Here is Anika who sits directly in front of me.She is in her typical position, (and Caleb’s too), while we drive from site to site.We have put in a lot of miles at this point, almost 3,000 by the time we got to Carlsbad Caverns.And during these miles Caleb and Anika have read quite a few books already.Caleb finished two books totaling over 700 pages and Anika has read two books one of which was over 300 pages and she finished it in just a day and a half.Personally, I am just thankful that I don’t have to endure the beeping of video games or the loud noises of DVD’s.I can wile away the hours snoozing here in my backward facing position.
One of David and Kirsten’s favorite TV programs that they watch as I lie sprawled (often on my back) between them is “Austin City Limits” on PBS.It features all kinds of bands, many of which my family have adopted as new favorites because of this show.
But, according to Dave, Austin is just a real nice city y’all.He’s been working on his Texas accent – much to the embarrassment of his children.They haven’t responded well when he sings, any chance he gets, “The stars at night are big and bright…”And as expected nobody claps and sings the rest of it for him…except for Kirsten…I wish she wouldn’t encourage him!
I thought Houston was hot!Wow – it hit 104 degrees while we were here.Good thing our camper comes with an air conditioner.We stayed in the McKinneyFallsState Park which was nice, quiet and safe, but not much in the way of its namesake.
This part of Texas and everything west of here is in a state of drought.They haven’t had rain in some parts of Texas since last fall.
My family did enjoy some good food in the Austin area, some of which was introduced to them by Adam Richmond on the TV show, “Man vs. Food”.Dave didn’t enter any eating contests, but he sure did pig out on BBQ at the Salt Lick in Driftwood and eating giant (Texas-sized) donuts at Round Rock Donuts.The family reported that it was the best barbecue they had ever had and the donuts were not only big, they were delicious.I can’t report on any of this myself as I was not even given a doggy bag!
The family spent some time at the LadyBirdJohnsonWildflowerResearchCenter.Here you will find the family and me amongst the flora in their botanical gardens.
And finally, the family did catch a quick listen of some live music on
6th Street in Austin.
Next stop on our tour - Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.Until then,
We have arrived in Texas and gosh it’s hot.This is no environment for a black furry creature like me.So far the family would describe Texas as big, beefy (lots of cows), and gosh darn hot!It has averaged about 97 degrees and surprisingly humid.Houston has two sides to it – one is filled with the miles and miles of oil refineries that you might expect to see.The other is filled with palm trees and flower riddled neighborhoods.The latter is where we found Kirsten’s cousins Laura and Tony Muscat and their three boys, Chandler, Carson, and Connor.
Most importantly they have a playmate for me, Autumn.Although, as you can see, she was a bit indifferent to me and my bounding puppyish ways.She is advancing in years, but quite nice and friendly.
I did make fast friends with Chandler who gave me my daily requirement of belly rubs and allowed me to occasionally bathe his face. (He's a bit camera shy - but he is pictured later.)
The family left me a few times to hang with Autumn, so they could go out to eat and to NASA’s HoustonSpaceCenter.I don’t know what a climbing wall has to do with a space center. Perhaps Caleb was performing some sort of training to be an astronaut.
Dave told me (yes – he talks to dogs…) that this was a rather historic time to be at the Houston Space Center as all of the manned space missions are controlled from this site and the last shuttle mission will happen in just a few short weeks. Here is the control room used for Nasa's Apollo Missions.
Here are some more pictures of the family’s time at the HoustonSpace Center.
Caleb and Dave also got in a little salt water fishing right in front of the Muscat’s house.Tony and Chandler showed the boys their techniques.Caleb caught a nice sized Croaker and Chandler caught a Speckled trout and a Catfish.The older fishermen caught nothing…hmmm….
All of the Eastman’s had a wonderful time with the Muscat’s. They ate well, as you can see Chandler serves up a heaping helpin' full of Turkey dinner to Caleb. This dinner included the entire Muscat clan plus Uncle Bill who bought the turkey - because it was on special of course!
They had so much fun, they may see them again on this cross-country trek.(More about that later I am sure.)
Well that’s all Houston…over and out…and of course big wet kisses,
Dave says I need to post more pictures of our stay here in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida because the ones we posted already, make it look like it was cloudy the whole time. The reality is that those pictures were from our first morning here and it has been bright and sunny ever since. In fact, Caleb was blessed with our best weather day so far for his birthday.
