We're home! Safe flight, no problems at Heathrow, and pleasant taxi journey back to the south coast. Just going to take Caesar for a very short walk now and then go to bed, haven't slept for over 24 hours now ... although Caesar slept soundly on the flight.

A very reflective Saturday evening ... as I packed all our gear this evening, my mind was full of the events of the day, and also mixed in the amazing memories of this unforgettable trip as it draws to an end. So many people, so many places, so many memories ...

Caesar and I have been lucky in the friends we have chosen and those who have chosen us, without all our friends this trip would never have been possible, to each and every one of you, a HUGE thank you is due, your kindness meant so much to us.

Early this morning I walked Caesar in Central Park, the lake near the hotel is still frozen but it was perceptably warmer today. We then took a cab downtown to the vets, for Caesar's passport preparations. Everyone at West Chelsea Vetinary Hospital was really kind and before long Caesar's paperwork was all in order. Afterwards we headed suth to Lower manhattan and the Financial District.

Before long, we had reached Ground Zero; the World Trade Centre Site. I don't know what I had imagined it would be like, but it was busy with people, many of whom probably there for the same reason as myself, remembering ... Now the area has been cleared, there is a sense of hope and rejuvenation. We also visited St Paul's Chapel immediately opposite, where there is an exhibition serving as a testament to the role of the Chapel in the days and weeks after 9/11. As I sat quietly in the chapel, intuitively as ever, Caesar lay down beside my chair with his head resting on his paws. It wasn't long before some people approached us and started talking about the role of the dogs in the recovery efforts... I commented that there was no reference to the dogs in the church and a man approached and said he had known Bear, the Golden Retriever and would send me some pictures of him working, I hope he does.

We left the WTC area by taxi, and had, I am sure, the most hair raising taxi ride of my entire life! The cabs were four abreast at times heading up 6th Avenue and it felt like a scene from whacky races as they all sped up when the lights went green, and then screeched to a halt as they caught the next set of lights. Utter madness, I had to hold Caesar and brace myself to avoid being flung about, I was relieved when we arrived at Bryant Park in one piece!

I found the Bryant Park geocache in seconds, but the local benchmarks took me slightly longer. Once I had them spotted we headed up 5th Avenue, past the Rockefeller Centre, and back to Central Park for Caesar to have another free run.

We spent the evening at the hotel, and on our late evening walk, enjoyed watching the skaters in the park.

Tomorrow we are due to leave for the airport between 4 and 5pm for a flight that leaves JFK around 8pm est. We should arrive at Heathrow early Monday morning, and then will be met and driven home, hopefully arriving well before lunch.

Mid evening, Friday. I slept a bit better last night, must have been all that Goldslacher and Tylenol! Got up this morning and took Cz for a bit of a walk in Central Park, then caught a taxi down to Pier 83 on the Hudson River, to catch a Circle Line Tour. We only just made it, they closed the ticket office for the 10am trip seconds after I bought my ticket! It was a lovely boat trip, but ooh was it cold out on deck! I was freezing, but determined to get some shots of the Statue of Liberty! Most people on the boat were tourists and I got plenty of offers to take photos of Caesar and I together, special thanks to our new friends from Israel. :o)


Until now, Caesar thought Liberty was the
chocolate Lab who lives in the next street!

We got this close!

The gaps in the skyline are what used to be filled by the WTC

After the two hour boat trip, we made our way along 42cnd Street to Times Square, whoa! It was so busy there! We carried on along Broadway for a while then crossed 7th to 6th and made our way back to Central Park, for Caesar to have a bit of off lead time. On the way back to the hotel I bought some arty mounted photos from a street vendor of various NY landmarks. I just have to work out how to get them home now!


Caesar in Times Square

After a short rest at the hotel to warm up we headed down 5th Avenue to do a bit of shopping, got no further than Niketown! I was amazed at the prices there compared to the UK, so I just HAD to buy myself some new trainers! On the way back I bought a new large holdall, I thought I would have enough room once I had delivered all my gifts and cleared Caesars' food, but ...

