More Jerome and Prescott

It turns out the hotel we were staying in, like much of Jerome, is supposedly haunted. Luckily it was right before we checked out when I read some specific accounts of weird ghosty things that had happened there and not before we arrived because some weird things did happen in our room and despite being sensible and for the most part not believing in that kind of thing I think my imagination would have gotten the better of me. The weirdest things were the digital clock which kept changing time (ie running fast by different amounts of time throughout the night) and Strummy who had strange barking fits at who knows what (he's usually pretty good in hotel rooms). One of the alleged ghosts is a dog that growls in one of the rooms though of course Strummy could have been barking at any number of things that we couldn't hear.

The woman who checked us in was the strangest of all and though she was very nice to us (she took 10% off the bill just for the heck of it as she put it) there was something odd about her. Funniest thing was when I asked her if the hotel had wifi she said, 'What's that?' When we explained it was computers and the internet she did the spirit hands thing and said 'Oh, the wifi's are there loose in the room. It's scary stuff I tell you.' We only saw her the day we checked in, a man was there the next day and a different younger woman was there the day we checked out. In retrospect I'm glad I never mentioned the first older woman to the other 2 clerks because I'm afraid they would have told me that she's been dead for 10 years or something.
Good thing they have a bordello along with their walk-in mine.

Heh.
Jerome is full of a lot of this kind of thing, playing up the old naughty reputation of the town for the tourists.

There was a lot of this sort of thing too, bizarre unrelated objects in store fronts.


Granite Basin Recreational Area, Prescott National Forest




Lola attempting to give what for to a bee.


Sometimes it's tough coming from Colorado and trying to appreciate other areas. I'm incredibly spoiled with the trails I have within an hour's drive from home. I have to confess that I found the trail a bit disappointing. It was nice and there were some cool looking plants that we don't get back home and certainly it was better to be out hiking than to be home sitting at a desk at work but I couldn't shake the feeling that I have trails as nice and maybe even nicer that are 10-15 minutes away from my house. Maybe there are nicer areas but the woman at the Forest Service office specifically recommended this area. Tomorrow we were planning on going to another area that she recommended (Lynx Lake) but we'll see how it goes. Cody was dragging and looked really tired. It's possible it's because it got hot, we were only hiking for 1 1/2 hours or so with a break for lunch in there and back home he gets 1-1 1/2 hours of walking a day so I don't think we've been pushing him beyond his normal activity level. Hopefully it's just mental fatigue/heat because the traveling does wear him out. Tomorrow is a warm-up trial for Champs and he has only one run of standard but maybe I'll give him a rest day which means everyone gets a rest day because it's way too hot to leave him behind in the car. Or maybe we'll go early enough and go a very short easy walk when it's cooler and see how he goes. It's always a balancing act trying to give him enough exercise to keep him fit but not to overdo it. I suppose I have the same problem with myself as well.

Sedona, Jerome, Flagstaff

Is it possible to take a bad picture in Sedona? These photos are from a hike in Fay Canyon. Sedona is famous for its 'vortexes' which are supposed concentrations of energy or something. You can take vortex tours and even get hippy trippy new age guides to help you experience the vortexes to the fullest extent just in case you're not feeling the love all on your lonesome. I'm not sure if Fay Canyon is a vortex but Boynton Canyon, which is the next canyon over and the hike we've done for the past 2 years, is a vortex and I think it had enough energy to spill over because both Strummer and Cody went completely loopy. I remember that Cody went all freaky last year as well. I think it had more to do with the nuts there were all over the trail rather than the vortex though. He has a nut obsession, I can barely get him past an oak tree at home esp. during the fall when the acorns are everywhere. Strummy was a vortex of energy in his own right and tore up and down the trail full speed ahead.
You can see an arch at the middle/bottom of the picture below.