Caleb had quite a birthday. Breakfast involving multiple pork products, of which I got none. Then Dave made Reuben Sandwiches for everyone, of which I did not even get a morsel of sauerkraut. Then Faye and Murray, Kirsten's cousins, treated Caleb to dinner of local shrimp and crab cakes, of which I was not allowed to partake in a single one! The nerve of these people. Here are Caleb, Anika and Bayley their second cousin, about to partake in that delicious seafood. If you look carefully, you will notice that I am very politely begging in the background.
And, here is Caleb about to eat cake. Did I mention - that I got none of any of this food?!
I must admit that I, and I am sure the whole Eastman Family, am thankful to Faye and Murray and Bayley too, that they allowed us to stay in their very beautiful house on a very beautiful beach that I was allowed to run on after 4pm each day. I was amazed at the abundance of delicious dried seafood snacks just laying all over the beach available for the grabbing.
Here are Caleb and Anika frolicking on the beach. They call it boogie boarding. And these two did an awful lot of it. In fact, these two were in the ocean or the pool almost our entire stay in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.
Well we are off to Houston, Texas tomorrow to visit more of Kirsten's cousins. I sure do hope they are a little looser with their food distribution.
You may notice that the boys in the family now have hair shorter than mine!Dave had never shaved his head so close and Caleb hadn’t had his hair cut so short since he was 4 when his Mom and Dad were trying to get him to try to stop spinning it in his sleep when he sucked his thumb.Caleb and Dave shaved each others heads in anticipation of a hot summer.Dave commented that shortly after (pun intended) Caleb shaved his head he reexamined a picture from the mantle of his Dad, Jim, from the 1960’s.Their hair styles matched!The girls will leave their blond locks long and flowing.As for me, I will continue my year-long shedding tradition, leaving my black fur everywhere to mark my territory.Big Wet Kisses, Mookie, “The Bloggin’ Dog”
Well, we are off on our grand adventure.I must admit I have been a nervous wreck getting to this day.Kirsten and Dave have been packing the car for the last two days and made the mistake of putting my crate in the back of the car too early.I was both excited to go and nervous they might leave without me.I decided that camping out in my crate in the car was the best strategy to keep me calm and make sure I got to come too.I would wile away the hours taking naps as the whole family scurried about trying to cram 2 months worth of stuff into the car and the camper.Somehow they got it all in and I fit too.Anika summed up our start the best.She wrote in her diary this morning, a prologue to our trip:
“First we went to Nana and Pop-Pop’s on June 22nd.We could not call this the beginning of our journey yet. We had a very good dinner and then went to bed.We had to get up at .Surprisingly, I was not tired.After we set off we could call this the beginning of our trip."
You will notice as we left from Nana and Pop-Pop's house, pulling our Pop-Up Camper - that Nana and Pop-Pop are noticeably absent from the balcony porch waving to us a Bon Chance and Bon Voyage. OK, it was 5:00 AM - I guess we will cut them a little slack as they did house us and feed us on our first night of our adventure.
Along the way we were reminded that as our family gets to vacation – there still is a war being waged in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya, (yes I am a worldly and well advised Bloggin’ Dog).However, I was bit concerned to look out my crate and see this tank which appeared to be aiming for me and my family.
By the way, here I am relegated to this rear facing position in this traveling vehicle.Ah well, I suppose this gives me a better vantage point to reflect on the places we have been…
Dave had told me that our plan was to stay our first night in a Walmart parking lot somewhere in Tennessee for our first evening.For those of you that don’t know, Walmart allows you to camp in their parking lots across the country for free. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the designated 24 hour Walmart, it was quite obvious that the patrons might in fact keep us up a full 24 hours.Between the partyin’ gold ol’ boys and the drag racers struttin’ their stuff around the parking lot, Dave decided that we might just be a little safer on the road.So, Kirsten and Dave packed up me and the kids again and off we headed for what would turn out to be a 25 hour driving adventure.
The benefit of this exhausting endeavor was that we arrived at Faye and Murray’s house early so that we could enjoy the ocean at Santa Rosa Beach that much earlier.Pictured here you will find Caleb and Anika frolicking in the surf at just an hour after their arrival.I can assure you they rarely are even awake at this time at home let alone active.Perhaps they are resetting their clocks.
I even saw Dave up at this hour – a rare sight indeed.Here he is fly fishing for sharks as he gets battered by the surf.He almost got one of the 4 foot sharks to bite.I was wondering what he would do with it once he reeled it in…
We would all need a significant mid-afternoon nap this first day in Florida.But, I am sure this has all been worth it.I will let you know more when I am allowed to explore what dead ocean creatures the ocean has washed up for me to eat off that white sand!
