Snow Day at Laguna Mountain

One of the best things about living in Sandy Eggo is our proximity to everything fun. Oh...and the weather. :)

With an average high, year round of between 65 and 75...this really is a great place to live. Of course, we do get extremes sometimes (at least extremes for us!), and last week was one of those extremes.

A super cold storm blew threw Sandy Eggo, bringing snow levels down to about 3000 feet. That meant our local mountains got a nice fresh dumping of snow. That was Tuesday & Wednesday of last week. The rest of the week, we've had blue skies and beautiful temperatures...with cold nights. Perfect to keep that snow safe and sound until the weekend when Mom didn't have to work and we could go play!!

We headed up to the mountains around 8:30 in the morning. Better to beat the crowds!

We arrived to perfect conditions. It was pleasantly warm, with not a cloud in the sky.

Of course, I had to stop and make some yellow snow.

And then it was game on! Zoomies in the snow!

Mya tried to catch me in a game of tag, but with my long legs I could sail thru the deep snow.

eat my snow!

check out my cool shadow!

fast, like a cheetah!

I could hear lots of critters under the snow...they were teasing and teasing, but I just couldn't find where they were!

hello? anybody down there?

Come out come out where ever you are!

ok, then...I'll dig you out!

only professionals should try this type of drooling

this is the same hike we do every year when we go camping with Leash Your Fitness. The lake looked a little cold though!

Snow hiking makes a dog hungry!

Nom Nom Nom

one last romp before heading home!

Seriously fun day!

Foster Dog Lys

This girl came and went so fast, I didn't even have time to post about her!!

Lys was such a sweet girl. About 9 months old, with the funniest overbite you've ever seen!

She was super soft and cuddly. Mom thinks she was maybe Dachsund Poodle. Long body, shorter legs. When Mom first saw her shelter picture, she was a big fluff ball, but when she came to the house she had been shaved.

All in all, we had her for about a week. She got adopted by a super nice couple and they were renaming her Snowpea. Kind of a silly name if you ask me, but she didn't seem to care!

Sweetwater Reservior Hike

This past weekend, we met up with a bunch of Holly's friends...She did the 3-day breast cancer walk last year, and this group continues to get together and either walk or hike every weekend. This weekend they were doing a hike at Sweetwater Resevior, somewhere Mom had been wanting to hike but just hadn't gotten around to.

We knew it was going to be a longer hike than I'd been on before, so Mom's plan was to turn around at the 3 mile mark...but her plan was foiled when her Garmin GPS's batteries were dead!! We ended up doing the entire hike...8 miles! Holy cow was I tired by the time we got back to the car!

We started the hike out by crossing over a cool steel bridge built in 1929. Dang that's a LOT of dog years!!

The trail was really pretty. Nicely maintained with a big bridge crossing the river. There wasn't much water in the river cuz we've had yet another dry winter, but I bet this river gets flowing when its raining!

Despite the lack of rain, things are still  pretty green out. It was a relatively cool day too, thank goodness, cuz there wasn't a lot of shade!

We of course had to take our signature group shot. Its always interesting to Mom when people are so amazed that we 'stay' so well. Sit-Stay's and Down-Stays are two of the core things she teaches every dog she's ever owned. Its an important tool in the training kit!!

It was super nice out, and with not very many people about we were able to hike off-leash for quite a ways.

At one point, the guys decided to do a little off trail hiking. They were trying to get close to the water so us doggies could romp and play, but along the way Mom noticed there were little cactus EVERYWHERE! She knew one of us doggies was going to end up stepping on one. Luckily, no one stepped on one, but I WAS attacked!

These cactus are called Cholla cactus, also known as the jumping cactus. They typically have a bunch of these smaller balls of cactus all over the stalk, and they come off super easy and almost 'jump' on anything that is near them. Unfortunately, that was ME!! Mom saw this on my paw when we got back up to the trail. Don't worry...it didn't hurt at all, but boy was it stuck! Luckily, one of my friends Mom's had a small towel in her pack so my Mom could grab on and pull the sucker out of my foot. She had to give it a good yank, it was pretty stuck! The stupid spines have barbs all over them making it really tough to pull them out. Luckily, only 2 spines stayed in my foot. Mom was able to get them out at home with tweazers. Guess I know what's being added to her first aid kit!!

After that crisis was averted, the hike continued on. By this time, we were all getting super tired. This was the longest I'd hiked...ever!

On the way back, we got to play in the creek a little. For a few minutes Mom didn't think I'd ever come out! It felt so good!

Hot and tired, we made it!! Another fun day in the books. Mom thinks 8 miles was a bit too long for me though, so we probably won't be hiking that far anytime soon. 5-6 is much more my speed!