The weather was beautiful this weekend, and we had a 3-day weekend to boot! The kid and I had a famous time scouting out new (to us) hotspots for canine pleasure. Many were located, and are worth sharing, but there is a theme; and in this theme, a basic truth: Dogs Like Poop!
I did not say that "dogs like pooping". I have no way of knowing if they do or don't since it isn't like doing it is optional. We visited many doggie parks this weekend - like this nice one near the prison for the criminally insane in Atascadero - and I didn't notice any recreational pooping. However, I noticed, and documented, no small amount of ROLLING IN POOP! But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
I debated what to do with the weekend. Ideally I could have traveled back to Chicago to hang with my sister and her family in from Japan, but it was not to be. My job has been a real job of late and there is no way for me to miss work right now. I also thought about traveling down to the LA area to soak up the perfect weather along the beach. I am trying to be good with money and laying off the hotel visits and super-extended weekends. I decided to split the difference and hit the Central Coast, going only as far as I could while also returning to Oaktown the same day.
Basically, this took us as far as San Luis Obispo. I am not someone with a ton of knowledge of SLO, but the weather always seems awesome, and our doggie guide to CA shows it in the middle of a cluster of canine hot spots. Indeed, we hit a rich vein of off-leash pleasure spots in which to recreate with abandon, including Dog Beach at Morro Bay.
The stamp-sized parking lot nearly vexed our visit, but with patience, we worked our way beachside, passing by the sun-worshippers, picnic-lovers, casual canine visitors, and those who lack our commitment to recreational excellence.
As I have noticed in many places outside the Bay Area, there are few other dog lovers out soaking up the good times in the places where leash-free is the way to roll. We saw 2 or 3 other dogs on this, the only dog-legal beach real estate for many miles. I can't explain why there weren't dozens of doggies out on this perfect afternoon, but there weren't. The only thing I might guess is the problem is the presence of horse poop on the beach. Indeed, it became no small problem for us, as the video below should well indicate.
This is my chi enjoying the tactile pleasures of the road-apple, as well as sampling it for rich tanins and a fruity finish. Our car isn't big, but as I often say, no car is smaller than one containing a dog covered in poop within it.
I myself can easily be pulled into spiritual contemplation by the eternal sound of the waves crashing on the shore. Here, on one of the most scenic shores on the planet, it is easy to find oneself deep in meditation and introspection UNLESS one is a dog who is thinking about poop, thinking about eating poop, and thinking about rolling in poop. I hate to judge, but it is something I may never fully understand. I truly suspect that the call of the hypnotic lapping of the waves reaches to depths of the human soul that a horse pile reaches within the chihuahua soul. I suppose, at the end of the day, I must accept this as a fixed condition, and that if I set off on a day of chihuahua pleasure, I should be prepared for the high likelihood that poop will eventually be involved.
Mr. Friendly was very pleased with Dog Beach, and I am sure if you asked him, he would give it 4 paws up and can't wait to return. I myself liked it well enough, but I am going to have to scan the sand for potential trouble if we are to return.
Not wanting to overstay our welcome, I eventually decided we needed to leave. I had to chase the kid to catch him and give him a sea-water bath so as to eliminate some of the dog-perfume. This I did, and we were on the road again.
We had already hit Dog Beach and Atascadero on Sunday (and Morgan Hill on the way down), having done an extended hoofing at Fort Funston and Pt. Isabel on Saturday. We closed out Sunday night with a quick lap around the small loops at Garland Ranch in Carmel Valley, one of my favorite spots in the state. This was our first visit there this year, and with that warmth in the air, it dawned on me just how far into the winter we are at this point. I am totally 100% ready for the return of the sun and warmth. I am going to make a project of mastering as much of Garland Ranch as we can in 2010. It is paradise. A perfect end to an awesome day, but not the end of our weekend of canine pleasure.
