Money Goes Camping

Last week we headed to upstate NY for camping and a 4-day dogshow in Samson State Park, located on the northweast side of Seneca Lake. It's a beautiful park, very well kept with clean showers and lovely camping along the lake. 

It took about 5 hours to drive up and I'm not entirely sure how we fit our tent, 2 canopies, 4 dogs, several suitcases, myriads of tarps, our kerosene heater, camping equipment and crates into the minivan, but it DID fit.

Money was angelicly good the entire drive.  Upon arrival and after checking in, we let the dogs out of the car so they could stretch their legs and we could unearth the 2 portable expens to contain them while we set up camp.  5 seconds and 10 steps out of the car, Money was already attempting suicide by mushroom.   We quickly stuffed her into the expen and removed any more obvious mushrooms.  She didn't die, so apparently they weren't poisonous...

While we were setting up our tent and canopies, searching for our tent stakes and tying down all the tarps in case of wind and rain (always expected while camping lakeside) and trying to get everything organized, we put Money & her dad with the other two dogs (Z and Scarlett) into the expens. 


As we had arrived on Tuesday and the show didn't start until Thursday AND the park is closed to "non-show" campers for the entire week, we had the park to ourselves.  After dark we took the dogs for a long run under the stars in a huge empty field adjacent to our campsite.   It was very funny watching Money running thru the grass, which, while mowed, was still up to her neck.  Frequently she would trip and roll, head over heels, landing on her back. 

Several evenings we had a campfire and a few evenings were chilly enough for our Kerosene heater.   Money is a comforts kinda girl so she did get to wear her new coat several mornings when it was cold:   BUT what Money absolutely loved best was the SLEEPING BAGS.  Our tent is large and has room for our queen-sized air mattress along with several crates.  Normally Z sleeps with us camping but there just isn't room for anyone else so they sleep in their crates.  The first night, Money woke us about 4am to potty and John brought her into the sleeping bag with us. That was it.  She was IN LOVE.  She never moved until nearly 7:30AM and then REFUSED to get out until she heard kibble noises.

The rest of the trip she could be seen attempting to re-enter the tent repeatedly, even tho it was zipped, in order to regain the warmth and comfort of the magical SLEEPING BAGS.   She would RUN towards the tent and LEAP at the seam for the zipper, having seen us go thru it many times.  Knowing it MIGHT be zipped but COULD be opened, she would be bicycling her front legs like mad, hoping that might show the opening.  Often the tent was zipped tight to deter the spiders and she would SLIDE DOWN, landing in a heap in front of the tent, only to jump up and try again.  Each time she was allowed into the tent alone, she could be found, curled up, sound asleep and very warm, in the middle of the bed.

ONe afternoone we took MOney down to the lakefront to watch the seagulls and see what she thought of the water.   Here are some photos of her,

 watching seagulls,

chasing seagulls,

and eating seagull feathers...

Other things Money found tasty on this trip, besides the fortunately NOT poisonous mushrooms:  sticks, pinecones, a nasty rawhide someone had left from a previous year at the show (EW), walnuts, moss, grass heads (she loved to grab them while running thru the fields, mouth WIDE open), deer poop, rabbit poop, seagull poop.  Are we seeing a trend here?   Yeah, if it was portable, she ate it.  She also likes coffee, cider, and beer, but not wine.  She was not impressed with the wine we bought up there, so we drank it ourselves.

One afternoon Rowan's 1/2 sister Lucy came for the show and brought 3 of her pups along with her.  As you might remember, they are a day older than Rowan's pups.  Money was at first taken aback by her rowdy 1/2 brothers, who are considerably larger than her miniature little self.  Next thing she was chivvying them all over the pen, and they were lined up on one of the dog beds, looking innocent while she collected all the dog bones.  Soon everyone was playing politely and later they all trooped up to the show grounds for a look around.

All the pups enjoyed the show.  They were wide-eyed at strange things like blacktop pavement, generators, flapping flags and tents, the big hairy dogs, the little hair dogs, the chairs and people and cars and trucks and campers, all in a hurry to go SOMEWHERE.  The pups did well.  Money was a bit reserved with many of the people, but a few took her fancy and she made a few friends.  All in all, she had a wonderful time and got a good taste of the great big world she's been waiting to see. 

Sunset over Lake Seneca.