Reggie Visits the Grand Tetons

Dad told me we are planning to leave our summer home in Idaho soon so we must do some more photography while the leaves are turning to gold and red. Of course, he knows that I can’t see gold and red very well, but I enjoy riding in the car with Dad. So yesterday we left in the car before the sun woke up with all of Dad’s photography equipment. I know because I have to find a place to lie down amid all of the stuff he brings.

Our adventure began almost as soon as we left the RV Park. A big Elk ran out in front of the car and Dad almost had me in the front seat after stopping so fast. Then only a minute later another one did the same thing. Whew, we didn’t hit anything and I was OK but geez, can’t the Elk see our big white car coming? It was too dark and the Elk were too quick for Dad to get a photograph, which I think made him mad!

We were headed for the Grand Tetons according to Dad. He said it was a National Park. When I heard him tell me I was saddened because I knew the rules in a National Park kept me from getting out and running around free. But I still enjoy the ride and I know Dad will let me out a lot, even if it is on a leash.

We drove through the forest and Dad let me out to sniff while he photographed. I smelled bears, elk and moose back here!

To get there we took a rough dirt road that cut between Yellowstone and the Teton mountains through the forest. Dad called it Flagg Ranch road. (I never did see any flags on it.) Dad said I should be looking for Deer and Elk and I was happy to do that for him. Dad was more interested in all the beautiful red and gold colors from the foliage on the forest floor and the aspen trees. We stopped a few times for photographs and because this wasn’t in a National Park, I got to run around free.

I found this Deer, and he was surprised to see me.

We did see some some deer and because Dad was trying to photograph them, I didn’t bark. He gave me a treat afterwards to show his gratitude at my silence.

I had to wait in the car a lot because this is a national park, but I could smell from here.

The Tetons are giant mountains that rise up very high and are very pointy and this big river runs through it. I think I have said before that I don’t get excited about such scenery like Dad does. If a place smells good to me, I can get excited, but not about high mountains. So, forgive me if I’m not as enthusiastic as Dad is over this trip.

Dad stopped at several places and took pictures and some of the pictures were of me with the mountains behind. I like this because I get a treat every time I pose for a picture. There are two big mountains, one called Mount Moran and another is the Grand Teton, which Dad says is almost 14,000 feet high (I’m not sure what that is in number of paw lengths.)

Teton Glacier is a big hunk of ice cube moving down the mountain.

Dad says there are several glaciers hanging on the side of the mountains. Glaciers are giant ice cubes that move down the mountain all year around because it is so cold up there. Dad says the mountains are very young and they are so tall because some big thing in the Earth is pushing them up and at the same time, dropping the valley floor beneath them even lower. I didn’t feel the floor dropping so I’d take what Dad says with a grain of kibbles.

Four people lined up to photograph me and all I got was one old treat!

When we first got to the Grand Tetons (from the North) we saw a big lake that is formed by the Snake River (there are no snakes in the river so don’t get excited guys). Dad called this lake Jackson. (Why do humans make names for everything? A lake is a lake, a river is a river, standing water and flowing water… geez they sure complicate things don’t they?)

We stopped at Jackson Lake. Boy would I like to swim, but National Park... no dogs!

Next we went to a bend in the river that Dad called Oxbow bend. He likes it because it has a nice reflection of the fall leaves in the water. Dad climbed to a high hill and left me in the car to watch him. He wanted to photograph the bend in the river from above. Everyone else was down next to me photographing the river and there was Dad climbing through the Sagebrush and weeds to get an even better picture. I’d sure like to have gone with him, but National Park, you know!

Dad climbed to the top of a hill and took this photo of Oxbow Bend of the Snake River (while I waited).

We stopped at several places to take pictures of the Teton mountains. At one place that Dad took my picture, four humans came up to him and asked him if I would pose for them. He said OK. (He didn’t ask me!) It was a bummer because the way I count, I should have received 4 treats instead of the measly one he gave me for that. Humans just don’t understand our nutritional needs! But it was nice to be the center of so much attention.

