Sunshine and Light

Road Trip

We're back from a quick trip to the DC area. We had a chance to catch up with friends Lara & Eli, and their 15-month old daughter Alyssa. It was wonderful. I haven't seen them in over a year and a half, Chris hasn't seen them since last fall when he was in California for a race. I hadn't had a chance to meet Alyssa either.

Alyssa is a doll. As Chris puts it, she's the baby girl version of Fred - happy, friendly, and fairly fearless. The baby for whom the phrase "sunny disposition" was invented.

We got to our hotel around 8:30 last night, got some mediocre Chinese food, and then Eli came over. Fred greeted him with a rare roll over so Eli could rub his belly. Fred is friendly, but usually not affectionate with other people the way he is with Chris and I. The German Shepherd aspect of him requires that he be constantly vigilant less some unknown terror attack the pack. So usually he's far too busy to do more than allow pats on the head.

Fred and Alyssa got along really well. She greeted him with "Woof Woof", and was absolutely fearless about walking up to a dog that weighed three times what she did.

After breakfast, we collected Fred from the hotel, checked out, and went to the park. It ended up being a Fred trip, a very rare occurence indeed. Usually he has to wait in the car during races, go all day without naps, and submit to several hour car drives with us nagging him to stop barking at passing semis. But this time we went to the park where he could run along a woodsy trail sniffing thousands of wonderful smells. Then it was to the dog park to play "chase" with Scout. Then it was running in and out of the lake to cool down before he had to go back to waiting in the car and a 4 hour drive home. But not a bad trip for the dog. Granted, nothing really holds up to the time we parked the car in a park where he could run around and we slept in a cabin. But not bad at all...

Labels: Travel

posted by MyHusbandRules @ 8:38 PM