Category: Back to the Roots

Hello, Everyone. Saint, here! I’m sorry that I’ve been out of touch for so long. Mummy and I have just been so busy and had so many adventures. But I didn’t want you to worry, so figured that it was time to catch up a little.

It was so much fun in Oregon, but we were happy to get back to Idaho.

The night that we got back to Idaho, we went to the Boise airport and picked up Aunt Kimmie. She came such a long way to spend some time with us. I was so excited and happy to see her. I think that she must really love me a lot to come all that way.

Since Aunt Kimmie came, we have been seeing lots and lots of places. We explored southern Idaho. Another day we drove up a scenic byway, the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway. We saw the Sawtooth Wilderness and Sun Valley.

But you know what was even better? We saw a town called “Lowman”! We just couldn’t believe that. Mummy figures that one of her ancestors from Utah must have started it.

After spending some time in southern and central Idaho, we headed up to the panhandle to stay in Coeur d’Alene. On the way there, Miracle started making funny sounds with her brakes. It was rainy and very windy and we were so thankful to make it to our destination safely. The next day, Mummy and I took Miracle to a Doge dealer. Turns that she needed new brake pads and rotors. Now she feels like a new car.

From Coeur d’Alene, we took a trip over to eastern Washington, to the Spokane area. We went to the campus of Eastern Washington University, where Aunt Kimmie got her graduate degree. We traveled up as far as the Canadian border before circling back.

After a few days, we traveled down from Coeur d’Alene, across Montana, to Billings. That’s been our base for the last few days.

In all modesty, I must say that I’ve become an expert on rest areas and carpets to roll on in hotels. Mummy says that I am a connoisseur—whatever that means.

Yesterday we did something incredibly neat: we went to the Battle of the Little Bighorn National Monument. It’s hard to imagine what happened there 143 years ago. Now it is so peaceful. Mummy said that it made her think of Arlington National Cemetery.

We have more wonderful adventures planned for tomorrow. Then we will head up to the northwest corner of Montana. It’s sure to be amazing.

I’ll try to keep you posted.

In the meantime, hugs and wags to you all.

Love,

Saint

Hello, Everyone! Saint here.

Happy Summer. I hope that yours is starting off as well as mine is with Mummy.

We’ve been on the move again. Yesterday, Saturday, June 22, we drove from Logan, Utah, up to Boise, Idaho. We had a chance to go through Pocatello on the way. We surely saw some pretty country along our journey.

Then today, we set off for Oregon, which is very close to Boise. Mummy had never been to Oregon. It was the last of the lower 48 states that she had not visited. We decided to go to Bend, Oregon, which is a great place for adventures.

Mummy decided that we should take an Oregon Scenic Byway, Oregon Route 26. That was an amazing trip.

One of my favorite parts was when we met a herd a cattle. Cowboys were driving the cattle across the road, riding horses and ATVs. They told Mummy and me that we should gently go through the herd. The cattle took their time. That is, until some people on motorcycles came along. The poor cows were scared and came running at us. We were very brave, though. I guess that makes me a cowgirl!

We saw some other neat things, too. We stopped at a rest stop and saw a Conestoga wagon.

We went to the John Day Fossil Beds.

And we got a wonderful view from the Larkspur Overlook.

Tonight we are in Bend. I bet we’ll have more adventures tomorrow. I’ll try to catch you up soon.

In the meantime, hugs and wags.

Saint

Hello, Everyone! Saint, here. Boy, have Mummy and I been having some wonderful times these last few days. So I had just had to share a bit with you.

On Wednesday, June 19, we left Cedar City. It was kind of hard to go and leave all those wonderful memories. But Mummy reminds me that we always carry memories in our hearts.

We were heading up to northern Utah. But on the way, we stopped off in West Jordan, a suburb of Salt Lake City. There we spoke with the West Jordan Rotary Club. What a wonderful group pf people. They made us very welcome. We talked about BEYOND LIMITS and our philosophy of building community and defying the notion of “can’t.” One of the Rotary members works in a doggie bakery. So she brought me some special treats, including a “pup cake.” Boy, dogs in Utah have some really neat things.

The West Jordan Rotary is where we met up with our friend Pete Cardon.

