[Cassidy's Mom]

A former employee of Tom's moved up to Oregon a few years ago with his long time girlfriend. They had a very small wedding at their house last Fall, just his daughter and her husband in attendance, with plans to do a large reception outdoors on their property later for friends and family when the weather was better. The event was scheduled for the weekend before last, and we thought it would be nice if we could combine that with visits to Tom's family and my sister, who retired to Portland 4 years ago. We checked with the wedding couple and they said we could bring Cava, so we planned a 10 day road trip - a first for her and for us too.

Wednesday, day one - we drove straight up Hwy 5, ten hours total, to Tom's aunt and uncle's house in Tualatin. They have a gorgeous house on 6 acres with a view, and a huge lawn that's perfect for chasing balls. They have not had a dog for awhile, but used to have Samoyeds so they're used to big dogs and loved Cava. After all that time in the car, she was ready to play!

We spent two nights with them, then left Friday morning to spend the next two nights at a hotel that was closer to our friends' house for the reception. Cava is ready for the next adventure.

After we left, we drove to Hood River, with some nice views of Mt. Hood on the way.

We had lunch at Soltice Pizza in Hood River, a great place that had private dog booths in their outdoor seating.

From there, we drove along the Columbia River Gorge to see Multnomah Falls.

We checked into our hotel and went to the first event Friday evening, a casual get together with live music and a build your own taco bar. Cava met SO many people and was really good.

Saturday, we met my sister in Portland for lunch. We went to one of her favorite restaurants - she's vegan, and Mestizo has lots of vegan choices as well as non-vegan food. It was super yummy, and so were the spicy peach margaritas.

Next, we went along the waterfall corridor and saw several other waterfalls along the way - Wahkeena, Horsetail, and Latourell, with a stop at Vista House. Amazing views of the Columbia River Gorge!

Back to the hotel, and a quick change of clothes for the main event. Appetizers while the wedding couple took photos.

The band setup.

To be continued......

 

[Cassidy's Mom]

Cozy seating area

Cava is SURE that Tom has some cheese for her, lol.

It was a magical setting, especially after the sun went down.

We checked out of our hotel on Sunday morning, and had brunch at McMenamin's Edgefield, which is a hotel/event center in a former poorhouse. Really cool place.

From there, we went to Tom's cousin's house about an hour away. They have a 2 year old golden named Butte, who is Cava's new best friend. He was snarky with her at first meet, but they were romping around playing together in no time. She really hasn't done that since she left her littermates in Colorado at 4-1/2 months old and it took her a minute to figure it out. He would chase her and she didn't seem thrilled about it but he was also sending obvious "chase me" signals at her. Finally she started chasing him too, and they had a fabulous time. He stole her ball and chewed the rope off, she stole his Benebone - good times, lol.

Wanted to go out, it was hot, wanted to come back in again, lol.

This is the view from the back of their house that evening.

Monday, we drove to Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast, where we had lunch before taking her on her first beach romp. To be continued.....

 

[Cassidy's Mom]

Cava thoroughly enjoyed the beach, she didn't care about the people or the other dogs, it was all about the play.

After Cannon Beach, we drove to Tom's aunt and uncle's beach house, where Cava was delighted to see them again.

She made herself quite at home.

Tom's uncle enjoyed playing with her, and his aunt was happy to have a kitchen helper.

We stayed there Monday and Tuesday night, leaving Wednesday morning for our next stop, Gold Beach Oregon. We only spent one night there, but it was a beautiful drive down the coast.

To be continued....

 

[Cassidy's Mom]

Our next destination was Fort Bragg, on the California coast. We took a side route to drive the 31 mile long Avenue of the Giants, among giant old growth redwood forest.

Afterwards, back on the coast, it was super foggy. We drove past scenic viewpoint after scenic viewpoint where we couldn't see much of anything so we didn't stop to take pictures. We checked into our hotel, which was really cool. Our dog friendly room was huge, and there was a nice deck along the back next to the beach. The doghouse in the room was a little small for Cava!

Our anniversary was the previous night but there weren't any really nice restaurants in Gold Beach, so we had our special dinner in Ft. Bragg instead. The Noyo Harbor Inn had an outdoor deck overlooking the river, so we could bring Cava. It's a gorgeous property in the craftsman style, and also dog friendly. I tried to book a room there, but there weren't any dog rooms available by then.

To be continued....

 

[Cassidy's Mom]

Friday morning we hit the road for home, with a brief stop at Noyo Beach, which is not especially pretty but allows off leash dogs.

We cut inland through the Anderson Valley wine region, and saw a sign for Phillips Hill winery, where a good friend that we met through the board has been for the past 12 years. She's been saying we should come visit and I didn't realize that our route would take us right past the winery or I would have let her know we were coming. It was worth it for the surprise though, it was a great visit and she loved meeting Cava. Her last GSD has been gone for a little while. Their tasting room is in an old historic barn that used to be an apple drying facility. Here's Cava by an apple press.

Last stop was Roederer Estate, where we went with Dena & Keefer many years ago. Gorgeous view!

And then, finally home Friday evening. It was a long, action packed vacation and we had so much fun.

