Our Western Swing, 2017 Edition


We have a LOT more we want to write about our 9 weeks in Quebec (including separate posts on our trip to Quebec City, challenges of learning a foreign language as adults, unique street signs and customs of Montreal, etc.), but all that will have to wait until later in the summer.  Right now, we need to bring us into the present time and update this blog with our westward summer adventures.

Towards the end of June, we left Montreal to make our two-day drive back to Chicago.  Imagine our shock when we pulled into our London (Ontario) hotel to see what appeared to be patches of snow, on June 24!  It turns out the freak rainstorm we drove through on the highway pounded the city with mounds of hail.  Crazy!


We returned home to Illinois, and then a blink-of-an-eye later, we had unpacked and then repacked and got ourselves ready to go on another journey.  Our preparations included giving Katie a bath and a haircut.  As you can see, Will is getting rather more expert at this dog-grooming business.  Katie hates the bath-and-cut, but she seems not to be able to protest too much on top of a patio table. Besides, she would rather put up with us torturing her for 4 days of trimming than 3 hours at the pet groomer's.


By the time all three of us had gotten our respective summer haircuts, we were ready for our next adventure.  We first went towards the St. Louis area to visit with Will's mother for a couple of days, and then we had a full driving day culminating in Hays, Kansas (not too memorable aside from the pre-Fourth of July fireworks that terrorized Katie all night long).

Then, we were able to spend a couple of days at our friend Laura's house near Boulder, Colorado (where the accommodations and the views were much nicer!).  We celebrated the Fourth of July by taking a short hike up at 10,000 ft.


Katie didn't feel the challenging altitude, nothing fazes Will, and Laura was better used to the altitude, so I was the only one huffing and puffing most of the time.  Ah, but the rewarding views!  (The picture at the top of this post is from the hike.)

After we left the Boulder area, we went to Santa Fe, New Mexico, for an overnight stopover.  Santa Fe is a city Will and I had both heard much about but never visited.  We don't think we were there nearly long enough to be able to absorb its many charms, but we enjoyed our all-too-brief walk about the city and a very spicy (red-and-green "Christmas Chile" sauced) dinner at The Shed.  Because Santa Fe is very dog-friendly, it was wonderful (and convenient!) to be able to have Katie sitting beneath our table as we dined on the terrace.


We next drove southwest to Sedona, Arizona.  By this time the southwestern heatwave was in full swing and it was way hotter than we'd like, but the heat did nothing to detract from the magical beauty of the surroundings as we dined and breakfasted with those magnificent red-rock outcroppings all around us.


We were lucky that the hotel we stayed at was attached to Elote Cafe, one of the best restaurants in Sedona!


The next day--a full day of driving--was hot hot hot!  Unfortunately for us, we were driving in Arizona and California during the hottest day in many years.  We were alternately worried that our car might break down from overheating and also entranced with the climbing temperature gauge on our car dashboard.  It's possible that we missed a higher reading, but the one we have recorded--126 degrees, around Indio, California--will likely (hopefully) stand for a while as the hottest we've driven in.


And Katie?  We had her in the back row of the car so that she could get as much air-conditioning as possible.  When she wasn't panting to cool herself off, she was dozing.  Truly the dog days of summer...




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