To all you ladies who fell in love with him yesterday, Caesar missed you today! Every time someone came along our corridor he grabbed his bone and nipped to the door in the hope you might be back again!

This evening we have been resting at the hotel and I have occupied myself online. Tomorrow morning we have to head downtown for Caesar to see a vet for his passport preparations prior to returning to the UK.

Late Thursday evening ... what a fantastic day ... a day that I am sure I shall remember for a very long time! Several Golden friends, (MaryJane, Pam, MaryAlice, Marnie, Carolyn & Suzan) met up with Caesar and I today for a grand day out. We started off by visiting a webcam (which also happens to be a geocache) in Upper Midtown and phoned Rochelle to take a picture of us all there, while we waited in the cold eating hot bagels! It was freezing this morning! I got some better cold meds fromt he pharmacy at the advice of Rochelles' Gary, and they seem to have made a difference.


The webcam pic, hey that's us in front of the shop window!

After the webcam we made our way back to my hotel to meet, exchange presents and generally have a good natter. Then we set off for a visit to The Top of The Rock, which is an observation deck at the top of the Rockefeller Centre. That was fascinating to see a 360 degree view of the NYC skyline ... the lifts were super fast and I could feel my ears popping as we ascended.

Later in the day, Pam, MaryJane & I whizzed downtown by taxi to the heliport. Here, they both looked after Caesar while I took a helicopter tour of the city ... AMAZING! Caesar wasn't too happy about being left behind and apparently cried when he saw my wheelchair return without me ... oh my poor boy!

This evening we all went out for a superb meal at Bice restaurant, whihc will be memorable for all the toasts we drank to our Land of Pure Gold friends ... Suzan; the Goldslacher was awesome!

Awww Lily, sorry you weren't home when we tried to call you!

Now everyone has gone home, Caesar is asleep and I am left reflecting on what a marvellous day it has been. A very special thank you to MaryJane for organising everything in such a diligent way, it made all the difference :o)


Empire State Building from The Top of The Rock,
The Rockefeller Centre.

The Golden Crew at The Top of the Rock

Caesar and I share the view from The Top of the Rock

"My" helicopter


Looking down on Liberty

MaryAlice & MaryJane during our dinner toasts


How come Pam got the only "real" glass?

Cheers Suzan! Well done on making the
Goldslacher the official toasting tipple!


MaryJane & Marnie toasting!

Cheers, Carolyn!

The desserts were delicious!

Special thanks to Marnie for walking Caesar home last night, and to Pam for giving him the opportunity to spend a penny! Also thanks to Pam & MaryJane for looking after him while I was flying, I really could not have done it without you.

Oh and Pam, if you hear of someone being ticketed for dropping blue poop bags up and down the streets of Manhattan, you'll know who it was ;o)

Wednesday evening, I woke up today feeling like I had been dragged through a hedge backwards, it took me ages to even get out of bed, and it was after 1pm before I finally left the hotel to take Caesar out for a walk. The problem? A stinking cold, achey joints and sore throat! Waaaaaaaaah!

So, we just pottered around Central Park today, taking in three geocaches along the way, we walked about 6 miles. I was interested to see the area Strawberry Fields, which was set aside a year after John Lennon's death with a $1 million endowment from Yoko Ono. It was peaceful there, the most noise being made by numerous camera shutters.

I visited the Dairy Gift Shop and was challenged about Caesar! Two members of staff asked me to remove my pet dog ... sheeeeesh ... he was fully dressed in his working gear, I concluded they probably weren't willing to read his jacket, so I read it to them! I also explained that as a service dog I am entitled to take him more or less everywhere with me. A suprvisor appeared, and told them how to recognise a working dog, so then they wanted to pet Caesar! Oh gnarly! I declined, again explaining that he was in the shop because he was working not for a social visit!