Another place where there is standing water that gets Dad so excited is something he calls Jenny lake. I looked for my sister Genny, but she wasn’t around. So why call it after her? Dad let me out on a leash for a while to take my picture and it was a nice place to sniff. I left my mark on one of the stone walls, check it out the next time you are there. Jenny Lake is right at the base of this really tall mountain and Dad says it’s beautiful. I usually have to take Dad’s word for stuff like that. We just don’t agree on what is beautiful.

Jennie Lake is a shaded place right beneath a big mountain. Dad let me sniff around a bit... on a leash.

One time we stopped along the Park road and photographed a lone coyote. I let Dad photograph him before I started barking. That was the least I could do. Dad was paying for the gas.

I was pretty excited to see this coyote. I waited until Dad took this picture to bark my head off, then he ran away.

Dad says that the Teton National Park has a lot of Moose but we didn’t see any on this trip. I would have liked to see them, but from the car. They are scary and so big that I’m glad to watch from the car.

Horses were grazing in the National Park, and without a leash!!!! not fair!

We also stopped at this really small church that Dad called the Chapel of the Transfiguration. Dad made a lot of photographs of this building with the colorful leaves and the mountains in the background. Dad called it picturesque. I lifted my leg on the fence outside.

This little chapel was pretty according to Dad. Smell's here were mediocre!

Of course, all the time we were driving I got to stick my nose out of the car window. It was really nice weather and although I couldn’t see the Moose, I did smell them and the coyotes. It’s really tough in one way to smell all these things outside the car as we move along. I have the urge to lift my leg as we are driving at every smell (I wouldn’t do that to Dad’s car, but the urge is there). You humans need to know that it is our urge and you should stop often to let us get it out of our system (so to speak).

Well it was getting late in the day and we headed back on the other side of the Teton mountains to home. Going home was much faster because we didn’t go through the forest. I slept most of the time, except when Dad stopped for another photograph of the mountains. I didn’t mind because I got to hop out and sniff around some more.

Mount Moran reflects in the Snake River. I got to see this view for an hour from the car while Dad photographed his head off!

Well, this is all for this week. All in all, the Grand Tetons is a great place to visit, especially for humans. Dogs will enjoy the smells. I’ll probably be there same time next year, so let’s plan to meet there!

Arf,

Reggie

Why I Like RVing

Everyone asks Mom and Dad, “Does Reggie Travel Well? or “Does Reggie like to RV?” Well, I’d finally like the chance to answer that myself. I’d be pleased to tell everyone whether I like it or not, and why.

RVing is not a natural condition for a dog. We normally like to stay close to our dens and be in control of where we are. So bouncing around in a large crate all day without any idea of where we are going and ending up at who knows where, well that’s a challenge for the best of us.

Once I realized that the RV was really my own den, I felt better about the idea of traveling in it. Mom and Dad helped me by putting me in the RV before we started traveling and letting me get used to its smells, the comfortable couch, my water dish, and the nice cool tile floors. By the time we started traveling, I was happy to go.

They also taught me a couple good rules to be safe. I can’t leave the RV until they put my leash on and release me out the door. They claim this will avoid my being run over by cars (a good thing to avoid, I hear). I also can’t jump into Dad’s lap or lie on the dash while he is driving (especially since I don’t fit on the dash)—something about crashing the RV. I did lie on the electric switch by Dad’s seat once and caused him to squish into the steering wheel while he was driving. Boy was he surprised! Now I can’t lie down next to him when he is driving.

Before I got my “RV legs” I was all over the place, sliding down the kitchen tiles, having my nose smashed against a cabinet when Dad stopped suddenly, and admittedly, getting a little sick from all the back and forth and up and down. But that was when I was a puppy; I’ve grown up now. Now I can sit in front of Mom and peer out the front window, or lie down on my couch and look out the picture window.

There are a lot of good things about being able to travel so much. We get to see so much of the outdoors. When we lived in Colorado, I got to see trees and mountains, but I got used to those smells, and life became a little boring for me. Now, we move around in the great big outdoors and there are smells galore for me to sample (and add to).

