More Roadside Attractions from the last day of driving...

The last day of driving across Washington State took us through the warm and dry rain shadow as we crossed the Columbia River:

After crossing the Columbia, we stopped in Ellensburg for lunch and drove past this place called Dick and Jane's Spot... some very interesting (and kind of scary) lawn-art:

Then we hit snow in the mountains:

After getting over the pass it was mostly just rain along Puget Sound. By the time we made it to Bellingham it was dark and we were too tired to see much of our new home before we went to sleep.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my 9th birthday!

Our new home?

Could this be the place Sean and Jen have been telling me about? The place we drove 3,000 miles to get to?

With a view like this, I sure hope so!

Last Day of Driving

It's our last day of driving! Coeur D'Alene, Idaho is a wonderful place to stay with a beautiful lake and lots of nice places to walk. Jen and Sean said they had a nice dinner the night before at the brewery.

People in Montana and Idaho seem to love their beer and coffee just as much as people in Washington and Oregon.

Finally!

It's a shame we had to make good time through Washington... there are a lot of interesting

things to see in our new home state. Did you know there is a town called George, Washington? Really, there is!

Life on the road.

I'm so tired of being in the car...





Sean tries to blend in with the Idaho militias...

Self portrait time...

One last hotel. (Actually, we stayed at the dog-friendly La Quinta across the street).

Wyoming & Montana

Just to re-cap the last few days of our journey...

We left our hotel with a fabulous waterpark

Because the movers were ahead of schedule, we unfortunately had to skip Yellowstone. That might have been a good idea anyway, since some of the mountain passes had yet to be opened for the season. Sean and Jen said they will definitely visit this area again since it's not too far from Bellingham. Just driving along I-90 gave us some beautiful views of the mountains:

We also stopped at Little Bighorn, but the battlefield memorial was closing.

Bozeman and Missoula are both really neat towns, but we couldn't stop for long.

Please check back later!

The truck was moving ahead of schedule, so we had to race through Montana, Idaho, and Washington. We arrived safely, but I have much more to report!

More from the Badlands

We stuck to Indian Creek Rd.

Badlands Hostel Bunkhouse... the cow skulls above the door are a little scary, but then there's the cute little turtle cutout by the door...

Mt. Rushmore & Crazy Horse

On Tuesday we toured the Black Hills and saw Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument. Once the rain and fog cleared the views were amazing. Sean and Jen also enjoyed the video documenting the Crazy Horse monument (still under development). No dogs were allowed :-(

There were also some mountain goats at Mt. Rushmore!

Eventually the Crazy Horse monument will look like this.

Wall Drug!

Not very P.C. but who could resist a photo opportunity like this?

Or this?

Not the real thing, but pretty convincing isn't it?

Okay... please make them stop while I still have some dignity left.

South Dakota!

I love South Dakota! The rolling green hills and the Badlands remind me of the greyhound ancestral homeland that I run through in my dreams. It's really beautiful! Our next stop is Rapid City, where we hope to see Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse monument, and the Badlands.

Early in the day we stopped for lunch in the nice town of Mitchell, SD. It's home to the Corn Palace - a music and sports venue that is decorated with murals made out of corn!

Sometimes, on a long drive, you just have to find the right sleeping position.

Wisconsin & Minnesota

Say Cheese!

We drove through both states in a single day. There is much to see here, but rain kept us moving on. We did spend some time driving through the town of Wisconsin Dells... named for a scenic area shaped dramatically by glaciers and rivers. It is also the self-proclaimed water park capital of the world. More photos will be posted to the galleries later...

Of course we couldn't leave Wisconsin without sampling some of the local cheese! We decided to try some cheddar cheese curds... since you don't see those most places. They squeak when you bite them! It's like a squeaky toy and a tasty treat all in one!

Sparta, Wisconsin claims to be the bicycling capital of America; so of course Sean wanted to stop there. The bicycling museum was closed, but we drove through the town's historic district. Sparta is the site of Wisconsin's first Rail-Trail - an old railroad track converted to a bicycle and multi-use path. It's a very pretty town.

Funny sign alert! A restaurant in Sparta had the following sign posted. Sean tried to take a photo, but his camera battery died:

"Chuck Norris eats Garden Burgers." Who knew?