Fortunately, I found a pharmacy just on the same block as the hotel, so I am now dosing myself up with cold remedies in the hope that I will be feeling better tomorrow.

This evening, I played a game of poker online and then went to bed for a while, just woken up and taking Caesar out to toilet before I have an early night.


Caesar at the Imagine Memorial in Strawberry Fields, Central Park

Bedtime Tuesday ... just a quick note to say we arrived safely in New York from San Diego today.

My American assistance dog friends would be proud of me, I had to cite my rights twice today! Firstly when the airport shuttle driver suggested I paid for Caesar to travel, and secondly when I arrived at my hotel here in NYC they asked me to sign a waiver saying I would not take my dog into any public area! Both parties backed off and apologised after a little education from me!

And so to bed...

Just about midnight on Monday. Another wonderful day! Caesar and I went whale watching today with Cindy from Michigan, what an absolute treat! It wasn't how I had imagined, we only had to go just outside the harbour here in San Diego before we saw whales and dolphins; I'd thought we would have to head far out to sea. As we headed out of the harbour we had a commentary of all the local sights, and just off Point Loma we saw our first sighting. For the next two hours we kept our eyes on the water and were treated to numerous further sightings, some where the whales surfaced really close to the boat.


The boat we went on

Grey whale

Grey whale tail fluke

Precious moments; how many people are lucky enough
to be able to take their dog whale watching?

Hey Mum! Land Ahoy!

Tuna being unloaded at San Diego fish market

Pacific paws for thought

There's so much more to say, but I must sleep and add to this tomorrow. We're due to fly from Lindberg Field, San Diego at noon and will arrive in NYC tomorrow evening.

Well it is now bedtime on Sunday, exhausting day but very interesting. I was called upon this morning to take part in another presentation about the UK Pets Travel Scheme, where I helped Alan Brooks of GDBA with his presentation, explaining the ins and outs of the Pets Travel Scheme.

As soon as the conference was over, we boarded the coaches for Sea World, where we spent almost 5 hours. It was interesting to see what exactly they have there, but I felt distinctly uneasy about seeing whales and dolphins cooped up in small pools. We had a tour of the area and sadly had to leave the Pets Show, which I had been looking forward to, as they let off bangs which upset Caesar and Brooke and apart from that, the disabled persons seating was right in the front row and Tanya and I got very wet. Not good planning Sea World!!!!!

A nice surprise was to bump into Nicky with Tena, a service dog partnership who live locally and are on my Yahoo group!


Both of us were fascinated by the baby sharks.

Well no lay in for us tomorrow, as we have to be up bright and early to go whale watching ... by my reckoning, the first lay in Cz and I shall be getting is Wednesday in NYC!

Sunday morning, time for a quick photocall, and sadly for some goodbyes. The conference ends today at lunchtime and many people will be leaving then. Some of us are remaining and going on a trip to Sea World this afternoon, Caesar and I don't fly to NYC until Tuesday lunchtime, so we have a bit of time to catch up with ourselves.
















Left to Right:
Ed Eames & Latrell, Toni Eames & Keebler,
Wendy & Caesar, Tanya Eversole & Brooke,
Devon Wilkins & Oak.

Saturday morning, and we are both soooo tired, it was a job to get up this morning! It doesn't seem possible that we have been in California for a week now, people who were strangers, just names I had heard or read have now become great friends, and it has been a wonderful week.

This morning the first presentation of the day was by Temple Grandin on Animals in Translation. It was a fascinating presentation, and we were fortunate enough to meet Temple afterwards, although sadly, all copies of her book had sold out by the time we got to the top of the queue.

Wendy & Caesar with Dr Temple Grandin from Colorado State University.

Saturday evening, well all intentions of an early night were abandoned! This afternoon Carol and I went with both our dogs to Seaport Village and Old Town to do some shopping. I was delighted to find a sweatshirt in a sale ... which I know my poker playing buddies will be envious of! I also bought a new lanyard for my camera, it says "Big Dog Mom, she who must be obeyed"!


