decided to improve on the travel plans. She went back to Dallas, put a service jacket on Toby, and he flew all the way to his new home in the cabin with the passengers. After all he'd been through I think he deserved a relaxing trip! He's about three years old and seems to be adjusting well to his new home, in spite of his adventure in Oklahoma. Dogs are amazingly resilient creatures, and the gentleman who adopted him has had several Brittanies and seems very attuned to his needs, so I think he went to the perfect home. Tuesday afternoon we picked Kendra and Jaxen up at the airport. Her bag had gotten lost somewhere along the way, but they managed to find it and deliver it in a couple of hours so the crisis was minor. We spent the evening with family, then tucked the sleepy little guy in for what we hoped would be a long night's rest.
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| A new friend |
The following day we headed for the dog park again. This time with Kendra and Jax. He loves dogs, spent an hour in his stroller watching the show as dogs ran and played chase. One of Jax's new friends was a four month old puppy wo is being trained as a service dog for a lady who uses a wheel chair, and he seemed to take quite a shine to the stroller as it is so similar to the wheelchair he's used to.
The dog park has turned out to be best entertainment for Shiner and Jax too!
Today we're off again, this time for two days in Palm Desert.
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