Awesome Arizona

It was our dog that determined our vacation destination this June.  Our beloved Belgian malinois is suffering from degenerative myelopathy, which some describe as the equivalent of canine multiple sclerosis or ALS, and she's rapidly losing control of her hind legs.

I ordered a dog cart/wheelchair for her today (from the wonderful people at k 9 carts) which should help her get back to the walks she loves, but David and I know she's not going to be with us  much longer.  Because we don't want to be too far away in case she needs us, we've decided to take a trip to explore our own backyard.

Even though we aren't crossing any oceans, this promises to be an exciting trip.  Some of the most impressive country in the world is in northern Arizona, and we plan to explore as much of it as possible in ten days.

We'll spend a couple days at the Grand Canyon, in Monument Valley, and at Canyon de Chelly exploring all of those places plus the Painted Desert, the Hopi and Navajo Nations, the Petrified Forest, and the Homolovi Ruins.  The laptop will be in the backseat, but Internet reception may not be available everywhere in these remote areas, so blog posts may have to wait for our return.

Still,  I promise to tell you all about it in the next few days or when we get back.  Here's a photo of one of the places we'll explore.  See why we're excited?!

Monument Valley

Practicalities - Don't worry.  Our dog will be in the excellent care of our pet sitters who have become friends.  If you'd like to know how we found these wonderful people who are happy to get a mini-vacation in exchange for caring for our pets, see this article "Free Pet Sitting."