Off to the beach....

It’s Saturday and I am finally getting an adventure.  I didn't get to go shopping on Friday and mysteriously all the turkey is gone as well.  For a fox, my Thanksgiving has been meager and bleak but today the weather is supposed to be beary sunny today on the coast so my roommates packed a lunch and we set off to find the sun.  

Huh, this seems odd, snow?  Ok, so we have to go over a pass to get to the beach but it’s only 1,500 feet or so, not beary tall.  There sure seems to be lots of snow for late November.  Actually, it was beary peaceful and a light snow…..not like the blizzard conditions my friends Jerry and Ben  experience.  If you look hard you can see the sun off in the distance.

My coat is all shiny.  Yes, I did get a wash in the washing machine after my roommates dropped me in the mud last weekend.

The weather at the beach was amazing.  Sunny outside, not too windy and not too cold.

Sunny but no swimming today, way too cold. 

Sequoia came along, as you can see I got a quick picture of him kind-of facing the camera.  Not perfect but better.

My training with Sequoia is paying off.

I was kind of hoping for a colder experience that way I could convince my roommates for a hot chocolate at an independent coffee shop, this beach town is one of the few deprived areas that doesn’t have a starbucks.  My roommates said “no” and treated me to spinach dip instead.  Really, spinach dip?  Little do they know I have secret stashes of hot chocolate, left over whipped cream from Thanksgiving and peppermint sticks at home so I can have a nice treat when I get back. 

A wet hike

It has been a long, long, long time since I have gone for a hike.  Everyone tells me dogs love to hike….well then why haven’t WE gone on a hike?  Today was different, my roommates got the small backpack out of storage for a short hike.  That’s OK with me.

We are off to the Pittock Mansion today.  Of course you can drive up there but why not hike there in the rain, that’s what we did.  Sequoia came along, it was a good introduction to hiking for him.  

 The rain was pretty intense during the hike.  In fact we saw lighting and heard thunder just a second afterward.  I drove through Jerry and Ben’s home state during the Summer years ago and experienced some intense thunder, lightning, and hail storms (in July!!!!).  The lightning and thunder were pretty close together but we only heard one strike.  My sekrebearies kept hiking. 
 

My Sekrebeary dropped me in the mud.  Look at my fur.  I made a mental note to deduct their salary this week (and next week out of spite). 

Once we made it up to the mansion we did not go in.  My roommates said it was because there was a special members only party and that Sequoia being all wet would probably not be allowed.  The mansion was decorated for the holidays.  I got a few pictures taken outside.

This would be a great place for the stuffy convention.  Jerry, you would love the gardens in the Summer.

Usually, the mansion grounds has a nice view of the city.  Yes, you can see the city…..if you look beary hard you might see it.  Why are there no pictures of Sequoia?  Well, sitting still is not his “thing” right now.  My roommates say give it time….we’ll see.

We got back home safely and everyone was cold.  Time to fire up the tea kettle and make some warm drinks.  I will take a hot chocolate with whipped cream please.

Picture time.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner.  Sadly my roommates have to work on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so that means my adventuring will decrease (and trust me it’s decreased too much already).  Anyway being that the holidays are coming up I thought I would wrangle my family members and try and get a picture for my holiday cards.

As you can see Big Bear, Little Bear, Reindeer, Drunk Fox and I are all sitting ready for our picture yet our newest family member is having a hard time focusing. 

Reindeer is looking in one direction and Sequoia is looking the other way.  This might be harder than I thought.

Sequoia, look at the camera....not us

Now, if only he would look at the camera.

This is best one so far....this project is going to be harder than I thought. 

Covert Operations parte dos.....

My roommates went out for a while today so I decided to so some more snooping today and my friend Little Bear decided to help out.  Apparently, Little Bears are good at snooping around the house.

We found this bag of adult dog food in the closet.  That's weird, none of the stuffies eat dog food, ugh.  I wonder if my roommates are planning on changing my diet.  If so, I think a strike might be in effect.  Let's see what else we can find.

Oh my goodness, what is this?  A cage?  Is this for us stuffies? I am NOT liking where this is going AT All.  *note* a certain little fox just put his paws on his hips and started mumbling "strike, strike".  

Spot Magazine?  That dog looks beary scary.

Little Bear and I went to the computer and saw a website that my roommates must have left up online.  It looks like a website from Baja California.

I better read this......in  a nutshell it says that in Baja California the street dog population is out of control.  Most female street dogs are pregnant, some dogs are starting, many are infested with ticks and mange (us foxes get mange too, ugh it sucks).  It also said there are 10,000 stray dogs starving, abused (ugh) and neglected.  That is terrible news.  In fact Little bear was so moved he got our his credit card and made a donation.  For every dollar he spends he gets 10% back in Salmon rewards.

