Miss Betty Goes To Arizona

When we ready ourselves for any trip I usually feel terrible as I walk past Miss Betty, who realizes what is happening and puts on the sad face as I load luggage into the car.  She is very in tune to what certain actions on our part mean for her and luggage being put into the car only means one thing, her humans will be leaving her for some time.  I would have loved to share the surprised look as I swooped her up and loaded her into the passenger seat landing her into her soft cushioned bed placed just so she could easily watch out the window as we traveled to Arizona.

Our first night destination was Reno Nevada at the Harrah's Casino and Hotel. MeMa booked there because they said they were a pet friendly hotel.

Harrah's Hotel has an east and a west tower with a sky bridge that carries one accros the busy street that runs between the two. We were told that our room was in the east tower......on the fourth floor.....the pet exercise area was out the back of the west tower. We had to walk through the hotel, out the parking structure and walk accross the busy street, down an alley-way which led to the exercise area.  Betty's condition has progressed to the point that after a few minutes her front legs tire and she flops down on her chest.  I attached a leather lead to both sides of her cart so that I could lift just enough to give her some support.  We got quite the looks as we trotted her through the hotel lobby/casino.  Being a retired therapy dog she is trained to avoid contact unless she is working with a patient so she would hold her head high look forward as though nothing was out of the ordinary, taking no notice of all the strangers that certainly noticed her.

MeMa has made this trip several times with the "Vegas Girls" so knew all the best stops and Betty enjoyed stretching and having a little refresher, but when time to leave she would get up and wheel back to the car door on her own.

One intriguing stop was the famous haunted Goldfield Hotel in the nearly ghost town of Goldfield Nevada.

 

Built in 1907 on the sight of two earlier hotels that burnt to the ground and has been the subject of several films documenting paranormal activity, a subject familiar to our own lives at Menagerie Manor.

It was a long two day trip but we finally arrived at my twin brother's home in Phoenix Arizona.

Miss Betty's cousin Baileigh (left) could not quite understand why Betty would not get up and play - but the girls got along very well from the beginning.

The Arizona sunshine agreed with not only Betty but was very welcomed by MeMa and myself, our morning walks revitalized the soul.

At the center of my brothers lovely gated community is a large grassy park and Betty loved to rest a bit in the cool grass before heading back to the house.

Preparing to transplant a Palos Verde's tree that was in the wrong spot

 

 Besides working on the desert landscaping around the house we found time to hop into the car and with the top down drive off to some of the tourist attractions.

My twin brother at the wheel and MeMA giving driving advise, I am the annoying one in the back seat with the camera.

The town of Cave Creek is an artists community with lots and lots of photo opportunities.....leave it to my father and MeMa to request one in front of an old outhouse.

Our next trip was to the beautiful countryside of Sedona. I just couldn't get over the colors in the mountains.

 

 

Bell Rock

 

 

A couple of desert ruffians

 

Click on the photos and they will enlarge, this one was amazing with a complete forested Eco system surviving in this bowl on the side of the mountain.

 

 

The cousins had a peaceful day to themselves