Mmm, tasty. Vultures give me the creeps but Jonny loves them so we stopped for a photo. He eventually took flight with the roadkill in his talons when a raven or crow came over to challenge him for his lunch. I just missed the shot so you don't get to see the gore but I have a lovely memory of it.
Welcome to Jerome.
We stayed here last night and we're here for one more night. It's, uh, interesting. The town is built on the side of a hill, which I knew, but I had no idea how incredibly steep the hill was and how steep all the streets in town would be. The only grass we've been able to find is a small 'park' across the street from the hotel which sounded convenient when I booked the room but it turns out you have to go up a long steep concrete staircase to get to the 'park' which likely will have loud scary drunk people in it if it's after dark. And there is an old, worn 'No Dogs' sign which we ignored because there was nowhere else. Except when the loud scary drunk people were way too loud for even us to risk it so the dogs had to make do with a tiny patch of weeds at the edge of a parking lot. Though the hotel is very dog friendly the town is not a great place for dogs.

Walking about it almost dizzying. All the streets are steep and there are incredible views. Here's a view from one of the sidewalks in town.

It's a weird, freaky little town with lots of weird freaky people. Back in the day it was a huge mining town and was called the 'Wickedest Town in the West'. The Connor Hotel where we're staying used to be a brothel. Now it's just a funky old hotel. Much better than staying at the skeezy motel chains that we normally have to go to with the dogs. The woman who checked us in was a bit eccentric and a busy body. The check-in area was in a gift store and we had to haul our bags through the store to get into the hotel. There was a separate night entrance/hallway right next door and I asked if we could haul our stuff up that way and she said 'no' and gave me a terrible suspicious look, like I was smuggling in who knows what. I'd told them I had 3 dogs when I booked the room and it was all o.k. but still I didn't want to drag them through the fancy gift shop if I didn't have to. Thankfully the woman was busy with another customer when I took the trouble twins up and though she snagged Jonny and Cody dear sweet Cody went into a nice sit and behaved perfectly while she asked questions about him.

Here's a photo of the Connor Hotel (est. 1898).
Here's a view from the San Francisco mountains just outside of Flagstaff.
We went on 2 short hikes, the first was a new trail called 'Aspen Meadow Loop' where the picture above was taken. Unfortunately the grasses on either side of the singletrack trail were jaggy and had terrible foxtails so I spent most of the hike pulling them out and worrying about them. It was only 2 miles so we went to the Kachina Trail which was just across the road. It was a beautiful trail through woods with the occasional view. We walked for about an hour total, didn't want to wear the dogs out too much, especially Cody. Here's a picture of me with my special boy in a nice Aspen grove just off the Kachina trail.

Snot or lung butter?

How about both? I managed to catch Jonny's super fun illness and spent Friday expelling a fair amount of both. I found out that's it's possible to sneeze and cough simultaneously and repeatedly. Thankfully today is better, still hacking stuff up but not nearly as much and not simultaneously. Should be able to hike tomorrow, maybe even taste food again soon.

USDAA trial this morning in Albuquerque, just Standard and Snooker. Unfortunately Cody didn't pick up any Q's. Snooker was especially a heart breaker. He was the last dog to run of the 16" and 22" dogs and I knew that all we had to do was make it through the course I had planned and we'd get a Super Q, only had to do one set of weaves in the opening too, totally doable. Silly boy had one of his flaky moments and wandered off to make up his own course. I held it together until the closing then he went off again to take an off course jump. Also had a most bizarre run by in his standard run then had table issues again. I got him into a down then ran out of the ring to reward. Lola also had a bizarre moment in her standard run, came out of a tunnel then turned around and went right back in. I don't think I could have gotten her to do that if I tried. Then she flat out refused to lay down on the table so we left the ring. We've been practicing fast happy tables in the backyard on an almost daily basis but of course the trial is not the same. She had a great snooker run though and got a Q. I ran her off the course after the #6 obstacle, no point in making her do more weave poles which were #7 of course and she has all her Super Q's but had I run her through the weaves she would have had a Super Q.

We made it to Flagstaff by dinner time. Thankfully that's the bulk of the driving done. Our hotel is near the Northern University of AZ campus so we stretched our legs and had a nice tour of the campus. Cody strutted about like he was Big Man on Campus while Strummy flirted with all the co-eds. Lola thinks that actually Skateboaring is a Crime thank you very much and had some words for the skateboarders. Plus lots of rolling around in the ample amounts of nice lush grass.

Hopefully I'll have some photos of the San Francisco mountains tomorrow.

