I feel I have been glued to the TV ever since the fires started here in Southern California. They are nowhere near us, but we have had some smokey days and of course I have a daughter, her partner, and grandbabies living in Santa Clarita which is not at the moment in harm’s way . It has however, received an unhealthy air alert.

When I called to find out how they were doing and offered to bring all of them up here until the air improved, Kristi told me that the twins were in Palmdale with their other Grandmother and doing well. Then mentioned that last night, she and Theresa had volunteered their truck and expertise for evacuating the Exotic Big Cats from Shambala Preserve. This is a sanctuary for wild animals, including Michael Jackson’s beloved tigers “Thriller” and “Sabu”. For awhile the preserve was right in the path of the fire.

If you are not familiar, Shambala Preserve is an 80 acre wildlife habitat founded in 1983 by Tippi Hendren an American actress and former fashion model with a career spanning sixty years. You may remember her from her roles in two Alfred Hitchcock films, The Birds and Marnie. For younger readers, she is the mother of actress Melanie Griffith.

As it turns out, all volunteers waited at the Sanctuary gate for Ms. Hendren’s decision to tranquilize the animals and load them into carriers and carts that could be pulled behind volunteers’ trucks. Knowing of Ms. Hendren’s love of her animals and the fact that this is not the first time the Sanctuary has been threatened by fire, it was not surprising that she wanted to wait until the last safe moment. This was a wise decision, since the fire turned and at least for now, the Sanctuary is no longer in danger.

Did I hear just the slightest wistfulness in Kristi’s voice when she told me this. Perhaps I did because I believe my very adventurous daughter would have loved the idea of rescuing a wild tiger or lion. What makes me smile is how relaxed I was with the idea or at least I was until I thought, “What happens when the tranquilzer wears off!”

Sometime midweek on one of my walks into town, I discovered Red’s Hot Dogs. They are large hickory smoked wieners and as decadently delicious as a hot dog from a vendor can be. When I returned to the RV, I of course told Bob of my discovery. Now, you might not know, but Bob eats a very healthy diet most of the time, but he LOVES his hot dogs. The next day, we headed to Red’s for lunch. The hot dogs were even better than anticipated. In fact so delicious that we went back again the following day. However, all good things come to an end and we found (we travel with a weight scale) we both had gained a pound or two. We decided it was a good thing that the week of camping was drawing to an end. However, we promised ourselves that we would back next summer and ready to enjoy many of these fabulous hot dogs.

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I thought you would enjoy this photo of our little Bear Patrol Dog. Lucky is by far the most curious of our dogs and loves to see what is going on outside. LuAnn is usually the leader, but not for window watching. That honor belongs to Lucky.

Today, we took the dogs to Horseshoe Lake to swim. They were so excited. Neither of the Maltese had been in a lake before and we were not certain if they would like it.

The trip up in the tiny Smartcar with three dogs on my lap was well, . . . it was crowded. However, they enjoyed having the window rolled down and the wind blowing in their faces and I enjoyed watching happy little dogs.

When we got to the lake, I took off my shoes and socks and led all three to the water’s edge. They were much more interested in drinking the water than cooling off in it. With a little persuasion, I coaxed all three into deep enough water for a little dog paddling. Since Sammi is an old dog, she went back to shore to dry off in the sunlight. Lucky and LuAnn ventured out a little deeper. They seemed to enjoy the swim and looked like little drowned rats when we finally came back into shore.

Bob and I toweled them almost dry and a quick walk before getting back in the car made them tolerably damp and since it was warming up out, I enjoyed the coolness of their fur on my legs on the way home.

Needless to say they slept most of the afternoon before being ready for a late afternoon hike. And so our days pass quickly in the
mountains. I am not going to be ready to go home. I could easily stay another week or two.

This is actually a continuation of my last post where there are five photos of the Mammoth Lakes. Here are five more photos from that drive.

What a wonderful morning. We left the RV Park sometime before 10AM and map in hand, we navigated our way down the road. Our goal was to find five of the lakes that make up the Mammoth Lake area. Every turn, every curve brought more beauty to our eyes. We stopped at each lake and took photos before turning the Smartcar around and heading back to the RV. But enough of my words, here is my favorite photo of each lake and tomorrow, I will share more of the day. I promise.