We visited the Harley shop at Seaport Village, San Diego!


Palms against the sunset, a familiar sight here in California.

"Welcome to the Board" were the words I heard several times today! I have been asked, and have accepted a place on the Board of IAADP. I was delighted to accept, and this will hopefully bring a European perspective to the discussions that I get involved in.

It's now rapidly approaching midnight on Friday and this evening we attended the ADI conference banquet. The salad and sweet were very nice, but I think the main course could have been more exciting ... I asked for a vegetarian option and got the same as everyone else minus the meat!

Caesar with Brooke who is partnered with Tanya, another of the scholarship winners.

Caesar has a bit of a crush on Brooke ;o)

It's now Friday afternoon and I am catching a quick break. Yesterday was such a busy day as it was the IAADP conference. After the opening remarks it was my turn to speak as the keynote speaker. All went well, people laughed at my jokes and at the end I got a standing ovation, referring to the fact that the previous speaker had let them down, one of the sponsors commented that IAADP had definitely traded up when they got me as the keynote speaker :o)
The rest of the day was full of interesting seminars, and it was a pelasure to meet so many assistance dog partnerships, particularly those who I have had some previous contact with online.
I was truly touched by the number of people who were kind enough to come to me and compliement me on my keynote speech, thanks everyone, you made yesterday really special.
The day ended with a pizza party held by the Iaadp Board, and then we went to register for the ADI conference which started first thing this morning. I have attended seminars all day and am just resting before the banquet this evening. I have some exciting news, but need to wait to share it ;o)


Sssssh Guide Dogs sleeping!
Top, Oak who is partnered with Devon from Canada
Middle, Latrell who is partnered with Ed Eames
Bottom, Keebler, who is partnered with Toni Eames

Caesar was presented with some Cosequin from Nutramax


Caesar couldn't wait to explore his goodie bag at the end of the conference!

Almost midnight Wednesday. Just finished putting the finishing touches to my keynote speech for the morning, and am about to get some sleep. Here's a couple of photos of Caesar having fun!


Caesar playing tug with Latrell, Ed Eames guide dog.


Caesar enjoying a cuddle with Toni Eames


Caesar playing tug with Keebler, Tonis guide dog

Well it is now Wednesday morning here in California! I didn't sleep that well as I kept waking thinking of things to include in my keynote speech which I am due to give tomorrow, so I got on the computer at around 7am to try and finish it, I think I have managed it now, but will read it through a few times today to make sure.

We haven't been off the hotel property for a couple of days now, I needed to catch up on some sleep yesterday as I was getting a bit headachey and also to catch up with Peter & Helen who are here from Dogs for the Disabled. It's nice to know they are around, even though they are just as busy with their own things as we are with ours.

Caesar seems to be enjoying himself, he has clearly fallen in love with Brooke a black Labrador who is partnered with Tanya one of the other scholarship winners. He also enjoys romping around with the other Goldens and Labs belonging to the IAADP board members. He doesn't quite know what to make of Heart yet, who is Carols little Yorkie assistance dog.

We are making the most of some free time this morning and will be at a meeting this afternoon.

Oh I almost forgot to mention I am enjoying the box of Twinkies and bag of Hersheys Kisses I bought at the recomendation of friends Vicky & her daughter Karianne. What should I buy next girls?


Ooooooh! Emu!


One of the seals we saw on our Seal tour.

Sunday was such a hectic day, I feel as if I have spent most of Monday recovering! We started out Sunday morning for the tour of San Diego Zoo, where we were all taken on a specially adapted bus for a tour. At one point we stopped to meet some animals. The dogs stayed outside the enclosure, looked after by Zoo employees, Bob, Wendy & Nat, who were also our drivers and guides.

We got to meet a Pacarana, a beaver like creature, an American Aligator called Gaston and an Emu called Daphne. We got the opportunity to either touch or hold each animal and I was sturck bu how cold the aligator felt, and how soft the feathers were on the emu. The pacarana was my favourite, simply because I have never been that close to anything like it ever before.


