Busch Gardens, Family, and Fun

Yes, we did in fact go to Busch Gardens for a day :-) We took Tattoo, a friend of ours and as you will recall the new owner of Erwin, the dog we rescued. The three of us spent a day riding coasters, laughing at some really silly Irish step dancing, and eating funnell cakes... good day. We were even some of the very first people on the brand new coaster "GRIFFON", scary as heck and lots of fun!

We have now been in Charlottesville, VA, for a week. We are staying with Ben's Aunt Jebb and Uncle Chris, who have, in fact, been way too kind to us. A week and a half ago while climbing atop a baking ridge, Pete decided that enough was enough; he was tired of walking behind two slow moving humans in the frying sun with a pack on his back. He would much rather be chasing balls and swimming in creeks, thank you very much! That evening Jebb and Chris drove down to Daleville and picked Pete up off of the trail. While certainly a tearful fearwell, we knew we would see him again as soon as we got to Charlottesville, and it was time for Pete to go home.

Of course, we thought that our dog troubles were over... wrong!! Only three days later, after spending a morning hitching into and out of Big Island VA (its an adventure, right?), Roxi came up lame. While not in any mortal peril, she certainly wasn't fit to hike the trail. Relying upon the kindness of strangers, we found an angel of sorts that gave the three of us a ride into the booming town of Buena Vista and the vet's office. After a few tense moments, Roxi was ordered to just stay off of her feet for a week. So, we called Jebb and Chris again, and this time we just went with them back to Charlottesville.

We have since been doing a lot of day hiking with out the dogs, we've gone to Busch Gardens, and Ben's parents came down to share some mountain time with us. Pete leaves for his New York home tomorrow morning, and Roxi is back to her knee smashing ways!

There are so many stories to tell, so many treasures that we have found along the trail, is is difficult to simply give an update of our progress without recalling each little adventure alond the way, trying to hitchike to watching our dogs try to cross narrow bridges with packs on. In future updates we'll try to recount more stories, more adventures of the trail, so keep in touch, and here are some pictures!!

Thanks for reading.