beluga

beluga

Monday, April 29, 2019

Monday

clouds through The Portal

The weather has been unsettled, especially in the evenings.    Beautifully colored clouds give way to thunderstorms and furious showers, then rainbows.



Lewis has become thunder phobic, a fancy way of saying he panics, blind, shaking panic, when he hears thunder.    Last night, after a particularly loud boom, he jammed himself under Beluga's steering wheel and got stuck.    After some cajoling and yanking,  he "decided" that it would be safe enough under my computer table.


Since today's forecast included the possibility of rain and THUNDER we decided to scrap our original plans to leave Lewis home alone and go off roading with Gay and Joe.   The new plan was to take Lewis along on a nice, tame ride around the LaSal mountains loop.   The entire road is paved and we hoped it would provide some dry opportunities for Lew to get out and blow off a little tension.

We stopped at Sweet Cravings for a couple slices of their addictive orange bread on our way.....one needs to be fortified for a long drive.   

concentration
The parking lot was full, as it often is.   We pulled in next to the grey haired gentleman above.   His eyes never left the windshield, he was laser focused and we were an annoyance.   Dave spoke to him through the open windows, trying to get a reaction.   He flicked one ear, ever so slightly to indicate that he heard but he had a job and he was doing it......    Don't you just love dogs?

So, the LaSal Mountain Loop.....We started by driving through the beautiful Castle Valley and up into the LaSal Mountains.

Castle Valley

It was wet and grey and windy, with a fair amount of snow, but the views were outstanding.   We pulled off the road and back into a small, empty campground to eat our lunch.    We chose a spot surrounded by silvery Aspens.     They were still in their bare, winter stage but were beautiful in their simplicity and silence.



I didn't take many pictures, just enjoyed the journey.


We saw no flowers at the heights, things were just beginning to awaken.




As we descended, we began to see more flowers and signs of spring.   We stopped along the Pack Creek to enjoy a nice walk together.


Pack Creek


wait for Mom!


nasty looking sky waiting for us at the end of Spanish Valley

We all had a nice day and made it home before the rain set in.    It hasn't started to thunder yet, but Lewis has taken up residence under the table in preparation.   He asked that I don't photograph him there again, it's embarrassing.

We were originally scheduled to leave here in the morning but we've extended our stay by one day to try and avoid driving into the Colorado mountains on a rainy, windy day.    Keep your finger's crossed that Wednesday will be kind to us.

7 comments:

  1. Love everything about this post, beautiful pictures of a beautiful place that we may no longer visit in the future :(
    All just great memories.
    Poor Lewis, I can just imagine the scared face.

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  2. Poor Lewis! I feel so bad for him and his fear of thunder. Great drive you all took together.

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  3. Awwww poor Lew. Thor hasn't had to deal with thunderstorms yet, but from what we've seen so far, I don't think he's going to be a fan. I think it's gonna be a long summer on the east coast. :( Glad you guys took that beautiful drive and are waiting out the rain and wind. We keep doing the same - changing our schedule to avoid the lousy winter weather that doesn't seem to want to go away. Hope it cooperates for you tomorrow!

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  4. Poor Lewis!! Our kittie was terrified of thunder, too. I'm glad you took him along with you for an outing.

    The LaSal Mountain Loop drive you did is gorgeous. We haven't yet been there. The winds and storms, however, do not sound like fun. It's crazy to look at your photos and still see vestiges of winter....Maybe we'll wait until fall to visit?

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  5. The gray haired gentleman is hysterical! So glad you shared him :-) Love the Aspens and the masked trunk peeking out. Hope your storms move on - poor Lew!

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  6. Poor Lewis. You might see if a Thunder Shirt will help him. Our little chihuahua has terrible "loud noise" after a really awful Independence Day fireworks night. He had never been afraid of thunder until the fireworks. The Thunder Shirt seems to help him. The shirts come in all sizes, I'm sure you can find them on Amazon.

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  7. Terrible FEAR of loud noises

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