My Teddy Tales aka Freddy’s Fables

Route 66 is known as the “Main Street of America”.  It goes all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles.  When the Interstate Highways were constructed, Route 66 ceased to exist.  But, the good news is, a great group of people decided to bring it back!  What’s old is new again – we love nostalgia!  This is the “Mother Road” that passes through small towns and the Skeltons of towns.

Today we decided that we should take a “break” from long road trips and spend some time close by.  So…..Kim bought an awesome book called “Arizona Kicks on Route 66” and we drove about 45 minutes to Seligman, Arizona.  This town started it all – they convinced the state of Arizona to designate Route 66 a historic highway – and it is all history ;).

John’s favourite dessert is carrot cake – and Kim’s book said the best carrot cake is at Westside Lilo’s Cafe.  They didn’t share with us – but they said it was delicious – check out the size of that cake!

There were lots of cool shops here and old cars.    We had fun posing and taking pictures!

John always wanted to see an alien- he finally had his chance.  It may not be Roswell – but close enough – right?  🙂

Now, you have to look very closely at the sign on this old gas pump – lol – our chuckle of the day!

We had an awesome time.  Everyone is so friendly :). Lots of people stop and say hi, and tell us that they’ve had Shelties too.  We love the smiles that they give us, and we smile right back.  Life is good!

Later folks!  I think we are headed to the Grand Canyon tomorrow!

 

We made it to Arizona!  This was a fun road trip.  Arizona was a surprise to us…..during the day we went up hills, down hills….saw the desert, saw snow…..red rocks, cliffs, forests…. everywhere we looked, we saw something different.  Amazing Arizona!

We left Hurricane, Utah around 11:00 in the morning after our morning walks, and treats from our favourite guy that worked at the RV park! (The treats were really, really good – so good, I took one from a guy – look at me go!).  We packed up and headed to Williams, Arizona.  Williams is the “gateway” to the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park and an important town on the infamous “Route 66”.  Stay tuned – that is our goal for today to check out some of Route 66 – and get our kicks! 🙂

We decided to take Highway 89 and we are sure glad we did!  There was so much to see.

Just a few things we saw:   Vermillion cliffs, Kaibab National Forest, and the Navajo Bridge.  The Bridge was very cool – an engineering feat in the 1920s.

There are many things to be grateful for –  sometimes it’s the small things and the conversations you have that make the biggest difference. Here’s something that happened today…..

Kim’s good friend Carol (from Calgary ) always likes to stop at small town stores to see what they have on their shelves – there are always some treasures.  So, when we stopped at a gas station in Fredonia, Arizona, Kim thought of you Carol!  Here it is…….

 

So….here’s what happened **Caution – may not be suitable for all readers***. 😉

Kim went into the store and found something that made her “laugh out loud” and she thought – that’s the best thing I’ve seen today, and had to buy it.

It was $6.00 and she took it to the counter to pay.  A very nice lady was chatting with her and rang up her total – with tax it came to $6.66. OMG – LOL.  The lady said, that’s the second time I’ve had that total come up – maybe I should change the price to $6.01 before tax……  Then when she gave Kim change she said “here is some cents you can use – I think she really meant “sense”.  :).  Kim and the lady had a good chuckle.

Here’s what she bought – what do you think Carol – good purchase?

Always take time to have a good laugh!  Life it too short and too awesome to let these moments pass by.

Later folks!  Thanks for stopping by!  I wish you a day of belly laughs and nothing but things that deserve “paws up”

Happy Easter!

 

Look at my buddy Levi…..can’t you just see what a great day he had!  We all had an amazing day….it was a busy one!

Here’s an update:

We made it to our RV park in Hurricane, Utah last night.  I think they call this city Hurricane because it is so windy!  It’s a very nice place and very close to Zion National Park.

We started the day with a long walk around our RV park and we met lots of friendly people.  Some people stay here for six months at a time.  Our neighbours love it here because there is a lot to do….hiking, biking and staying away from their cold weather back home in Idaho!  It was 23 degrees here today – I don’t think it is that warm back home in Saskatoon 😉

After our walk, we drove to Zion ….. it is amazing!  Lots of red cliffs and different kinds of landscape….we are definitely not in Saskatoon anymore.