For President's Day itself, we decided to keep it closer to the casa since the weather was supposed to be so warm - literally the low 70s and sunny. I looked in the dog book to see what there was nearby that was new to us, and went with Garin Ranch and Dry Creek Park in the East Bay hills. The place was right, the time was right, and hills or not, we went for it.
The rains have been good this year, so we are in that rare time when the Golden State is more like the Emerald Isle, and this park was no different.
I myself am feeling guilty at how the kid has become overweight since the holidays. It is way easier to put weight on a chihuahua than to get it off, and with Mister Booms, it is proving most vexing. I am totally responsible for his weight, and have figured out that his weight stayed down most of last year because we were at Pt. Isabel and Cesar Chavez Park in Berkeley every single night. With the early sunsets, it has been tough to do anything more than short walks around the neighborhood, and that isn't enough. Moreover, the one little doggie he used to play with we haven't seen much of, and their rough-housing was good for burning calories (one of the reasons I am contemplating getting a second dog this year if we move - more on that later.) It is because of this guilt, I thought nothing of the huge hills we had to hike to take advantage of Garin Ranch Park.
As I always discover too late, it doesn't have to be very warm for direct sun to start beating down on one, especially when one is doughy and trying to walk directly up the East Bay Hills. The dog - the supposed health case - seemed not too troubled by the hike, but I was dying! Since Garin is a working ranch, Booms was more interested in the roaming bovine than the stumbling owner. I didn't expect him to pull me up hill or anything, but dammit, I did at least expect him to care! In the end, the chi really didn't care all that much about my distress, especially once he realized he had nearly unlimited access to POOP!
No matter how I pleaded or tried to scare him away, the kid pretty much dove head first into the largest cow pie I have ever seen. Thankfully, it wasn't entirely soft, and there were still a few spots on the kid that remained uncovered by cow crap. I am not sure exactly what the appeal is, but once he did his triple reverse gay blade leap onto the patty, I couldn't carry him over the water and/or muddy spots until we got to a water pump elsewheres in the park. Thankfully, it was no more than 45 minutes or so of having to follow the pile-lover along the trail once we made it out of the meadow -wafer-zone. By then, it was hard to tell if it was him or the pasture-pastries I was smelling at any given time.
I am pretty sure the kid had a good workout in our hill climb, descent, and trail walk. I myself was totally exhausted. I was literally wiped-out. Worse, I didn't pack enough water, and since I wasn't sure when we'd get a refill, I had to preserve our supply. The kid was unconcerned since we got a nice breeze off the bay, which was enough for him to stay cool. He basically wasn't all that thirsty, nor did he seem all that tired.
Once we were back down the hill and under the canopy, the kid took the lead and drove hard for home. All in all, we were out there for well over 2 hours, and I am pretty sure, the kid loved it. Without a doubt, summer will be WAY too hot for us to visit that park in. By April, I would guess it would be too hot for the kid. If we are to visit, it will have to be winter. If the kid could talk, I am sure he would be more than happy to return to the high trails where the plops grow tall and stinky! It really seems his element - after all, he was far more interested in the patties than the cows themselves. Just imagine his joy to find, post-plop, that I was going to want to spend the bulk of the rest of the day sleeping off my exhaustion! Eat, sleep, and roll in poop! Sounds like a perfect holiday weekend to us!
Whether surfside horse turds or high-n-lonesome acres of bovine wafers, the kid's passion for plops cannot be denied. Where there are piles, they're ALL happy trails to this chi. As I think back, we have only had two big trips in Granny & Grandpa's car, and on both of them, the kid has sought out nasty piles. Perhaps he is filled with latent rage at them?!? I know he has the tendencies of a rebellious youth, but this sort of acting out seems a bit overwrought, even for a melodramatic little chihuahua. There has to be some reason for it all. I am considering an intervention at this point. Could that amount of rage really survive in such a small vessel? Only time will tell. The only positive in all of it is that there is no way, should this all relate to latent anger, that he will be able to keep that anger to himself. The moment he gives into these urges, all within 20 yards of him will know!
Posted by rudayday at February 15, 2010 09:14 PM