Blanca Has Returned!

 


Thursday, December 10th.

Following her transmission transplant surgery, Blanca is back with us.  Doug went to Dover, DE yesterday afternoon and drove her home to O.C. last night.  Now when I am ready to move on, I can.  But I like it here so much I’ll stay on for a while.  Doug did some research about Boardwalks along my loosely-planned route, I think these uber-dog-friendly walking paths and availability of  LaQuinta hotels will help me decide where to go next.  We are expecting a gorgeous weather week and weekend ahead, with temps expected to be 70 degrees on Sunday!  It’s not forecast to be as warm further south.  So I’m not budging for a while.

Doug left from O.C. Airport early this morning, to get back to work.  Tomorrow night he and Emma are going to TORUK, an AVATAR-based Cirque de Soleil performance in Massachusetts.  When I first found out about it, I thought we would all go, but I’ll be there in spirit.  They will love it.

Here are some more photos of the bench plaques:

              
   
   

   

                                       

I dunno.  I think if my name was Captain Billy Booze I’d have to change my name.
Just sayin’.

Hotels And Homeless People.

We have decided this is the BEST time of year to visit Ocean City because there are only a handful of tourists here and the weather is excellent.  It must be mayhem in July and August when the Boardwalk comes to life with crazy loud music and zillions of people and the Midway fired up.  But for now, everything is really quiet and pretty darned nice.  The visitors here truly appreciate the calm, the sunshine and the overall peace.

At our hotel, we have a whopping four cars in the parking lot tonight.  It was busy on the weekend because it’s a pet-friendly place and there were dogs everywhere: in the lobby, on the grounds, in the elevator (dog owner, seeing Zuma’s size:  “Ah, I’ll wait for the next one” …. good plan! What a circus it would be in the elevator with a few little fluffy yippers nipping at Zuma’s ankles).   Little dogs act really tough (with their owner backing them) and vocalize their aggression, scrambling furiously in place like cartoon characters threatening to fearlessly rip her to shreds if unleashed.  Zuma regards them quizzically, head tipped sideways, then she regally carries on.  She is so kind to the little dogs and I can tell she wants to one of them when she grows up.  They are ruthless little brats.  THEY are the enemy.

Every now and then we meet a confident dog and they’ll have a bit of a playtime with Zuma.  This is Rupert, an Old English Sheepdog puppy with nerves of steel.  He grabbed Zuma’s leash and was ready to take her off on an adventure.  He’s only 8 weeks old!  What a cool dog.

 

Anyway, back to what I was going to say …. the best thing about being here right now is we pretty much have the place to ourselves.  More than 50% of the hotels and restaurants are shut down for the season (and there are a LOT of hotels and restaurants).

This evening, after Zuma and I walked ten miles total today, I was still feeling like walking some more (must be the new light shoes, haha!) so I went out for an hour’s brisk walk on my own.  Nobody even noticed me without my dog.  Usually we can’t go 15 feet without people talking to us her.  I may be developing an identity crisis.

At one of the big toilet facilities on the Boardwalk, there is a group of people (mostly men, one or two women) who cloister in the sunshine each day, up against the wall of the bathroom.  One of the retailers I see regularly told me this morning that “They are the homeless people”.  “Is there no shelter in the city?” I asked.  She told me yes, they likely sleep there but they hang out outside the toilet building all day.  It is sunny and gives them a break from the wind and weather.  Doug noticed them the first day; they have bikes and he saw them peddling to the site smiling and clutching wrinkled brown paper bags.  I guess I missed that.

One of the men talked with us on the weekend, while petting Zuma.  When he learned she is a “rescue” he told us he had rescued a dog and it was the best thing he’d ever done in his life.  That was in 1980.  He is a kind man, Zuma really liked him.

They are a quiet group, I hear them laughing and talking when we pass by.  They wanted to pet Zuma today and she was cool with that.  I let her be the people barometer. I find it sad that they lead such a pointless, unambitious life, hanging out on the Boardwalk all day.  Uh, wait, that’s what I do.

The Benches On The Boardwalk.

