Jasper Lily’s Summer Vacation

WOW…. what a trip it was – on so many levels! We’ve been back almost 3 weeks now and it has taken me this long to even think about blogging about it. In a nutshell, it was a GREAT trip! Our journey took us 9 hours north to Redding, CA for the night. Then onward to Portland, OR for three days. Then we journeyed out to our favorite place, the Oregon Coast. The drive back took us down historic 101 along the coast to Brookings, OR for a night. The next day we continued along the 101 through parts of the Redwoods National Forest to Santa Rosa, CA. The final day we had a stop-over in / near Oakland CA to meet Martha and Karen and then back down to Los Angeles and our beach apt.

The highs:

• Being with Jasper Lily for almost 2 straight weeks (I worked at home the three days leading up to our trip and it was truly nice just being around her).
• Having her as my co-pilot in the backseat and always full of zest and energy every time we would get out of the car at a rest stop.
• Seeing her smile! Oh wow did that dog smile and smile and smile! Who knew?!?
• Seeing her come out of her shell, embrace each new space like it was her own and show almost no fear
• Playing, walking, exploring … Jasper ALWAYS encourages me to MOVE more which is great!
• Meeting fellow Tripawds forum members!

The lows:

• It was a LONG drive and Jasper discovered early on that she hated – no feared the car. She would practically refuse to get back in the car at the rest-stops and when we finally got to Portland, two days later, we went outside for a walk and she saw the car and refused to budge. That, sadly, is something we are still working on now.
• The barkies, growlies, snarlies (once) at people, children, people in wheelchairs, strollers … I blame heat exhaustion!
• Couple of places weren’t super dog-friendly so we had to resort to fast food since it was too hot to even stop and run in anywhere.
• The drive back to Los Angeles and the re-entry to our ‘reality.

Overall – it was an amazing and epic journey. It was definitely mixtures of lonely and happy and longing for Shelby (Shelby had done that drive sort of when I moved to LA). She was the most amazing travel companion and Jasper works really hard to be a great one. She got to dine at a restaurant in Portland (super dog-friendly, by the way) that had free meals for dogs on Tuesday nights. Jasper’s mommy had a lovely vodka cocktail! 🙂 We played in parks, rose gardens, the beach … Jasper LOVES the Oregon Coast. I was almost in tears when I saw her zoomies and how HAPPY she was. Who was this dog?!? She came out of her shell. She loves the coast and it’s quiet and calming environment. Definitely not a city dog as the loud sounds of downtown Portland scared her into my arms. I love the Oregon Coast – it soothes my soul in many ways. The Redwoods (which I never appreciated in my youth) became our playground for the day. We explored, breathed in the clean air, enjoyed the silence and were “one with nature”.

Dragging our feet, we came back to LA refreshed. I had hoped that visiting Portland would give me that “aha” moment. That, this is where you need to be. But I quickly realized, that despite my love of the Pacific NW and the friendly people in and around Portland, your problems don’t go away when you change the zipcode. It was a humbling moment but also a moment to give me pause for thought and realize that a change needs to happen from within. I spent the last year of my life working on Jasper and helping her overcome her fears and falling pretty much in love with her all while healing my tender and broken heart. I miss Shelby every single day but I feel less sad and less intense pain (it still comes in waves). I enjoy experiencing life with Jasper in ways I didn’t think I would or could. I think I was more sad on the day I had to go back to work than she was.

So as the school year comes back and my work schedule goes back to what it was … I am going to try and keep my “zen” of the trip with me. I embrace the silence of the beach where I live. It’s pretty quiet and I love it that way. I also know that I need to work on me and finding some happiness from within. I try and be brave and put on a good face for Jasper, my friends, my family but I can see it – there isn’t that same sparkle. I am definitely jaded. I have definitely closed off my heart in ways I didn’t think / know where possible and I don’t know how to let love or happy energy back in.

I realized this a.m. when walking Jasper that for as much as I love and trust her, a living being I have known about a year, I cannot say that about many people in my own personal life. I know dogs are different (better) than humans but still. Life is too short to be anything less than happy. Shelby woke up happy every day of her life – even her last days – she tried to smile and show joy. Jasper is the same; every morning, frog pose stretches in bed and a happy yowl that lets me know she’s so happy to be alive and with her family. I do long for more happy than sad days as I had when I was younger so that is my goal this year; to find the happy. To find that zest again.

Jasper and I are headed out of town again for Thanksgiving and back to Portland for some of the time. Perhaps the PNW is where I do need to be. But until I figure out “me”… I think we’ll stay right where we are. Thank you for reading this all the way through … it’s more about “me” than Jasper but it helps me to get my thoughts out.

And of course … a couple photos from our journey…. much love to our Tripawds family!

Redwoods National Forest

Dog on a fallen Redwood Tree

Portland, OR – Rose Garden

Our casa for our Portland Stay. An Air BNB PNW charming home!

Cannon Beach, OR

Morning coffee on the porch in Portland, OR

Snoozy time at Cannon Beach.

The Oregon Coast … beautiful!

Brookings, OR at sunset. My favorite time of day … to be silent, still in nature’s beauty.

Redwood trees~! Gorgeous and majestic….

Goodnight Oregon Coast… until next time. We love you! (we love each other).