The other day I found myself snooping around on the internet and stumbled upon someone’s experience with Rover, the dog boarding app.
For those of you who do not know what Rover is, instead of taking your dog to a traditional boarding facility you take them to a person’s home and have them care for your pet in their home.
Sometimes I get flack for traveling with my dogs. Although I try my best to find activities to include them in my travels it does not always pan out. And when it doesn’t I have to rely on a little local help at the destinations we visit. And when I say local help, I mean local dog care facilities.
2015 is coming to an end and it is time for our Paws For Beer 2015 Travel Wrap Up.
2015 was a year of changes for us at Paws For Beer. Due to a job change in 2014 I took a substantial pay cut but more importantly I took a 93% reduction in vacation hours. I won’t waste your time with bitching about the impact of the change and just leave it as depressing. To help offset this change I have slowed my blog postings to weekly, instead of twice a week, as I am not traveling as much and do not have as much to share. Luckily I have not seen a drop in traffic to the site as a result of this change. My posts about brewing and baking with beer have become erratic, which is a loss for me personally because I loved trying out new recipes. Lack of time and money have held me back with continuing both of those hobbies. Perhaps 2016 I will make more of an effort to bring that back.
Two years ago I started Paws For Beer from my love of travel, beer and my dog Boomer.
It’s funny how things can change in two years. Two years ago I was making a good income, had 280 hours of vacation, 7 paid holidays and one dog. Last year the company I worked for went out of business. I was fortunate enough to find work but my income is almost cut in half, I have 20 hours of vacation for the year, no paid holidays and now two dogs.
So there is a common theme among long term travelers. The less you spend the longer you can travel. Make sense, right? The problem is if you travel by car, like I do, there are some high costs such as fuel and insurance that bog you down, however there are also some benefits to driving your car. Check out my tips below on how to keep costs down while on road trips.
I am not a fan of hiking. Alright I’m not going to lie to you – I hate hiking. Pretty much the only way you can get me to go is to promise me a grand finale photo of awesomeness at the end of the hike… sweeten the deal by throwing in a beer and I may not bitch along the way… however I am not promising I won’t privately complain in my head. But you won’t be able to hear that so it won’t matter.
The year has come to an end and Boomer and I have another chapter in the travel books. Here is our 2013 travel write up for Paws For Beer
This year we traveled to: (Bolded locations are new locations for Paws for Beer. Boomer’s name will be listed if he we went along on the trip):
California State:
Los Angeles
Long Beach
Crescent City (Boomer)
Laguna Niguel
Anaheim
Oregon State:
Grants Pass (Boomer)
Bend (Boomer)
Medford (Boomer)
Montana State:
Missoula (Boomer)
Ross Creek Cedars Highway 56 (Boomer)
Big Hole National Battlefield (Boomer)
Hamilton (Boomer)
Stevensville (Boomer)
Victor (Boomer)
Idaho State:
Lewiston (Boomer)
White Bird Battlefield (Boomer)
Boise (Boomer)
Bonners Ferry (Boomer)
Snow Creek Falls (Boomer)
Washington State:
Spokane (Boomer)
Ellensburg (Boomer)
Leavenworth (Boomer)
Wenatchee (Boomer)
Winthrop (Boomer)
Grand Coulee Dam (Boomer)
Utah State:
Zion National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park (Boomer)
Boulder (Boomer)
Kolab Canyons (Boomer)
Grand Staircase Escalante (Boomer)
Salt Lake City (Boomer)
Antelope Island State Park (Boomer)
Red Canyon State Park (Boomer)
Park City (Boomer)
Golden Spike National Monument (Boomer)
Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park (Boomer)
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma City
Muskogee
Warner
It was a pretty successful year of travel for me although there were a few trips I cancelled due to lack of funds – but they’re on the 2104 schedule! Here is a preview of what I have planned for 2014:
Trips with Friends:
April: Mexico (this is still in the rough stages so I am not sure if it will pan out or not)
Solo Trip:
May: Chicago IL / Milwaukee WI / Spring Green WI
Trips with Boomer:
June: Oregon Coast / Central Oregon/ Mount St Helens
September: Southern Wyoming / Northern, Central and Southwestern Colorado / South Eastern Utah / Montana
I have my fingers crossed that I will not have to cancel any of the above – but some things are out of my control. Since I have such a long planning schedule I hope to be able to “travel hack” down as much of the costs that I can but when you travel primarily by car the cost of fuel is your worst enemy. Luckily however I traded in the truck for a newer SUV that gets twice the gas mileage so that will help a little. I am also looking forward to Boomer being more comfortable in the car as we travel. You know because it is really all about him!
Where did you travel to this year? Did you visit new places or familiar favorites?
Trip Rewinds are stories from my earlier travels prior to the Paws for Beer blog’s creation. The stories may be oldies, but hopefully you find them to be goodies 🙂
Over the next few postings I will tell you about my trip to Las Vegas. Below is our itinerary that we used for my 30th birthday celebration in Las Vegas. Anything crossed out was planned but we were not able to accomplish.
I thought Disneyland would be an easy task as it was January, although a weekend, I felt that there would not be a lot of people – it is after all the middle of winter. Turns out I was wrong, it was Martin Luther King Jr weekend and it was packed. We waited longer in line to get in to the parking lot and then into the ticket window than we did in any line inside (thankfully!)
I still remember vividly the day my friend, Meg, told me she was quitting her job at the company we both worked for and she was moving to “California”. My response “Northern?”. She said no and my excitement dwindled. None the less I still promised I would visit her and for some reason when I tell someone something I feel the need to do it.