One thing that humans just can’t understand about us canine companions is our superior sense of smell (among other things). It’s hard to deal with the puny little smellers that humans have. By the way, they have no idea what a smelly mess they are, especially when they make strange noises and forget to bathe. But we dogs are able to smell hundreds of things and places, remember where we smelled them last, and then find them again. We can tell about which other canine travelers have been there, whether male or female, how old they are, and how they were feeling at the time. When Mom and Dad rave about a beautiful landscape, I’m smelling the landscape on several different levels. (I suspect my experience is better!)

I’ve heard Mom and Dad talk about us dogs having such poor color vision. Well, first of all, we do see some color, and secondly, we more than make up for lack of color vision with our ability to smell so much. The point of this is that traveling gives me great olfactory pleasures (that’s a new word for smelling that I learned when I learned how to use the on-line dictionary!) I love the smells of the sagebrush in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana (these are names that Mom and Dad tell me when we arrive someplace). I love all the wildflowers that I run through in Idaho. Dad photographs them and I smell them. What a delight. I smell all the different trees, the salty ocean sprays, the beautiful canine ladies I meet, and so much more.

RVing allows me to meet so many other dogs, too. They come from far away places, and sometimes I recognize places I’ve been, just by smelling them. I get to run and play with them in the fields outside the RV parks, and sometimes in those fenced-in places called Dog Parks where I can play with lots of dogs at once. There’s nothing more fun than a game of “nip and run”
with a group of my friends.

I like to walk with Mom and Dad. They take me on long hikes in the forest or the desert when we go to different places. I can smell other animals (inferior ones like bears and deer and elk and moose). The really dangerous ones I try to avoid (like badgers here in Idaho and wolverines and possums in North Carolina). A possum once put a pretty big slice on my face when I poked my nose into a large pipe. Boy that hurt. My favorite thing is to chase the little squirrels here in Idaho through the sagebrush. I don’t hurt them, but darn it’s fun to chase them into their holes. (They are sure fast though!)

One of my favorite places is the beach. We have visited both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. I can run free on the sand, roll in the smelly seaweed, and splash in the water (without Dad yelling at me to keep dry!) I often meet other dogs on the beach too! Once, on the beach in Oregon, Mom rode her Segway and I led the way.

Rivers are great for swimming. For example, we have walked along the Snake River in Idaho where I can jump in to cool off, and there are many little creeks where I can get a drink or splash around for fun. Lakes are like that, too. Right now we live only one mile from Henry’s Lake in Idaho. It’s fun to chase sticks that Mom and Dad throw into the lake.

One of my favorite pastimes when we are traveling is to look out the picture window and look for cows. When I see them, I chase them away by barking, making sure none of those large clumsy animals get in our way or harm Mom and Dad. I do a pretty good job at that! I also like to sleep while Dad is driving, then wake up at a rest stop where I can go potty and smell loads of new and interesting smells as we walk around. It's also a great place to meet other dogs from around the country. I like rest stops.

Every morning this summer, Dad has taken me for a long walk in the forest. I sniff and pee a lot and Dad photographs wildflowers. When I have to wait for Dad to finish photographing a wildflower, he usually gives me a treat. I like that part!

Another fun thing about RVing is getting to visit my past friends (and their human companions)
all over the country, especially Megan, my human sister Genevieve’s companion. I’m also a new uncle and love to visit Chloe, my human niece. (My human brother Damon’s new baby!)

So, do I like RVing? You bet I do. I’ve lifted my leg across the entire country and marked my property wherever I could. (I bet your dog will know it when he smells it.) I recommend RVing for any civilized dog and his human followers. The hard part is to get your humans to get up and go. Let them know you want to go too! But remind them that you can’t do all the things I do unless they take you to do them. Remember, the only places we can go are the places they’re willing to take us. Keep working on them.

See ya on the road!

Arf!

Reggie