After the Rotary meeting, Pete took us over to the Field of Dreams. This is a fully accessible ball field that the West Jordan Rotary built with know-how, perseverance and lots of guts and determination. The greater Salt Lake City area probably has more than 1 million people in it. So there are lots of little ones who can benefit from a field in which they can play ball and be like anyone else. That meant a lot to Mummy and me

Then we headed up to Logan, Utah, our destination for the next few days. There were lots of highways and lots of road construction along the way. It was very warm and Miracle was really hot from having been shut up while we were visiting in West Jordan. Mummy props her phone, with the GPS, across the dial indicators on her dashboard. The glass must have been really hot. Suddenly, Mummy’s phone, Vicky, flashed a terrible message: iPhone too hot—shutting down. We didn’t know where to go. So we pulled off the highway and blasted the air conditioning. Then Mummy held Vicky in her lap for a while. After that, Vicky felt better.

We continued and found the Quality Inn in Logan, our base for a few days. The hotel is a little old, but the staff are super nice. We needed to get a good rest, because we had wonderful adventures planned for the next day.

The next day our friend, Pete, came up to Logan to show us around. Pete used to live in Logan, so he was a wonderful tour guide. Mummy really wanted to see Utah State University. That’s where her daddy went to school. Going to the school made her feel very close to him. So of course, I loved that, too. We rolled around the old quad where there were building that Grandpa would have gone into. One of my favorites was Old Main.

When we were done at USU, we headed up Logan Canyon for the scenic drive. That was spectacular. The best part came at the top when we saw Bear Lake. Bear Lake is amazing. Pete says that it is probably his favorite lake in the world. It changes color, depending on the weather: sunny, cloudy, stormy. It can be blue, green, aquamarine. As we approached and first saw it, it was aquamarine. While we there, it changed color a bit.

Then we drove down to the lake to LeBeau’s, a Logan/Bear Lake institution. There Pete got one of their famous raspberry milkshakes.

It started to rain, so we were off for the lovely drive back to town and to have a late lunch/early dinner. Pete treated Mummy at the Beehive restaurant. Mummy had a wonderful veggie stir fry. We haven’t been eating out on our trip—not much fun with just us—so I was glad to see Mummy have a good meal with a good friend.

Afterwards, we had to say goodbye to Pete. He had to get back to work. But we will see him this fall at a conference. And we have invited him to Maine to come hike with us. We would love that—I so love camping and sleeping in our tent.

We have a little more time in Utah and more adventures planned. I’ll try to blog again, soon.

Until then, hugs and wags.

Saint

Hello, Everyone. Saint here! Mummy reminded me that it was time to check back in with you all.

We have been seeing so many wonderful things. I would have to write books to tell you everything. But I will try to give you a few highlights, at least.

We came to Cedar City, Utah, on Saturday, from Wyoming. We drove through mountains, so the road was really curvy. I sure am glad that Mummy is such a good driver.

We got to the hotel and got settled. We wanted to get some rest for our big day on Sunday.

On Sunday, we went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It is much less traveled than the South Rim. Mummy said that she has always preferred that side. It is several thousand feet higher than the South Rim. So it is not open in the winter. We got some amazing views. We even drove around Cape Royal and Point Imperial.

On Monday, we took Miracle in for a spa treatment. We have put lots and lots of miles on her and she needed some TLC.

Then we called the sexton and met him at the cemetery. Mummy had wanted to see her daddy’s grave—my grampa—for so many years. I never met him but there was such a feeling of peace there. I lay right down by his grave. Mummy gave me a big hug. She said that Grampa would have been crazy about me.

Tuesday was our last full day with Cedar City as a base. We wanted to really explore. We took Utah State Route 12, a Scenic Byway designated an All-American Road. We went by Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and Capital Reef National Park.

And on our way back to Cedar City, we went by the boyhood home of Butch Cassidy. Can you believe it!

Tomorrow we head north. I’ll try to update you all, soon.

In the meantime, hugs and wags.

Saint

Hello, everyone. Saint here! I’m sorry that it’s been so long since I last wrote. Mummy and I have been having so many adventures that it’s been tough to find time to blog.

Mummy figured that the best way to see the big four western states of our journey would be to have a base camp in two different parts of each state. Then we could travel out from the base and return at the end of the day.

In Wyoming, we planned to stay in Casper and Pinedale. But despite calling the actual hotel, explaining our situation, holding the room with a credit card and getting a confirmation, someone else got the room in Casper.

So we went to Cheyenne, instead, and that worked out fine.

From Cheyenne we went to Sundance one day. That’s where the Sundance Kid got his name—when he was in jail for horse stealing. Another day we went to Gillette.

Wyoming has lots of fuel industry—oil and gas. We saw lots of activity.

And we saw lots and lots of animals. There are so many cattle. Mummy saw her beloved sheep. We saw buffalo. The antelope were so cute. And we saw something called a “prairie dog.” I don’t know why they call it a dog, though. It doesn’t look like any dog I’ve ever seen.