 

[Dunkirk]

Thanks for sharing, totally AWESOME!

 

[dogma13]

Wow! What a great tripThe pictures and videos are wonderful.

 

[NadDog24]

Fun trip! Cava is such a supermodel! She knows how to pose

 

[ksotto333]

What a beautiful trip in an amazing part of our country. We drove the Columbian Gorge a few years ago. Would love to go back again. Looks like a wonderful trip for all of you.

 

[Zeppy]

What amazing adventures!!! Cava is such an awesome travel partner, taking it all in stride and thoroughly enjoying herself 🥰

 

[Fodder]

i love it!
it’s the thread that keeps on giving, lol

 

[RosiesPaw]

Hey! Nice photos. We live on the coast about 40min north of the avenue of the giants. Glad you y'all got to romp in the redwoods!

 

[Hopps]

That’s an awesome backyard!! Such wonderful sights. I haven’t been up to the redwoods in a very very long time. Thanks for sharing

 

[Carter Smith]

Wonderful scenery, great pictures…I’ve never been to pnw, looks awesome. Thanks for sharing, big fan of the GR GSD play time .

 

[Jenny720]

Beautiful pictures! Looks like a very fun adventure.

 

[SMcN]

That was absolutely fabulous!!! Thank you so much for sharing. Hubby and I took a trip to Portland a few years ago with the JRTs. I love how dog friendly they are! We had lunch at a restaurant with outdoor seating (which seemed to be highly prevalent there). The waitress came out, took one look at the dogs, and said "I will be back with their water." When she returned and had given the water to the pups, she turned to us and said "Now, what can I get you?" We loved it!
Also have friends in Berkeley that go to Mendocino often and stay at a dog-friendly cottage-style hotel there. Beautiful.

Cava sure looked calm, cool and collected. Totally in control of her photo shoots. Love that little girl!

 

[Cassidy's Mom]

We have a regional park full of redwoods about 20 minutes away in the Oakland hills, but they're third growth - the original trees were all logged by the 1860s to build towns in the Bay Area. Five square miles of redwoods were leveled over a 15 year period. It's a beautiful place to hike. The old growth redwoods on the Avenue of the Giants are impressive though, well worth a visit.

Cava is such a supermodel! She knows how to pose

She is a total ham, lol. Very used to having her picture taken!

Cava is such an awesome travel partner, taking it all in stride and thoroughly enjoying herself 🥰

She handled it all so well - staying at three different homes, one with resident dog, and three different hotels, not to mention dining out at numerous restaurants. She was a big hit at the reception, many people wanted to meet her. Everywhere we went with her people commented on how pretty/beautiful/cute she is, and how well behaved. Tom's aunt and uncle wanted her to stay there, and they were only half kidding, lol.

Hubby and I took a trip to Portland a few years ago with the JRTs. I love how dog friendly they are! We had lunch at a restaurant with outdoor seating (which seemed to be highly prevalent there). The waitress came out, took one look at the dogs, and said "I will be back with their water." When she returned and had given the water to the pups, she turned to us and said "Now, what can I get you?" We loved it!

Portland is great! We're fortunate that the Bay Area is very dog friendly too, and it was nice that it was the same everywhere we went on this trip. Many places offered water, and several asked if they could give her a treat. One winery gave me several dog biscuits to take with us after already giving Cava a couple while we were tasting on their deck.

 

[WNGD]

Good girl Cava and beautiful scenery.
Oddly enough some of the best sushi I've ever had was in Portland. Momokawa Pearl Nigori might have had something to do with it....

 

[jonthepain]

Thank you for the tour! Post of the Year. Cava is awesome, you all must be too.

I miss Oregon. I got my first GSD at the pound in Coos Bay in 1978. Best dog ever. Our current GSD, Ada, is a close second.

Wendy and I actually went back to Oregon, where we met, for our 36th anniversary four years ago. We took two of the kids to show them the classroom at Southern Oregon University where we met.

We stayed at The Gold Beach Inn on our anniversary night, right on the beach. Very inexpensive, it being December. We had dinner at The Landing North. It was very good, and they even opened up for us, despite having just closed when we arrived. Right along the river.

Also toured the redwoods and cross-country skied at Crater Lake.

We moved back East in 1982 for unavoidable reasons. I'd like to retire to Oregon (I'm 65) but all the kids and grandchildren are here.

Thank you for bringing back those great memories for me! I appreciate it.

 

[Cassidy's Mom]

@jonthepain, it was our 36th anniversary the day we were in Gold Beach too! The place we stayed had good reviews among the few pet friendly options available, but it was.....not great, to put it mildly, lol. We got there in the evening and a lot of restaurants were already closed. We wanted somewhere with dog friendly outdoor seating and ended up finding a place with surprisingly good Mexican food. It was actually at an RV "resort", so not exactly the fine dining experience we would have wanted for our anniversary but it was tasty, with very friendly service, and Cava could sit with us.

We had a wonderful meal the next night in Ft. Bragg though so it was all good. We'd bought a bottle of Oregon sparkling wine, which we drank on the deck of our hotel, which was a great place that we'll definitely go to again.