Then all of a sudden a loud burst came through the door and guess what?  A well behaved dog came on his leash through the door.  My roommates told me to be nice to our next Mexican street dog.  His name was Canella (Spanish for Cinnamon) but his new name is Sequoia (like the National park).  He is from Baja Mexico, the rescue group found him living at the garbage dump, they got him his shots, fed him some good food and brought him to Oregon to live with me (and I guess my roommates).

Reindeer decided to join us for the family picture as well.

Hmm, I wonder if he likes to hike?

Happy Bearday Jerry

Jerry, I just wanted to wish you a happy bearday, I believe it's November 11th correct?
 I will be sure to have some cake in honor of your day tomorrow.

Ps - My card will be late.
Pps - Just a few more weeks till the Paddington Movie comes out.
Paddington Trailer

Covert Operations

Big Bear and I were relaxing at the house deciding when we should do our annual performance review on our roommates to determine if they get any raises this year.

After we decided if they earned their raise or not I decided to do some reading.  I have been reading this book a lot lately so I decided to see what else is on the bookshelf.

This fox looks a little rabid if you ask me. 

I had to practice my climbing skills to get to the top of this bookcase to find a good book.

So many good choices. 

Hmm, this is an interesting title, I wonder what is happening to my peaceful life?

Seattle; days two and three

What a great way to start off the morning, my roommates took me to Starbucks!  I went for a hot breakfast sandwich and some coffee.

After Starbucks we did a downtown Seattle walking tour.  The book from the library is from ancient times (1999) but the walk was still interesting and I learned a lot about downtown Seattle.

We went into a real fancy hotel, the Fairmont Seattle.  They have lots of Fairmonts in Canada.  The Fairmont Lake Louise, Banff (that's the one that looks like a castle) and the Fairmont Jasper.  We don't stay in the Fairmonts but I like to visit them.  The Fairmont Olympic is beary nice.  They were setting up for a wedding while we were there.  My roommates looked at the prices for lunch and it was beary expensive. 

Here I am exploring the outside of the Fairmont,  Beary interesting. 

After the tour I got to ride the monorail.  Monorail to the Seattle Center.  Home of the 1962 World's Fair.  My roommate went to Expo 86 in Vancouver BC, it was beary cool.  I hope they have a World's Fair in San Francisco or Denver  maybe all of us Stuffies could meet there?

While at the Seattle Center we ate lunch.  Fish and Chips were on the menu for us.  Beary good.  Next stop was the Experience Music Project Museum.  We saw all sorts of guitars and instruments.  They had a special exhibit on Fantasy Characters as well.

Hmm, this animal looks like a fox.  Wait, trickster?  That doesn't seem like me, oh wait it must be me.  Everyone knows Foxes bring gifts when visiting friends. 

 

Of course no trip would be complete without a visit to the Space Needle.  It's beary expensive to travel up to the top so we declined.  It was hard to get a picture of the needle and me, but I think we did it.

Back to the hotel because it was starting to rain (it is Seattle in the fall you know).  The hotel had a rooftop deck.  My roommates and I explored it and if you look beary closely you can see the Space Needle from the hotel. 

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Ahhh, another day.  Mmmm Starbucks again for breakfast, I am so lucky.  Today we explored the international district.  I love looking in the shops and learning about the food from other cultures.  We had Dim Sum for lunch, beary good.  I am still learning to use chop sticks but I hope to master them soon.

Our final activity was to visit the remodeled Amtrak station.  Argg, my roommates fingers are in the end of the video.  Good help is beary hard to find now-a-days.

Anyway, in the 1960s they covered all the fancy decorations with drop ceilings.  Then in the 2000s or so they remodeled the station, got rid of the drop ceilings and it's beary pretty.  There was an Amtrak train leaving for Spokane, West Glacier, Havre, and Minneapolis/St. Paul.  I was beary excited, hoping my roommates were going to take me on a surprise trip to see Jerry and Ben (traveling by train seems to be an appropriate way to visit Jerry and Ben since they like trains so much).  Apparently, that was not the case, maybe next time.

Mail Call

I was relaxing around the house with my friend Little Bear.  He was telling me the secret recipe for Starbucks Hot Chocolate when we got interrupted by the letter carrier.












It seems that a few items came to me, Little Fox.

Cool, a post card from Ajdin.  Looks like he had some time to send post cards from his trip to Iowa.  I haven't been to Iowa but it looks beary pretty.   A quick google search of Iowa shows lot of beary fun things to do, they have a botanical garden, lots of state parks to visit, and some living history museums.  I have always wanted to see North Dakota and revisit South Dakota, maybe I can combine a trip to Iowa on that future road trip as well??????

The letter carrier also dropped off a package from a certain group of Midwestern Bears.  It was the reward from Jerry and Ben.  Look at this amazing Halloween Card from Jerry and Ben.

Isn't it interesting how all of your friends come out when treats from Jerry and Ben arrive in the mail.  We look forward to trying all of the treats, thanks guys.