Toni Eames with the Pacarana

Later on we had the truly amazing experience of meeting the giraffes. The zoo was interested to see how they reacted with the assistabnce dogs, having already done some preparatory work with their own pet dogs. I don;t think any of us could have predicted how well it would go, at first I hung back, allowing others to feed the giraffe and simply watch with Caesar. I was asked to feed a giraffe and Caesar moved forward with me, being more interested in what I was about to feed it than the creature itself! I was amazed at the length of the tongue and also at the feel of the hair on the giraffe. At one point we were actually sat with the giraffe towering over us, Caesar chose to jump onto my lap but made no attempt to pull me away from the situation.

We finished off the zoo trip with a wander though the monkey trail and saw all different types of monkeys and apes. Caesar was perhaps the most fascinated by the apes, two in particular who caught his eye had him stopped in his tracks and watching with his head slightly tilted as they moved about in front of him.

I was also able to log one geocache after visiting the zoo, so that added to the pleasure even more!

We grabbed a very quick lunch and on to the second tour of the day on a Seal bus, a boat on wheels, where part of the tour is onland and the other on the sea. This was a great way to see San Diego and also to see the seals in the bay.

Monday morning was spent doing a bit of shopping and in the afternoon, we went off as a group for another tour but this time on an Old Town Trolley bus, this took us all over the town and out to Coronado.

Another unforgettable day! I am so tired, I need to sleep, but here's a couple of photos from our day.

It's now very early Sunday morning, and we are in San Diego, California. Yesterday was a bit of an odd day, I got out of bed to find I had a puncture on my wheelchair, so the first job of the day was to change the tube. That done, I finished packing and then went geocaching, managing 7 more geocaches around the National Mall before heading back to the hotel to get ready to leave. The weatehr was deteriorating fast, Friday it had topped 60 degrees in Washington, Saturday, by the time we left it was 39 and snowing with a howling wind. It was definitely time to leave...



Grrrrr! Puncture!

Thanks to Patty we were at the airport in plenty of time (we even got to meet Pattys family and Georgia & Otis her dogs on the way :o) We had an uneventful flight coast to coast, arriving some 6 hours later, then we had to adjust watches and in reality we lost another three hours and are now GMT - 8. We even got to meet Pattys family and Georgia & Otis her dogs on the way!

Arrival in San Diego was much simpler than our arrival in Washington DC and we were off the plane and away within 20 minutes of landing. Thankfully we were met by Carol King and delivered safely to our hotel.

This morning we are getting ready to meet everyone and then set off for some sightseeing and a tour of San Diego Zoo!

Friday was our last full day in DC. The time has flown by here andwe will be leaving with so many wonderful memories. Caesar and I spent the day sightseeing at The National Mall, and geocaching along the way. We weren't in any hurry and there was plenty of time for Caesar to free run and let his hair down. Thankfully, even though he was off the lead quite a bit, he resisted all the temptations of the various pools and ponds.

I had expected it to be much cooler in DC than it has been and spent about 4 hours outside today without the need for a hat or gloves, which definitely would not have been the case had we been back home in England!

We started our sightseeing outside The White House where I wanted to take a few more photos. I got chatting to someone who is another geocacher, so I we swapped stories, took photos and I have sent a couple of travel bugs onwards with him, they'll be on their way to California!


Posers at The White House!

Geocaching taught me today that Constitution Avenue used to be a canal, and I visited the Lock Keepers cottage! Then we made our way to The World War II Memorial, this was an inspiring yet poignant sight, and a very interesting contrast to some of the memorials to the same war in Europe.


Intuitive Dog: even Caesar looked pensive here

We carried on to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, out to the bank of the Potomac River overlooking Virginia, along the shore of the Todal Basin to get a view of the FDR Memorial and then cut back to the Washington Monument.

