Woodlands Dog Show 2011

We finally made up our mind Friday afternoon and headed out for our camping trip. We loaded our powered cooler and put some ice in the freezer – plenty of cooling power for a weekend. The day was beautiful, it would be a shame to stay home.

As soon as we got to our campsite we were greeted by Carmen, a fellow we met at the show 5 years ago – he and his wife Diane, along with their springer spaniels (Karmandi) have been camped across the way from us every year we’ve been to this show (this is our 5th). It was great to catch up with them. Diane is involved in all aspects with her dogs: conformation, obedience, rally, agility, therapy, tracking so there is always lots to learn from her.

Saturday was another lovely day – Carm headed off early for a round of golf while I hung around. I went back and forth from the dog show to our camper a few times, sometimes with all the dogs, once by myself (I saw some baskets that I wanted to buy), and again with just Spike. At one point while I was watching the show, and Spike was asleep (finally) at my feet, I turned around and saw Dawn, Spike’s breeder, about 20 feet from us – I told Spike “Find Dawn” and he jumped up and ran right over to her – he’s a smart little bugger.

Sunday though, Irene was bearing down on us. With rain and high winds threatening to batter us, we took down our fence and put everything away outside that we could. Just in case it was pouring the next day we wanted to make our getaway as easy as possible. Sure enough by noon it was raining. We holed up inside the camper, bundled in sweaters and blankets.

We had plans for supper though – an annual visit to a local German restaurant. And wouldn’t you know it – it is such a small world – we ran into our neighbours from back home and it turns out they sup here a few times a month. We were well treated by the restaurant owner and enjoyed the tastiest, crispiest schnitzel ever. It was an evening of good company and good food and I have a feeling that we’ll be back sooner than next year.

Monday dawned clear and cool – the rain had stopped in the middle of the night making way for the sun to shine. After a walk with the dogs and a quick breakfast we finished our tear-down and were home by noon. Leaving us time to start sourcing a new fridge to replace the broken camper one…