 

Along the ocean side of the Boardwalk are hundreds of benches.  Doug estimated there are 825 so now I have to count them.  Each one displays a sentimental plaque, donated by family and friends to a special person in their lives.  I like to read these each day as I go by; some make me teary-eyed, others cause me to break out in giggles.  They are beautiful, sincere tributes to loved ones, times gone by, memories made.  Here are a few of my favorites:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you reaching for the tissue box yet?  I LOVE this!  On our morning jaunt, Doug and I met a man whose business is taking care of the maintenance of the benches.  I fired questions at him because I amnosey curious.  We learned that the benches are initially sold to individuals by the city (for $1,700.00 a piece) and the individuals then own the benches.  However, at the time the city started this program less than ten years ago, there was no financial plan for maintenance down the road.  For now, the city pays for the upkeep of the benches.  The guy informed us the money is going to run out.  No doubt there will be a lot of meetings about this.  For us and for the millions of people who traverse the Ocean City Boardwalk, they are standing reminders of happy times, special people and life-long lasting memories in this fun-loving, friendly seaside city.

New Shoes and Italian Kisses.

We’re still waiting for the van.  Doug called the VW garage this morning; they told us Blanca would be ready to roll Tuesday or Wednesday but they still cannot commit to when it will be ready, which is frustrating because Doug hadn’t planned on being away more than a week.  But, we’re still having a great time and Doug is able to do some work from here and the guys at the office are holding down the fort.  I am able to write and Zuma is having a blast.

We love our daily long treks up and down the Boardwalk so this morning we went shopping and both bought “athletic” shoes!  Fits of laughter, Iiiii know!  We are both loving the new “lightness of being”!

We’ve been joking that we’re starting to feel like “locals” because retailers and other walkers recognize us and stop to chat with us.  Zuma is welcomed into every shop which makes it easier to browse.  We’re really enjoying the weather and the hotel, so we’ve decided Zuma and I will stay here for another week or so.

It’s just so perfect having the Boardwalk here and even when we get Blanca back, the local campgrounds are just slightly less in price than La Quinta.

The warm weather and exercise is doing wonders for my knee.    Doug can fly from Ocean City to Portland, Maine with only one stop, so it makes sense.  After Doug returns, we plan to head further south.  This evening we went across the road and had a delicious REAL Italian dinner.  The owner is most charming and came to our table and introduced himself:  “I’va been doing thees for 55 years, someatimes the people are happy, someatimes they are not.  I hope you likea it herea”.  Fabulous accent.  We liked it there.  A lot.  The owner shook Doug’s hand and gave me a hug and two cheek kisses when we left.  This guy could charm the pants off a snake.

The Wild Ponies of Assateague




Monday, December 7th, Ocean City, Maryland.
An overcast day with temps in the mid 50s.  After breakfast, we headed out for Assateague, home of the wild ponies made famous by Marguerite Henry’s book ‘Misty of Chincoteague’.  At the Visitor’s Center the woman told us there hadn’t been many ponies sighted recently.  I said to Doug, “We’ll see ’em, they’re waiting for us”.  At first we didn’t see any ponies but, as we were heading out we

saw several on the side of the road.  I was able to get a few pix (nothing special but I didn’t want to overstep my bounds).  There are definitely shades of Misty in these guys.  The island is barren, fine white sand with beach grass and pines and scrub.  There are more trees for shelter than I remember from a previous visit in 1982.  I think about the ponies when there is a major storm down here.  They seem to fare well.

The ponies are in good flesh, their feet are amazing for ponies who never see a farrier; they are very calm and have sweet faces.  I didn’t want to approach them but they walked right up to me.  They are about 12.2 hands at the max, solid boned.  Supposedly brought by the Spaniards (due to a shipwreck), they have managed well on this tiny thin sandbar strip.  We also saw several tiny Sika Deer right beside the road.  The woman at the Visitor’s center said that people feed the ponies (!) and this year one man was captured on camera trying to move a pony with his CAR.  That is in court now.  He will be heavily fined.  A woman filmed it and turned him in.

We bought a pass to the Park so we can return.  It’s a magical place.

