Camping

Ocean Cove

This past weekend Seann & I packed up the truck (and I mean it was PACKED!) and the dogs and headed down to California for a little camping. Classes had just ended and this was a nice break. We do this camping trip every year, going to a little town a bit north of Bodega Bay and camping with a group of friends. It's really one big party but we'll keep calling it camping. It sounds more rugged.

When we lived in Mountain View, Bodega Bay was just a few hours away. Now that we live in Oregon, Bodega Bay is more like 12 hours away. Had we been smart and had we thought ahead, we might have broken the driving into two days and spent the night in Redding or something. But we weren't smart and we didn't think ahead. So we pulled into camp, last ones in, and took whatever spot we could find for the tent. It was getting dark and we were both tired. And, don't forget, we had both dogs with us. Dogs complicate things.


The week before we left, I wondered aloud everyday if it made sense to take both dogs. Would Charlie really be a good camping dog? He is awfully loud. Really, awfully loud. But Seann assured me Charlie would be fine and I really shouldn't worry about it. As it turned out, Seann was right, Charlie is a wonderful camping dog. He didn't make a peep (which shocked the hell out of me). He laid down and hung out nearly as if he was at home. He made nice with the other dogs (there were 18 dogs total on the trip) and slept through the night without snoring. I started to wonder if this was really my dog.


Oscar, on the other hand, is not a good camping dog. He gets a bit skittish when it gets dark and someone comes up behind him. He doesn't have a good grasp on his new surroundings and therefore has a hard time figuring out how to protect his pack. All this translates to a dog that whines or barks whenever Seann or I leave him--even if the other one of us is with him. He really wanted all his pack where he could see us. He would also bark meanly at people if they crossed whatever line he had in his mind as the boundary of our territory. It got very tiring. We took both dogs for walks and down to the water, but Oscar still had to be right next to us when we came back to camp. It made it hard to socialize and catch up with friends we hadn't seen in a year. So Oscar is not a good camping dog. Next year, Oscar will stay home.

Seann kayaking

Doggy Drama notwithstanding, we did have a good time on the trip. Seann brought the kayak and managed to get out in the water for a little while. The weather was really beautiful and we did get to visit a bit during the day when Oscar wasn't as skittish (no one could really sneak up on him in the daylight). And, as always, the food was really yummy. It was a bummer to have to come back already. I would have loved to have spent a week down there camping. I really could have used the break! Now we start the countdown for next year's trip, already on the calendar.

Our traditional self portrait shot