Today was Max’s Day out at the beach. He’s been a really good little critter and he’s been limited to multiple walks each day, but he needed a place to run. So, we chose Fiesta Island which is in the middle of Mission Bay. Not a place you’d think was devoted to a large dog park. Actually, an enormous dog park. Not a lot of grass but considering that hundreds of dogs visit this place every day, Max didn’t run much because he was focused on smelling each and every spot where a dog peed, crapped, or walked on. Consequently, we moved around very slowly and there was no concern that he would run off.

Then we finally got to the water of the bay. Things changed. He loves the water and was kind of conflicted about whether to run in the water or keep on smelling everything in slow motion.

He made a snap decision and ran into the water and made a couple passes to ensure he was pretty well soaked. Then he got out of the water and ran through the loose sand to ensure he was well covered. Now is when you flash back to the part where he smells all the spots dogs ahead of him touched in some way. That happens on the sand, too. This results in a very smelly dog. Happy dog, yes, but very, very smelly.

In the end, he was well pleased with his day on the island. The ride back to the RV was long because it was late afternoon and not a good time to brave the San Diego freeways so we chose to navigate surface streets all the way. It took 1.5 hours to go 27 miles. But we got to meander through downtown San Diego, National City, Chula Vista, and Imperial Beach. The trip to the beach was all freeway and took about 35 minutes. Going over was tense all the way and the trip back was a joy. We got to see stuff.

Once ‘home’ I got Max outside and tethered to the back of the bus where I left him while I gathered stuff needed to cook dinner. Diane put the salmon filets in the fridge before we left so we were going to George Foreman them but, after all the work I went to get the cooker, she decided the filets weren’t thawed enough so they were relegated to tomorrow for lunch. Instead, I nuked what was left of the chicken & dumplings we had a few days ago, and yesterday. It was the third trip for that feast, and it was good. It made Max happy because he gets to lick the bowls, and he loves chicken.

Then, after dinner, Max needed a walk so that I could give him a shower. He really smells good when we’re done, and he gets really excited when I’m drying him. When I let him out of the bathroom, he runs a race all over the place, going just as fast as he can. It’s really hilarious.

Then I took a proper shower to get Max’s shampoo off of me. I know, I should have just smeared it around a bit and rinsed myself, right? But I’m not that fond of Hartz Mountain dog shampoo. I like my Dove stuff.

It’s after 2200 now so time to get ready for bed. See you tomorrow.