June Hikes and Beaches

June was a bit of a strange month, in that I traveled to California without any dogs along. I started in Oakland/San Francisco, saw Golden Gate, headed out to Yosemite the next day, then spent the following four days driving back to Oregon through the redwoods along the California coast.

Earlier in the month before the California trip, I did make it out to Beazell Forest one more time. I went with Ptera and it was late in the day, so we tried out the one trail there that we haven't done before, which is shorter than the main ridge trail. We had fun and finished our hike before dark.

We started at Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.

Golden Gate bridge, with Fort Point in the lower left

Yosemite was fun to see, but it was crowded. The trolleys were super crowded, but there was nowhere to park if you drove around, so you either crammed yourself in with everyone else or drove around and around looking to find somewhere to park. I'm glad I saw it once, but I doubt I will ever be back. (I did think that better maps and better information online would have helped a lot in making the trip more smooth and more enjoyable.)

Yosemite Falls

After Yosemite, we headed to the coast, where I tried ziplining for the first time ever. I have something of a fear of heights, and bungee jumping years ago was one of the worst decisions I ever made. Ziplining, however, turned out to be awesome. I went to Sonoma Canopy Tours, and the guides were great, giving instructions on ziplining, giving information about the trees we were in, and in helping me out when I was scared of the jump off.

I think these bridges were actually the worst part of the ziplining.

At the end, there is a rappel down to get out of the final tree. Stepping over the edge is always the scary part, whether for a rappel or for the ziplining itself, but it was fun.

On the way up the coast, we stopped at a super cute hotel in a super cute down. Mendocino Hotel is in Mendocino, CA and is totally Victorian style from the outside to all the furnishings inside. The entire town including the hotel has amazing gardens as well, and the hotel balcony has amazing views.

Then we really hit the redwoods proper, and had to do some touristy stops.

The most amazing hike we went on was Fern Canyon. The road to get there is horrible, gravel/dirt, super bumpy, under construction, with huge delays, and even two stream crossings. You think the entire time that there is no way this is going to be worth it. But then you get there, and it totally is. Biggest down side I can see to potentially going back there is that no dogs are allowed on this hike.

Showing a ton of restraint, I am just sharing one photo from Fern Canyon itself. It was amazing, though. Huge, towering walls covered in five different varieties of fern. I can share more photos later if people are interested. It was, basically, one of the most gorgeous places I have ever seen.

Grandma for scale of the walls.

We saw more of the redwoods, but nothing could top Fern Canyon.

And that really is the sum up of my month. Not a ton of hiking with the dog, but I did get to see some awesome new places and enjoy a fun trip with my grandma.

Hundur's Crunch #chewyinfluencer

The month of June has been crazy busy here. I went on a trip to California with my grandmother, sans dogs, which was super fun and somewhat strange feeling all at once. When I got home, my package from Chewy was waiting for me to do some reviews.

Hundur's Crunch is a high quality, 100% fish treat for dogs. It comes in "fingers" which are basically dried blocks of fish skin a little shorter than your finger, and a bit fatter around. The treats smelled very fishy the second I opened the bag, and I was immediately worried that the smell would linger everywhere the treats went. And promptly forgot one in a friend's car in a hot parking lot while we went in a store for an hour. But the fear was unfounded, as the car didn't smell at all fishy.

As for the treat itself, a friend's super picky dog really liked it and happily crunched through a "finger" while another friend's dog liked it well enough, but not enough to eat it while doing nail trims. Ptera seems to be interested, but finds the big finger size pieces hard to chew. For her, this is absolutely more of a chew than a treat.

While the pieces can be broken up, it isn't easy, and they flake apart like crazy and break unevenly. Ptera did find the smaller chunks easier to eat, but I didn't think the amount of effort that went into breaking them was worth it.

We'll use the rest of the bag as a more long lasting kind of chew option, but while I absolutely love the idea of these treats, the reality doesn't seem to be something that we would use a lot. Large dogs who need a hypoallergenic treat and like something larger and crunchy would be bigger fans, I think. If I were to buy these again, it would be to use as longer lasting chews for when Ptera gets crated when I'm at work. A bag of these treats, coming in currently at $4.99, is a pretty decent buy for that.

We were sent this product in exchange for our honest review. We were not compensated in any other way, and all opinions are 100% our own.

American Journey Dog Food #chewyinfluencer

For Chewy this month, we are checking out American Journey grain free dog food, in the Salmon and Sweet Potato recipe. (We were given this item in exchange for our honest review. All opinions are entirely our own, and we were not compensated in any other way.)

First off, I really like the list of ingredients on this food. It is grain free, with salmon, chicken meal, and turkey meal as the first three ingredients. That means a lot of the protein in this food (32% protein) is from meat sources, rather than plant sources. The starches in the food are peas, sweet potatoes, and chickpeas.

Ptera seemed interested in this food, but not as crazy about it as other foods we have tried. She has been acting a little off after spending a week with a friend, so I'm wondering if it was just weirdness rather than not liking the food. That said, when mixed with her regular food, she happily cleaned the bowl, so it isn't as if she doesn't like the food at all. I'm planning on trying her with the food again in a week or so when her weirdness settles down a little and see what she thinks then, as her opinion may change.

With the quality in the list of ingredients, I honestly expected Ptera to be more crazy over the food than she was, which is why I am thinking it is just some kind of weirdness she is feeling right now rather than the food. And it isn't as if she didn't eat it. I would recommend trying this food to someone who was looking for a grain free food that didn't have potatoes, or just a grain free food in general. At $39.99 for a 24 lb dog, it is reasonably priced for a grain free food and wouldn't break the bank to feed regularly.