Camping, Vegas Style

Texas to New Mexico

We spent Christmas Eve night at McKinney State Falls State Park in Austin.  Unfortunately a sleepless night due to loud music and gunshots all night. I guess we should have expected as much being in Texas. Luckily, Christmas morning wad sunny and warm,  and Santa managed to find our camping spot (see previous post for photos).
That day, we drove to Marfa, Texas to try and see the natural phenomenon known as the Marfa lights. Unfortunately,  luck was not on our side,  but we had a lovely night at the Tumble Inn RV Park. We drove through the adorable town of Marfa and headed for Roswell. We have been temporarily held up here due to previously mentioned flat tire, but should soon be on our way again!

Flat tire in Roswell, New Mexico

Prada

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Happy Xmas Eve!

From Austin,  Texas

Betty Betty Meat Mouth post dog park

Georgia through Texas

Trip is going great! We spent Sunday night at Fort Yargo State Park in Georgia,  then flew through Alabama and Mississippi and spent last night at a cute if 'rustic' campground on a swamp outside Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

As usual,  The highlights of the trip have been the food. We ate a delicious and unusual sandwich called a Muffaletta  and hush puppies for dinner last night,  and lunch today was Po Boys. The Muffaletta had fried oysters and fish and tons of chopped green olives. The half size was more than enough for Ben and I to share.

Last night we were woken twice,  once by the loudest clasp of thunder I've ever heard,  and again by the call of a Barred Owl. The owl's call sounded like a monkey hyena coyote and was terrifying until we figured out what it was (thanks Google!). It reminded me of how terrified I was the first time I heard kookuburras while camping.

Then this morning as we were about to pack up a crazy rainstorm hit. Brian and Betty refused to get out of the car. Betty wouldn't even budge when I offered her breakfast,  which is a testament to how much our dogs hate going out in the rain. They're in for a surprise when we get to Portland I guess!

We arrived in Austin, Texas this evening and are too tired to go anywhere so we've ordered pizza. We're staying in a hotel so Ben can get some work done and I can wrap Christmas presents. 

Told ya

Two minutes to Texas

Yeehaa!

Betty's Cockpit

North Carolina

Yesterday, after countless hours of packing and cleaning, we said goodbye to Leesburg. Moving out was an epic effort but we had help. Our wonderful neighbors helped us take our leftover junk to the landfill at 8am Saturday morning. I happen to love landfills, but I realize that not everyone does, so it was very much appreciated.

We arrived in Greensboro about 12 hours behind schedule and got to spend a fantastic evening with Amerifriends. Now we're headed toward Georgia with two tired pups. They spent the day in doggie day care while we had brunch with friends.

Party on!

Pack a Pug

Almost ready to go!  Brian is making sure we don't leave him and Betty behind.

Farewell

As you probably know, we will be relocating to Oregon in a few days. On Saturday, we got together with our lovely neighbors to celebrate (?) our eminent departure. We had a fab time and we're very sad to have to say good bye to such a wonderful community.

There was a very high bottle to person ratio at the party

Now we're just packing up the house and getting ready to set out on the next excellent adventure. Stay tuned; over the next couple weeks I'll write some posts from our road trip across the Land of the Free.

Snug as...

Anyone feel like pugs in a blanket?

Thank you Mood!

A few weeks ago we spent the weekend in New York. It was fab. Short trip,  but we made the most of it. Empire State Building,  9/11 memorial and museum,  the High Line. And that's what we managed to fit in between meals. We had bagels in Brooklyn,  pasta in Little Italy and pizza in Chelsea.
It would be hard to pick a favorite,  but our quick trip to the garment district was definitely a highlight. I even got to visit Mood, the fabric store of Project Runway fame.
Thank you New York for a fantastic trip!

New York has lots of buildings.

Button and needle sculpture in Garment District

Close up of button

Statue in garment district

Swatch the Mood mascot. He is such a sweet dog!

This shop sells just zippers!

The haul! I have already stitched up the brown fabric into a 'flashdance' sweater.

He fell asleep like this

Brian had two growths removed,  but I'm happy to report that he is doing well and soaking up all the extra attention. (If it's possible to lavish any more attention on these dogs than wer already do.)

Monarch Madness

I've been rearing Monarch caterpillars at work. So far we've released over 20, and have at least 40 more that are in various life stages. It's been interesting to watch them develop.

In the first photo below I'm relocating a chrysalis that was in a bad spot. The second photo is of a Monarch that's about to eclose from its chrysalis. You can just make out the wing pattern.

We've got tomatoes

And they're delicious!

We have liftoff

Well actually just germination,  but I couldn't be happier! I've been working on starting a pumpkin patch at the park where I work and i am very happy to report that my little pumpkin seeds have sprouted.

Best Friends

Brian Wants his Bone Back

Found this video this morning and wanted to share. Betty was hoarding both their bones, and Brian was virtually powerless to do anything about it. Also included in this post: bonus cute photo of sleeping pugs!

Excuse the state of our house in the video; this was the day our stuff arrived from Aus.

Tired Pugs

Worn out after a long walk to the farmer's market yesterday.

I earned a Girl Scout badge this weekend!

Want to know why?  Tune in later for details.

Show dog

Brian practicing his show dog stance.

Good Morning

Some of us need more beauty sleep than others.