On The Boardwalk




Saturday, December 5th: bright and warm (50s) in Ocean City.  La Quinta is one of the few hotels who are truly pet-friendly and does not charge you for bringing your dog.  We are here at La Quinta in Ocean City, steps from the beach and the boardwalk.

The weather is perfect, high 50s and sunny.  Yesterday afternoon Zuma and I walked the beach and part of the Boardwalk for two hours as the sun was setting.  This was Zuma’s first time on a beach and she leaped in the air and pounced on the waves and snapped at them like a lunatic, it was hilarious!  Sheer joy.  The farm dog goes out on an adventure to meet the world.  I wonder what she is thinking.  I know what she is thinking, just unhook me off this damn leash and let me run free!

 

Today, Doug’s back is much improved, thankfully.  The three of us walked the entire length of the Boardwalk and back (2 1/4 miles one way) and looked across the water to Assateague Island, a huge sandbar, home of the wild ponies.  We even saw Santa with his team of Hafflinger “reindeer” giving people rides in a wagon.

On the way back we stopped at a boardwalk brewery and sipped a cold beer outside in the sun.

Doug asked the bartender if it was okay to have the dog on the deck and the bartender replied, “Inside, outside, it doesn’t matter” so we sipped our suds while Zuma basked in the sun beside us on the deck.  What a great way to spend a sunny Sunday in December!

All day people stopped us to meet Zuma!  We must have spoken with about 100 people!  I guess there aren’t many Great Danes around here.  The most common comment was: “That’s a BIG dog!” (Really?  I hadn’t noticed); “That’s not a dog, that’s a HORSE!” and “Ya gotta saddle for that thing?”.  Some of the funnier comments were:  “Damnnnnnnm that’s one big-ass dawg” and, my personal favorite, “Is that a DOG?” (the woman was TOTALLY SERIOUS) and “Whoa!”.  People are not afraid to spurt out what’s on their minds.  NO. FILTER.  That’s fine, it makes for a most interesting walk-the-dog experience.  “Will she bite me?”; “How much does she eat?”; “Where does she sleep?” (Doug’s response:  “Wherever she wants”).

We certainly hadn’t expected her to attract so much attention.  We don’t even think of her as big.  She’s just our dog, the dog you don’t have to bend over to pet.  Thankfully, she loves everybody and she gobbled up all the attention and had her photo taken several times, mostly with small children.  She really is a great ambassador for the breed.  Perhaps she needs her own Facebook page, haha.

We watched this Police Officer ride on the beach, then he rode his horse on the Boardwalk.  Beautiful!

This evening we went to pick up Mexican food and a man came out of the restaurant; he said his friend had told him he’d seen her on the Boardwalk today and he had to come out to “meet her in person”!  We’re so proud of Zuma for her incredible patience and because she is a humble celebrity.  If she wasn’t humble, she would be truly conceited from being told repeatedly, “You are so beautiful”.  Then there’d be no living with her!

The Best Laid Plans…..



 Leaving The Big Chill took a lot of planning.  We knew we wanted to go to a warmer place in the south to escape the worst of the Maine winter.  Zuma despises rain, ice, and snow.  Iiii know!  Her breed is from Denmark, for Gawd’s sake.  But she won’t go out in the cold rain and snow unless dragged and she hates the cold. Kinda like me.  We were going to exit Maine after Christmas, then we decided to flee from the encroaching cold weather before the snow began to fly, so we headed out on November 30th.  Zuma was very excited to jump into our VW van (whom I named Blanca) and begin the adventure.  Doug spent months searching for a VW van and then many months having it readied for the trip.  Jason, one of Epifanes’ employees was a huge help and did a lot of the work to get Blanca in top shape.While on our “walkabout” I am writing a book about traveling with a Great Dane.  Zuma is an excellent traveling companion, the perfect, non-complaining “road sistah”.