 

Oh my goodness, I have never seen so many people before!  They must have known how special this place is and came to visit too. There were cars everywhere!

It turns out us furry folks aren’t allowed on most of the trails…..but we made the most of it!  We took a drive around some of the park, and went through a cool tunnel that was built in 1930 on the Zion- Mt.Carmel drive.  It was cut into the cliff and had 6 large windows that were carved too!  That was fun.

We still stopped along the way for some pictures!

 

Kim had her camera ready and saw an old truck on the side of the road…..I think it looks pretty cool.  It reminds me of the cartoon “Cars”!

 

Next up…..we decided to backtrack a bit ……and headed north on interstate 15 to exit 40 and the northwestern part of Zion.  We went on the 5 mile scenic drive in the Kolob canyons.  John was in his happy place…..road trip + coffee + Zion = best.day.ever

It’s Levi’s turn to share his “Levi loves” corner….here are a few things he is grateful for ❤️

1. The off leash park in Hurricane, Utah is the best!  It had a big watering dish and toys to play with.  Kim and John took us there tonight when the weather cooled off and we had the park all to ourselves!

2. My first trip to the Dairy Queen!  We all had some ice cream 🙂

3.  Meeting new people and buddies.  Everyone is so nice here…they all say good morning and give you big smiles, and treats too!

Tomorrow we are heading to Williams, Arizona.  It is on Route 66 where people get their “kicks” .  Not sure what that means, but we will find out!

Life is good!

 

 

We had another travel day today, arriving at the KOA in Salt Lake City around 7:00 at night.  This is a huge KOA!  There are over 500 spots here and lots of them are full.

We like this KOA – they have a Kamp K9. It’s a small off leash park with water dishes, toys and artificial grass.  Frazier was very excited because there was a ball for him to play with, and Levi was also excited – he got to play with a frisbee.   I was the “watcher”, checking out the action! There is also a nature trail here that leads to a city dog park.  We didn’t have time to check this out, but I think that’s a great idea!

John is excited because there is a big RV/car wash – so he is going to get all of that nasty salt off the trailer.

Today, we are heading to an RV park called Willow Wind in Hurricane, Utah, which is close to Zion National Park.  We don’t know which hikes/walks the 3 of us can take in the park, but we will find out and make the best of it!

We didn’t spend time visiting Salt Lake City – Kim and John have been here before……. and we all want to get out of the big city and into nature! 🙂

4 Paws up:  KOA in Salt Lake City! Everyone is really friendly and helpful here!  Thanks for the dog park!

Sunday  was a great day! We left Lethbridge around 10:00 am, and arrived in Dillon, Montana around 7:00 pm.

We thought it might take some time for us to get cleared at the border – but it was easy peasy!  The lady took one look at our cute faces and said have a good time!.  Hmmmm – they didn’t look at our papers or anything!  We must be very trustworthy.

Onward bound! We took Interstate 15 and it was smooth sailing!

Montana is very beautiful and diverse.  Big Sky, Canyons, Mountains… oh my goodness 🙂

Kim and John decided that if something looks interesting, we should take the opportunity to stop and stretch our legs, and check it out!  You know……enjoy the journey on the way to the destination?  Namaste 🙂

We stopped at a tiny espresso stand in Shelby for an Americano and a Latte.  I think it was a “drive thru” but we did a “walk up” :).  We also took some time to stop at a scenic lookout.

We haven’t made any plans for where to stay during our road trip…we just drive as far as we want and find a place to stop.  Last night, our stop was Dillon, Montana.  Kim loves this old town.  What a gem!  I think this is a really cool place too! Only 4000 people live here, and it was established back in the days when gold mining was a big deal.

We had no expectations – which is always a good thing – because that’s when you enjoy the surprises even more.  Downtown Dillon reminds us of an old Western town, and there is a hotel that looks haunted!  Kim sees many photo opportunities here, and John spotted a Mexican taco “bus” that we are going to check out.

 

 

Keep your eyes open and look around – the world is a pretty special, surprising place!