Blue Earth, MN is home to a 50-foot tall Jolly Green Giant statue!

Chicago!

I'm as patient as dogs come, but after 700 miles of driving I'm starting to get a little punchy. Finally we stopped near Chicago to stay with Jen's Uncle Ken and Aunt Pat for a couple of nights. The weather was beautiful and I got to run in a real yard and sleep on real grass! Jen's Aunt Barbara and Uncle Gary, and her Aunt Joyce and her friend Eddie also came to see us.


On Saturday we went to visit Jen's Grandma Marge. She gave me lots of attention! I like Chicago... grass to run in, great food, and nice people who give me a lot of treats.






Ken and Pat also gave us a tour of downtown Chicago. Pat took this photo of Sean and Jen. Sean won't let me touch his camera...something about my lack of opposable thumbs...

Our first real day of driving...

Thursday was our first real day of driving, since it took Sean & Jen FOREVER to clean up the apartment on Wednesday. In their defense Stoney and I do shed a little...

So far my ride has been pretty sweet... I've got a new bed that fits right in the back seat, and lots of treats provided by good friends like Michelle and Betsy & Emil. Jen and Sean were excited to find a good place for lunch in Pennsylvania called "Maggie's Vegetarian Deli." They aren't really vegetarians, but they sure eat a lot of veggies and tofu. I like tofu okay... at least when it's in a nice curry...

Turnpikes are strange places where you have to pay to drive. At least there are some pretty mountains and farms to look at through the window. I slept most of the way.

We stayed in a hotel near Toledo and had Mediterranean food with a nice bottle of wine that our friend Todd gave us as a going-away present.

Thanks Todd!

Farewell!

Finally we're off! After more cleaning and packing, and spending ti

me with friends, we finally pulled out of DC on Wednesday evening arou

nd 9pm.

Er...which Washington is that?

So begins our journey from Washington, DC to our new home in Bellingham, Washington. My name is Aries and I'm a female greyhound... a retired racer actually. For most of my life I've lived in a cramped two-bedroom 4th floor walk-up apartment in Washington, DC's upper Northwest. Before that I raced other dogs on a track in West Virginia. I didn't do well. It wasn't my fault... I was fast, but what was my motivation? Nobody could tell me! I was just supposed to follow the other dogs, but none of them knew why they were running either. Something about chasing something around and around the track, but you could never catch it no matter how fast you ran... sounds like some version of Hell doesn't it? It was... right down to the food and the accommodations. After a few months the track fired me and I was adopted by this nice woman named Jen, and she married this nice guy named Sean. He has a cat named Stoney. We get along well, but we both hate the apartment. At least I get to visit the wonderful parks in DC, but Stoney is stuck inside all day. We were both in a rut and needed a change, so I did my best to convince the humans that we need a better home. I didn't mean one that's 3,000 miles away! I'm going to miss my DC parks and all of my DC friends! I know Jen, Sean, and Stoney will too... but they assure me that Bellingham is the right place to move.

Jen and Sean keep telling me that I will love Bellingham, and that they have two nieces there who are looking forward to playing with me (I love children!). They also promise that I won't have to climb four flights of stairs anymore, and that I'll have more room inside and out. That's good news for the cat too, but the poor guy doesn't travel well. He is going to stay with our friend Stephanie, who will fly him out to Bellingham after we get settled. Staying at Stephanie's is fun! She runs a pet-sitting service and you get to meet all kinds of cats and dogs. She also has lots of treats. Stephanie was very sad to see us go. She kept asking, "Are you sure you've seen all the monuments?" We're going to miss her too, but at least she'll be visiting soon!

Sorry for the long post, but a lot happened in a short time. Sean finished up his job at AU, and was very sad to leave. They gave him a party that made him feel a lot better. Stephanie also threw us a party at the Fleetwood. I was invited to this one!

We tried to spend as much time as possible with family and friends, but packing sure was a lot of work... mostly for Jen and Sean. On our last night in DC I slept with them on our living room floor.

All of our furniture was gone, so it was really strange... at least the tennis balls I lost under the couch were still there!