We decided to cover a lot of miles the first few days so we could get into warmer climes, therefore we only stopped two nights in New England.  It was too chilly to camp out in Blanca, so we had to stay in a hotel the first two nights until we reached warmer weather.  We were horrified to be charged $100.00 (non-refundable) for the dog (regardless of size) for one night at a Marriott in Massachusetts. We are platinum members but oh no, dem’s the rules.  On to Harrisburg, PA to a pet-friendly La Quinta.  No charge for the dog.  They could not have been nicer, they welcomed us with open arms.  Shame on you, Marriott.  We’ll stay at La Quinta.

By December 2nd we were in Lancaster, PA, enjoying beautiful pastries we purchased in this beautiful historic town and heading merrily toward Delaware, in the rain.

We were having a great time until …. suddenly the van started to slip out of gear on the highway. We stared wide-eyed at each other and both agreed we were suspecting the same thing:  the transmission. Doug did some quick Googling roadside.  We limped to Dover, DE where Doug had located a VW dealer and service department.  Thankfully, it was not far to go and we virtually puttered into the parking lot.  Totally unexpected.  This is Doug and Zuma in the waiting room.

After an afternoon in the waiting room, the verdict was in.  The van needed a new transmission.  We decided we didn’t have a lot of choice.  So we left the van there for repair; Doug picked up a (jumbo) rental car and we found a nice nearby pet-friendly hotel (Holiday Inn).  Everybody was extremely welcoming and friendly to us and to Zuma (she loves hotels and thinks she has the power to open the elevator door by staring at the lower corner where the door opens).

Doug’s back was acting up and by the time we arrived at the hotel he needed to rest it.  The next day he was barely able to move and we hung out at the hotel. It rained all day but Zuma and I were still able to get out for walks.  Zuma was scratching all that night so we took her to a groomer the next morning.  Fabulous experience!  Zuma felt so much better afterward.  The grooming salon (Scruffy to Fluffy) fit us in immediately and were absolutely fantastic.  To make the experience even better, they have a young special needs man there whose job is to play with the dogs while they await their turn.  As you can see in this photo, Brett was fabulous with Zuma.  What a fantastic idea to have someone capable and kind to comfort the dogs and keep them busy.  Jen, the owner of the salon, gave us all kinds of information about places to walk our dog and offered tips on places to see.  She also referred us to a local veterinarian.

Afterward, we went for a drive into the semi-rural area bordering Dover where we found a fabulous orchard (Fifer’s) and we bought an apple caramel walnut pie to celebrate!

On Friday morning, Zuma’s skin was still clearly irritated and she was constantly chewing her legs, so we zipped her to a vet right away.  The vet office was extremely gracious and took us immediately; the Dr. said it is a contact allergy.  I had recently washed her bed in a new detergent and the vet was sure that was the problem.  Zuma was prescribed antibiotics and prednisone.  Poor Zuma, drink drink drink, urinate urinate urinate.  Doug went to a walk-in clinic and was prescribed muscle relaxants for his back.  Thankfully he isn’t on prednisone too, haha.   There’s just so much a girl can take, ya know?

After lunch, we left Dover and drove to Rehoboth Beach, a charming seaside spot with great cafes and shops. On our way there we stopped at a toll booth.  When we went to hand over our dollar, the attendant told us we were already paid for, by the person in front of us.  She told us people do that here, just to be nice.  It made us smile all day.  We could hardly wait to pay it forward at the next toll and we happily did so!

That evening we had a fabulous time at the hotel bar with a local and the staff all helping us determine the next stage of our journey, pointing out places not to miss.  We visited the Amish Farmer’s Market the next morning.  All the vendors are Amish, in their bonnets and dresses, trousers and suspenders.  It’s like stepping back in time in a way.  It’s just great.  I bought more pie (just three slices) and Doug insisted I back off the pie purchasing.  Uh oh, Pie intervention.  I didn’t know I had a problem but apparently, I need to go into a 12 step program to keep me away from pies.

I suppose I could complain about the fact I acquired food poisoning the first day (Thank you, Burger King; my error, I know I can’t eat at BK or McD’s), about the $8,500.00 bill for the van, about Doug’s painful back and Zuma’s itchy skin.  But all of us are on the mend and we’re all so thankful for the great people we have met and the fantastic service and hospitality we have received from everyone along the way.  Jinxed?  Nah, we’re Blessed.