Hello world. Mom and I are back from our trip to Roanoke. This was a short road trip compared to the one we took in the spring to Aunt Teresa’s house in Fort Worth. That one was 11 states and about 3,200 miles and included a visit to the Clinton Museum store in Little Rock. This one was only five states and 1,000 miles yet included a drive by the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace and Museum in Staunton. Those presidents sure like to show off. I’m going to open a Pugsley Museum and gift shop…..but I digress……

I met lots of new friends last week. Our first stop October 8^thwas in Berkeley Springs, WV to see Aunt Teresita. I got a little confused, but mom explained that I have an Aunt Teresa AND an Aunt Teresita.

I’M SORRY AUNT TERESITA FOR GOING WEE WEE ON YOUR PRETTY DECORATIVE TREE!

Now when I walk mom I stop and ask if the trees are operational. I don’t want to make that mistake again.

Mom and I checked into our motel and while she was channel surfing she saw Mayor Nutter on Hardball talking about the election. You just can’t run away from home these days. He was so great and I decided that he should run for president. I would vote for him, but I have a slight photo ID problem as noted in my previous blog posts.

We hit the road early the morning of October 9^th and headed to Front Royal, VA to take the Skyline Drive south through Shenandoah National Park. Mom gave me Rescue Remedy with my breakfast so that I would relax for the long ride. What was it that mom called it? Oh yeah, DOGGIE CRACK! I cried the whole way and kept scratching and slapping mom while she was driving even though I was hooked up to my zip line seat belt in the backseat. It was far from relaxing for either of us.

Mom tried to ignore me, which made me shriek louder. Even so, she thought the ride was beautiful even though I think we were a week early since it didn’t look like the fall colors had peaked yet. The trees (real ones – I asked) were mostly golden with some orange and a smattering of red every now and then. October 9^th is our Aunt Doris’ birthday and this was the first one since she passed away in July. Mom said she could see Aunt Doris in all of nature’s beauty and it was the perfect setting to feel close to her.

We finally got to Salem, just south of Roanoke, late afternoon. The view from our motel was beautiful too. Every morning we walked outside and looked up at the mountains. You can’t help but smile at the view.

I went to daycare at Klub Kanine for three days while mom was in her class. Klub Kanine is for little kids like me. The big kids went next door to Barkley and Rover. I saw some of those kids going inside. They looked like ponies. I thought they were bringing them in so we could ride them, but nope; no pony rides. I didn’t know what was going on at first; there were so many kids there and they were noisy.  I’m used to my solitude and meditated whenever I could. By day two I felt more comfortable and played with my teacher Uncle Kevin and new pals Odie, Kiwi and Chloe. I was so tired when I got home that I fell asleep before my head hit the pillows. Mom’s classes were so intense that she napped with me before she went to dinner. I love snuggling with my mom, but she kept complaining that I hogged all the pillows. You know what they say, “Last one in sleeps at the foot of the bed.”

On my last day at daycare, Aunt Ashley gave me a bath and trimmed my nails. I’m going to have to talk to mom about that. I thought I deserved a seaweed wrap and a deep tissue massage at the very least.

Here I am with Uncle Kevin

Here I am saying goodbye to Aunt Ashley after my bath

Jonathan and Elsie

Our journey home began Friday afternoon. Mom tried to find a motel in Charlottesville, but it was UVA’s homecoming and there were no rooms anywhere. She emailed her friend Tommy Greene who was in Richmond the last time she saw him and found out that he doesn’t live there anymore so we couldn’t see him. We ran out of options and had to take the boring highway back so we stopped for the night in Harrisonburg then went to Fairfax Saturday morning to see my Aunt Judy. We went with her son Jonathan, daughter in-law Leslie and granddaughter Elsie to the Cox Farm pumpkin patch. As we were walking toward the entrance some mean man said there were no pets allowed. I felt really bad that mom would have to stay in the car until in some crazy mixup, they all decided that I was the pet. I don’t know who these Cox people are, but if Bill Clinton let me in his store, they could have let me on the hayride! I drifted off to sleep while I attempted to figure out how that happened. I apparently missed all the fun watching Elsie play and watching piglets wake from their naps to eat lunch.

A few hours later mom and Aunt Judy came back and brought me a pumpkin. Even though I didn’t get to choose my own, mom picked out a very cute little round one. I can’t wait to carve it.

We got back on the road around dinnertime, which meant that my dinner would be very late by the time we got home. So I did what I do best; I went to sleep and a few hours later we were home.

Mom said her nana used to say, “It’s good to go and good to come home.” She was so right! I ate my dinner, thanked mom for taking me on our trip, cuddled in my bed and drifted off to sleep with a big smile on my face. I love my mommy!