This evening I packed and explored another option with room service for dinner and just relaxed playing online poker with my usual poker buddies. I also had to log all the geocaches I found today, and discovered to my delight that I now have logged over 100 caches in under 5 months, in four countries on two continents!

Last bit of sightseeing is planned for tomorrow, before setting off for the airport with Patty mid afternoon. We're due to fly at 6.30pm, for almost a six hour flight arriving at 9.10pm local time in San Diego.


I so love to sniff the wind!

Caesar outside The White House
Yesterday was an exhausting but brilliant day! Caesar and I were due to be picked up by Patty to catch up with Rochelle & Gary (who had brought Darcy into the vet hospital here in DC) about 11am. I was unable to sleep beyond 6am and realised that I had to solve my mobile phone problem. Seems I needed a Triband handset, which I don't have. So after taking Caesar for a walk, and finding one geocache (which happened to be the National Christmas Tree outside The White House, which is opposite our hotel) I set off in search of phone shops. I found a T-Mobile store and the simplest solution was to buy a new Pay as You Go phone. I thought this might be an expensive venture but decided I need a phone here for safety. Fifteen minutes later I left the store with a new Nokia 6010 phone, loaded with $15 worth of credit ... for the grand sum of .... wait for it ... $25 !!!! I was really staggered by how cheap it was. I got some extra minutes added and can now receive calls from anywhere, send texts anywhere, and make calls within USA. Result!

Patty collected us from the hotel and we then collected Rochelle & Gary. We drove through Georgetown down to Capitol Hill. Georgetown is much different architecture wise than the rest of the District, and now and then I would see properties that reminded me of those typical of the Georgian towns at home.

We had lunch at The Senate and went for a tour which lasted most of the afternoon. Our guide, Janice was excellent in explaining all the history of what we were seeing and there were plenty of photo opportunities. It was interesting to see how the various levels of security compare and contrast to those I experienced when visiting The House of Commons in London. We entered the gallery of The House of Representatives, The Old Supreme Court, the offices of Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator John Warner, the balcony at the front of the Capitol Building ... and much much more.

In the Senate gift shop Caesar may a bee line striaght to the tennis balls, and is now the proud owner of three Senate logo tennis balls! Later, he got the opportunity to meet Senator Kennedys two Portugues Water Dogs on the green outside.

The Senate is busy at the moment with the hearings for the new Supreme Court Judge, Samuel Alito, and we saw several senators passing to and fro. We also got the opportunity to travel on the underground railway which is used to transport people from one area of the building to another very quickly. The tour was amazing, I just wish I could remember every detail, and of
course many many photos were taken.

A British Dog at Capitol Hill! I am sure I can say with certainty, Caesar is the first dog from Dogs for the Disabled, and possibly the first assistance dog form the UK to make it to Capitol Hill and get a tour of The United States Senate! He took it all in his stride, and I was proud of him for that! Caesar is now the proud owner of a US Senate dog collar, thanks you Patty :o)

In the evening, I decided to try a couple of geocaches on the monuments near our hotel, which was finne until we found ouselves surrounded by rats! Hasty retreat to McDonalds ... well, I had to try it once while I'm here!


Both of us on The Speakers Balcony

Grrrrr! Garmin! Before leaving home I downloaded files about local geocaches to my laptop and hoped to transfer them to my GPSr, however somewhere along the way I forgot to d/l the drivers for my Garmin GPSr Map 60CS. I have now got them from the Garmin website, but am getting an error when trying to export from GSAK to the GPSr.

Any advice please geocachers?

Just a very quick note to let everyone know, we arrived safe and well and have had a good nights sleep in the hotel in Washington DC. Bit of a hiccup, my mobile phone is not picking up any service, other than that, everything is fine.

Caesar and I were upgraded to club class on the flight and were looked after very well.

We've both had a good rest and are now getting ready to go up into Maryland today to visit Rochelle with Patty.

