The first of the NorCal Summer summer days was today, and with it, any hope of finding enough time in front of the computer to get caught up in full on the last few weeks has vanished. I simply can't devote full entries to each element of the last few weeks, so I am going to put them into 3 entries - first, a catch all from my drive down and back to SoCal to drop off Nephew Vance, including the good times in the Inland Empire. Next, a catch-all of local hiking goodness from recent outings. Then finally, going back to cover off on the trip to Space Camp.

Even in doing these, I won't be able to cover off on every little thing, as I might otherwise. I promise that you'll get all the usual scintillating detail on both dog's butts, as well as close-ups of any regional locomotive I passed. This way to the egress...

The nephews and sis are now settled in SoCal, but in the getting there, I had them at the casa in parties of varying sizes through the summer. Taking the final visitor, nephew Vance, down south meant another down-and-back into the Inland Empire - not the greatest drive in Cali - but this one would be different - there would be doggies and a nephew old enough to survive a site-seeing routing to SoCal with his nerd uncle. This is no small difference! Off on 2-dog road trip #1 we went!

If I were to slip the surly bonds of earth early, I will have succeeded in passing on to nephew Vance a love for one of the greatest places on earth - US 395 down the Eastern Sierra. Mono Lake, Tioga Pass, CA20 to US6, June Lake, Topaz Lake, and a thousand other places where God was showing off dot the entire run. Yes, there is degenerate nasties like Crystal Geyser's bottling plant and the LA Water District, but even these soul-less toe-rags can't ruin a place which, even somewhat spoiled, is all that is great about California. Vance and I decided to see how long it took to go to the Inland Empire via the great 395, and also, just to take it in so that we could make it 3 summers in a row that we have done so. I am glad we did, but boy oh boy, I am getting old - I can't drive like I used to!

Eventually, our long journey made it, literally, to the sea. We got settled in down SoCal way, and because it is simply furnace weather out there this time of year, we made a bee-line for the Huntington Beach Doggie Beach, which is very exciting for me and our little pack. I know Booms avoids the water, had no idea what Taylor would do, and because the Chik can't see too well, I decided to put a floatie on her in case she didn't see a Big Kahuna Wave coming and got swept out into the water. She definitely got hit hard by some waves she didn't see, but nothing too major. If anything, once she got used to being a little wet, she seemed to like it given how warm it was, even at the coast.

Even splitting the drive into 2 days (and not half way - we barely did any driving the first night), it was pretty epic as far as distance, time, and sheer strength of mind and body needed to pull it off. Luckily, the first half of the drive was in the Sierra itself, and we got out early enough to miss some of this heat. The second half of the drive, we were not so lucky and we caught prime August Mojave heat at mid-day. The doggies were pretty good troopers about it all, even during the mountain climbing where we couldn't run the air. Even so, and as beautiful and wonderful as it is, the routing is 250+ miles longer than going via the Central Valley. I am glad I saw it once - and it did give Boom Boom and Chiquita a chance to poop in Carson City Nevada which might be Chik-Chikkas first out of state poop, no small event in a terrier's life.

Being Midwesterners, I think the nephews and I still think of beach life as being just normal California life, especially in SoCal. I suppose I have been here long enough to grasp that this is not really true, and after experiencing the traffic on the way to Huntington Beach , I think they realize that it isn't just a matter of hopping into the dune buggy with a 6-pack of Sunkist and a few nubile wanna-be lingerie models for just another day in paradise. Even so, knowing the planning and time it will take to schlep out there, I have a feeling that we will be making that trek often - especially when it is shorts weather in January. It takes some getting used to I am sure, but nothing like the getting used to it will require should we find ourselves back on the tundra again.

In time, we had to head out and hit the road to make it back to NorCal. This was my first road trip with Girly-Girl, and while I can't say she loves the car like Boom Boom does, she loved my sister's house, and loved just being out where her people and her pack were. She is not really the dog I had in mind for our pack, but knowing what she is about, I can't send her back. She really is precious, and I am pretty sure Booms will warm up to her in time. She asks nothing of him - which is how he likes it - and in return, he seems cool with having her around. Naturally, I wish they were best buddies, but neither of them seems as tied to other doggies as they are people. In that respect, it works.

Our ride back was much more direct. I might be able to save a little time and effort by going via the 5, but I am totally ok making a reasonable time investment in getting more interesting scenery, and for that, I have picked my own favorite route: 215N to 15N to 395N to 58W to 99N to 152W to 5N to 580W to home sweet home. This means many scenic extras, not the least of which is one of my favorite spots on earth - the Tehachapi Mountains.

Booms and I found the the Tehachapi dog park last summer, plus the city has an AWESOME little pet store (the kibble roller treat dispenser thingie I bought there is the favorite toy of the office doggies - I only wish I'd bought the small one when I had the chance.) The dog park works just as a doggie park - water, small dog area, shade, parking - but this park is just up the line from the world famous Tehachapi Loop, with the tracks passing within very clear sight of the park. Many trains and a place for doggies play! It is perfect itself. I know it has brought me in off the highway often enough that I now pretty much plan my stops to take us there (it isn't quite half way between my house and sis', but I can get there on one tank from either direction.) I can even forgive the pigfucker Sons Of The Confederacy sign now up at the entrance to city...the park is that good!

After a visit to the new dog park in Patterson on the way home, we got in to Oaktown pretty early on Sunday night, which normally is good, but in this case it was bad, because I fell asleep too early on in the night to sleep all the way through. As relaxing a weekend as we had, I went to work Monday pooped. Sigh. Even so, another trip to SoCal is in the cards for Labor Day. I promise not to make an epic entry out of each one, but if you saw what me and the pooches saw, you'd wanna share too peoples!