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'How right you are dear Paul
That we hear of famous people's deaths
while on vacation'
-Algebra Suicide

A celebrity dies every single time I go on vacation. Last year was George Carlin, this year Paul Newman. A few years ago we skipped celebrity deaths and had Hurricane Katrina instead. I can't remember the rest but the list is long and impressive. Maybe I should send a warning to Hollywood before I leave for vacation from now on.

Vacays

We're off on vacation soon and I'm trying not to freak out with the packing and preparations like I did last year before USDAA Nationals. The ultimate destination is Prescott Valley, AZ for DOCNA Championships but on the way we'll stop in Albuquerque for 2 runs of a USDAA trial then Flagstaff/Sedona for some hiking then Jerome, a supposedly funky little artist/tourist mountain town (hmmm, sounds like what Boulder is supposed to be) for more hiking then on to Prescott for even more hiking and some agility thrown in on the side.

Cody needs a standard leg and a snooker super Q leg to finish of his champ. title in USDAA and the local trial I hoped to do it at is the same weekend as DOCNA Champs. I decided I'd rather enter Cody in his last ever champs of any kind than go for the title. Not sure how many USDAA trials he has left in him since he has to jump over his shoulder height as a 10 year old but I'd rather have the experience of going to Champs than a piece of paper and fancy ribbon. And as it turns out there's a USDAA trial the weekend before in Albuquerque which we have to drive through anyway to get to AZ and the first 2 classes of the day on Sunday are Masters Standard and Snooker so I thought what the hey, we'll give it a go. It'll be a nice warm up for Champs as well. It doesn't look so great for a Super Q since there aren't enough 22" dogs and we'll have to be combined with a really competitive 16" class. There are 20 dogs combined for only 3 super q's, just one more dog and there would be 4 and maybe we'd have a fighting chance but oh well. Hopefully the course will be good for Cody and we'll give it our all. The judge is the same one we had at Regionals that didn't give us a proper walk through for the Grand Prix but since we're in the same ring for both classes it shouldn't be an issue this time. He has tough courses, we've had him several times before, so I'm not sure how it will go but we'll give it our best shot anyway. The next local USDAA trial isn't until Jan. of next year and who knows if Cody will be able to jump that height by then. I'm hoping he'll last until the April USDAA trial but we'll see. There are some USDAA trials in Utah and Nebraska but I'm not driving all over huxpux for a title, that's for sure, I don't care if we're 2 legs away.

I'm hoping Sedona isn't too hot this time of year for hiking. It's been hot when we've been there in November, I can only imagine what it's like a month earlier. If so maybe we'll try hiking in the San Francisco mountains outside of Flagstaff for a change. I love hiking amongst the red rocks of Sedona though, they're something I don't get to see everyday.

Prescott National forest is supposed to be nice, we'll have several days to check it out. DOCNA Champs start with a warm-up trial Thursday night. They offered standard and jumpers but I only signed up for standard. I don't want to fry the dogs out with too many days of agility. Champs start for real on Friday and run through Sunday but to make the finals of standard and jumpers on Sunday your combined scores from Friday and Saturday's runs have to be in the top 25%. So if we don't make the finals we can leave after Trigility (3-dog relay) on Sunday. I wish it was a different game on Sunday so that if you don't make finals you can leave Saturday night but I'm supposing most people won't want to go early and leave their teammates in the lurch. Who knows, maybe we'll make the finals and/or maybe I'll want to watch the finals anyway.

DOCNA Champs have another unique aspect in that they run simultaneous Champs in the east and west. The regular classes (standard and jumpers) and games are scored regionally but scores for the North American Challenge (DOCNA's version of the Grand Prix) are combined. Obviously there can be a huge difference between the 2 venues and how the courses are set and judged (biggest difference is that the east's champs are outside and the west's are inside) but there were big issues at USDAA Nationals with discrepancies between courses and judging from ring to ring as well. I'm not sure how you get around this, I think it's good to include as many people as possible from as large a region as possible so you get the most competitive field but once you move away from one ring it's never going to be equitable and you can only have so many runs in one ring. I think DOCNA's solution is good because you have both the regional and national competitions. It'll be interesting to see how it works out.

I'll try to post updates, photos, video, etc. from Champs but in my experience hotel wifi can be iffy so I'll see how it goes.