Somewhat later! We had a very pleasant drive up to Rochelles for a visit. It was lovely to meet up after knowing eachother online for so many years, also to meet Alfie and Darcy (Rochelles Golden Retrievers) and for Rochelle to get the opportunity to meet Caesar. Alfie is a lovely bouncy bubbly boy who didn't waste any time in climbing onto my lap for kisses, and Darcy, although visibly poorly, sweetly showed us her teddy bears, wasted no time in showing Caesar her garden, and enjoyed lots of cuddles. All too soon it was time to head back to Washington, many, many thanks Patty and Rochelle for a wonderful day.


Wendy & Caesar with Rochelle & Darcy

Caesar and I later spent a relaxing evening at the hotel and took a couple of walks near the hotel. I ordered dinner from room service and wasn't really very hungry so opted for a sandwich ... ha, some sandwich it was an enormous meal!

Something we'll be doing in our free time on this trip is geocaching. I have been an avid geocacher since August '05 and Caesar loves the fun too. Here's a great article which explains it all, which was sent to me recently by Rochelle. Interestingly, the article features a woman and Golden Retriever who go caching together too!

Geocachers are a great bunch of people, and many have become good friends, always ready to lend an ear and help solve techie problems, give suggestions or share some beer with. I am determined to find at least one cache in each city we visit, and hopfeully more!

I also have some Travel Bugs to drop off, which are small items, such as keyrings which have a tag with a unique tracking number on them and other geocachers collect them and take them to the next cache they visit, in this manner it is perfectly possible for a Travel Bug to travel the world as a hitch hiker. One of my recently released TBs is a small woolly lamb on a keychain and he wants to visit every county in the UK, he's called Dorset Lamb, and he's doing well, even though he has only been travelling a month he's covered some 320 miles. He almost came to a sticky end recently when some wags called "Us 4 & Jess" said they were going to eat the poor lamb with mint sauce! Thankfully, I managed to persuade them that the lamb is a bit fatty and would give them indigestion, so he is now on his way again!

Another crazy day of sorting toiletries, washing clothes, filling out luggage labels and so on! My Travellers Cheques have arrived and it's starting to look like we're really going somewhere!

The best bit of today though was the time Caesar and I spent at the vets office late this afternoon. Anna gave him a full once over and was more than happy to certify Caesar fit to travel and complete his passport accordingly and issue a certificate of fitness for him. I took the opportunity to stock up on one or two medicinal creams for Caesar "just in case" he gets any hotspots or conjunctivitis, and to buy more Advantix and Milbemax, so that I have the products with me when he needs to have them to prepare to return to the UK in three weeks time.

Oh and I also had to work out how many doggie do do bags for three weeks use .... waaaaaah, it was lots!

It's getting near

to the time we set off, and I am starting to become totally trip focussed! Not altogether a good thing, so focussed in fact I was awake til 6am today ... simply couldn't sleep, so I was back online researching varoius aspects of the regulations of dog import / export and how to find a wifi hotspot at 4am. I finally think I have all the bases covered, and can continue with my various lists!

I got around to printing all my flight and hotel details today, and collecting all the bits of paper needed together in one folder. It's quite a tome!

Caesar has been to the groomers today and looks brilliant! Good job Erin! I had to smile, I was peeping from outside the groomers and just as Erin led Caesar to the door to come and find me, she offered him a treat, he wasn't having any of it, instead took his lead and made for the door!

After the groomers, we spent some time in the computer warehouse next door, they should really rename it Wendy's Wonderland, as I so love wandering round looking at all the new gadgets and gizmos. What did I buy this time? A new USB set of headphones and mic, a webcam (purely cos it was half price bargain) and a keyring which can detect wireless hotspots. The wifi detecting keyring and headset will come to California with us, but I shall have to leave the webcam in the box til I get home and have more time.

For the unitiated, a wifi hotspot is a place where one can, either for free or for a small fee, use a wireless enabled laptop or other device to access the internet, they are often in cafes, hotels, shops etc., and I shall need to avail myself of some hotspots to update this blog while we are away.