Our Weekend Up North

We moseyed up to Eureka this past weekend for a trial. I have been hearing for years how fun this trial is. A must-do. I finally broke down.

I don’t usually go past 2-2.5 hour drives for a trial. Not that hard-core. This one is a 6-hour drive for me. I took an extra 2 days fore and 1 day aft. Little getaway. Also, since I have friends I high places, I got a great rate on the hotel (Thanks, Sue!), so what the hell.

The drive up was beautiful. I have never had a reason to go north of Ukiah, so I haven’t. We, of course, had to do the Avenue Of The Giants. Guess what? Big-assed trees, that’s what. And lots of them.

Such a cool little drive.

It’s is a bit creepy getting out of the car, though. The trees are so big, kinda makes you feel like a Hobbit and it’s so freakishly quiet. The only thing you hear is the creaking of the trees.

I don’t have many pics from this trip and not any real good ones, but all the ones of Kate in the Redwoods look like this…

She was a little suspicious. Face of someone with gun pointed at them.

The faces didn’t get any better at our destination, either. I was lucky enough (for me) to find a beach without direct water access. Kate loves the water. Seawater, however, tends to make Bella not so fun to live with. Have you ever dealt with assplosions while staying in a hotel? So uncool.

This beach sucks

Totally sucks!

The trial itself was OK. Bella had a good Friday, crappy Saturday, good Sunday.

The Positives:

-Very friendly crowd

-Good company

-Fun courses

-Fantastic dog weather

-Scores were out ridiculously fast

On the negs, though:

-Hated their teeter. Twas like a ginormous noodle. When the whip is so bad that it pops a foot back up in the air with a Golden Retriever on it it’s time to get a new teeter

-Grass was dry, but not like crunchy dry. More like straw dry, so slippery. Lots of dogs loosing their back ends on turns. Even the little ones not moving that fast.

-And the worst bit? Location!

Have you been to Eureka? Seriously…

What. The. Fuck!?

Strangest damn place I have ever been to. It’s like you spend all your time constantly passing between 2 very different worlds and neither of them seem to acknowledge the other. If you are in Eureka and you are inside a building you will experience the slightly over-priced, cute little touristy coastal town with nice, friendly, helpful, clean, and articulate folks.

Outside? Homeless drug addicts. Some with a dash of mental illness. Seriously, their homeless problem is out of control.

Traveling agility peeps normally worry about things like… Does the hotel take multiple dogs? Dogs over 15 lbs? Do they charge for dogs? Is there grass for pottying?

We don’t normally worry about… Did my dog step on a hypodermic needle? Will one of them attack a meth-head if I need them to? What are the symptoms of heroin poisoning in dogs? Did Bella get anywhere near that puddle of vomit?

It was bad with caps lock on.

Really BAD.

So, repeat next year?

Dunno.

If I do decide to make a week out of it, it will involve renting a place that is no where near Eureka. Little spot on the beach? Maybe rent an RV? We will see what next year brings.

Until then, back to Elk Grove, thank christ, where one only needs to avoid the kind of creepy old guy standing outside in his bath robe puffing on a completely legal cigarette.