A lot of Wyoming is very dry. But they still manage to have rest areas. One of them was so neat. It had a skylight for lighting and a composting toilet.

We went to Casper and saw the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. It talked about the famous trails that went west from Casper: the California Gold Rush Trail; the Oregon Trail; the Mormon Trail. It took people months and months to make it. They faced such hardship. It made me extra grateful for Miracle.

After several days in Cheyenne, we drove across the state to Pinedale. Pinedale is at the foot of the Wind River Range of the Rocky Mountains. Mummy really loves mountains so of course, I do, too. It is a big jumping off point for outfitting.

While we used this as a base, we traveled up to the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. They are so incredibly beautiful. There were lots and lots of people there. And you know what? Parts of Yellowstone were closed off because Vice President Mike Pence was also visiting that day. I wonder if he was looking for us?

Despite everything, we did manage to see Old Faithful. People were pretty excited about that. I just enjoyed the time to lie in the sun.

I think that Mummy and I liked Grand Teton National Park best. We even saw a herd of buffalo!

On our last full day in Pinedale, we did a couple of neat things. We took a drive on Skyline Drive up to the Jim Bridger-Grand Teton National Forest. At the top, we were at almost 10,000 feet and could see Fremont and Half Moon lakes.

Then we went to the Museum of the Mountain Man. The mountain men are so famous. Most of us know something about them. They trapped beaver for high fashion clothes. But within 20 years, they had run out of beaver.

I’ll try to write more again, soon. Thanks for following us.

Hugs and wags.

Saint

Hello, everyone. Saint, here! Mummy and I are on our way.

We got started yesterday, Saturday, June 1. It was all familiar territory. We headed down and stayed in Enfield, CT, for the night. It was really wonderful because Aunt Sharon came all the way from Massachusetts to see us and took us dinner. We had a wonderful visit.

Today we went back up into Massachusetts and then all the way across New York State. That was awesome. We went by some major cities that we have always heard about: Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo. We went by Ithaca, the home of Cornell. The country was unbelievably lovely: rolling hills of farmland. There were dairy farms, apple orchards and lots and lots of vineyards. We covered a lot of miles, so did not take many photos.

Tonight we are in Erie, PA. That’s Erie, as in the lake and the canal. Today we were driving along the historic Erie Canal Heritage Corridor. As you can tell, we’re having a great time.

We thought that everyone would get a kick out of the Presque Isle photo. I guess that it just shows that no matter how far you go, you can’t really leave home behind.

Mummy and I will try to keep you all up to date on how we are doing.

Until next time, wags and kisses.

Saint

Hello everyone. Saint here. I know that it’s been a long time since we reached out to you. I’m very sorry about that: I can’t really type and Mummy’s been so busy with school that I hate to ask her to type for me. But now that we’re getting ready for our next great adventure, Mummy said that she would just have to take time so that our friends and loved ones can follow along.

We’re getting ready for a very long trip. Mummy calls it “BEYOND LIMITS: Back to the Roots Journey.” She explained that it got its name because we are going to travel west to where Mummy’s daddy and all of his family was from.

We’re going to a conference in Denver. Then we’ll continue on to Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Montana. Mummy wants to pay it forward and pay it backward. She wants to thank the land and its people for helping make her who she is. She wants to spread the BEYOND LIMITS core that Challenge is an Opportunity and that together, there is nothing that we cannot do.

We are sure to have so many amazing experiences.

We also want to advocate for social justice and equity. Mummy says that everyone has the right to travel and gain lodging. Yet this is really hard for so many people—particularly those with physical challenges. So we plan to really push and see what is possible right now—and what needs to become possible.

Mummy says that we need to do this because we are so lucky. We need to advocate for those who cannot.

And we’re sure to have lots and lots of adventures.

I am sharing a few photos with you from our getting ready.

Mummy’s primary care giver, Mary Coffin, is retiring. So Mummy took a photo of me with her.

I also had a surprise surgery on my paw. I was very brave but I was worried about Mummy all day. She really needs me, so I don’t know how she managed. I was glad to get back on duty.

Our friend Brandy came to see us. She just graduated from UMPI and is getting ready to start a new chapter in her life. She’s become part of our family over the last four years. We will really miss her. But she did promise to come back to see us.

I must be about the luckiest service animal ever. Mummy and I have such good times. I hope that you will follow along and help us build and maintain our terrific community.

I’ll try to write again soon.

Saint