Teddy’s Treasures (things that I give 4 paws up and are thankful for):

• Rest stops on the Interstate are awesome!  Many have dog runs for us 🙂
• The KOA in Dillon is great!  The Beaverhead River is right beside our campsite. Great fly fishing here.  The KOA had a dog park for us!
• Kim and John took us for a lot of mini walks.  We’ve seen deer, geese, and goats (there is petting farm at the KOA)

We are headed through Idaho and plan to stop in Utah tonight – catch ya later!

 

Today is the day we finally hit the road! We started a day later than planned, but a big snow storm came through Saskatoon and the roads were too dangerous. What happened to spring? We left at noon today and it was smooth sailing!

We made it to Lethbridge, Alberta and are staying at the Quality Inn. (Kim said it is a bit too cold for us to stay in the trailer tonight).  We like it here! It is dog friendly and everyone is very nice. We met many new friends in the lobby – they all wanted to give us some pets! Levi was our greeter – I hid behind my person Kim 🙂

It was a travel day today….. so we didn’t have a lot of highlights – but there are always things to be grateful for – you just have to look….and see…..

Here are my top highlights for today…..

We made it to Alberta!

Just when we thought….oh oh!….  we are really, really low on gas…..we arrived at Bow Island, Alberta.  “Bean there – did that! ”  :).

And….who doesn’t love McDonald’s fries :). See how patiently we wait….. oh my goodness, how thankful we are!

 

I don’t always show it, but deep down I really do like John.  Especially in the truck! Kisses were plentiful today!

And, how can you not love the Prairie Skies?  Road trips are the best!

Lots to be grateful for!

Tomorrow we are crossing the border!  Later!  🙂

We love the library!  We don’t go in, but we get to go for a long walk when Kim returns books.  It was a beautiful morning and we were the perfect buddies walking beside her. She had us pose outside the library – she might have given us some sardines to get us to pose!

Kim returned a book early – she only read 45 pages. She likes to say that life is short and if the book doesn’t “speak to her” in the first 50 pages, we give it 2 thumbs down (or 4 paws down – ha!) and it goes back.

The one she returned was I’ll take you there: a novel by Wally Lamb.

Here are some books that she has read in the last two weeks that she gives 2 thumbs up to. You might want to check them out!

The Dinner: Herman Koch
The Weight of this World : David Joy (she said this one is kinda dark…)
When Breath Becomes Air: Paul Kalanithi (a memoir)

Also new: John picked up our trailer yesterday!

Kim joked and thought John’s truck would look like a “tonka truck” because the trailer is bigger than what we had. We think it looks pretty good – and give it a combined 12 paws up!

We are heading out on Friday, after Kim finishes her last Adult Education course in Regina. We get to go to Marge’s for a few days while she goes to get “schooled”!

Kim has some very nice reader friends and family – and they lent her all of these books to read. She is very ambitious! I think she needs to get the new Oprah Book Club book An American Marriage (guaranteed she will give that one 2 thumbs up!)

“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams”. Oprah

My person said the first step to her Gap Year was to invest in a bigger trailer.  John couldn’t believe it!  She loved her “green machine” boler.  They had it for 10 years, and had renovated it to become the amazing Green Machine.  We camped in it every summer, and Kim and John travelled all the way to Toronto with Faldo, Watson and Frazier many years ago.  Kim said that it had a lot of sentimental value – her Mom (my granny Linda), her dad and John spent hours on it.  She hugged it when she gave it up to two very nice people.  It sold in one day (I think she should have asked for more money – and bought me more treats!).

So……..out with the old……….Bye Bye Green Machine 😦 The little house on the prairie!

And…. in with the new:

See how it says “sold to very nice people” ?- those are my people!  John couldn’t believe Kim finally bought one.  Every year she had him take her to the dealership, and she would sit in a Minnie Winnie and never buy one……….this went on for 5 years (she takes a long time to make a decision – oh my goodness!).

We are very happy she did it!  There is more space – especially now that we are a family of 5….. 3 dogs need space.  And she made sure that there a pantry in it….. I think that is where she will put all of our treats and my sardines!

Stay tuned…..we will take this bad boy on the road (we still need to name it……Kim is stumped…..) Countdown is on – we leave next week.

 

“The future’s so bright, I have to wear shades!”