Edy's Desert Adventure

Our older son lives in Tucson, so this Christmas break we took our younger son with us for his first trip to Tucson to see his Brother's home and current home town. For this trip we decided to drive from Dallas to Tucson to save some money on expensive flights for that time of year, plus we had a ton of luggage, and we were taking the dog with us. This was also Edy's (our dog) first trip to the desert.

We could not fit one more thing in this trunk. You cannot even see the two suitcases and presents in the back. Not to mention the backseat.

We ran into our first snag of the trip when we went to pick up the rental car at the airport and they were all out of SUVs. We ended up with a Chevy Impala that had a huge trunk. We not only had the dog cage, piece of artificial grass (explanation later), and our luggage to pack, we also had Christmas presents for our son that he could not fit in his luggage when he flew home after Christmas. We also had Son's Fiancee's presents since she could not come to Texas this year because of the inclement weather, and she was also feeling under the weather! Sorry couldn't resist.

This was Edy on the trip to Tucson. I think her head is buried under the blanket to hide the stinky gas smell in Midland and Odessa. Then there was the bovine flatulence smell in El Paso. Stinky! 

After we were all packed and ready to roll, we put Edy in her car seat and did not hear from her until we stopped for gas. This dog is the worlds best traveler. You have to wake her up after hours in the car and make her go do her "business". She would have slept and held it the whole 13 1/2 hours. She does like to wake up and bark at whomever is pumping the gas, but that is just about the only time you hear from her.

Edy's official potty grass. We had to use rocks to hold it down due to the wind.

We took a trip to Lowes before we left for Tucson, and bought a large section of artificial grass carpet so Edy could feel like she had grass under her feet .When we arrived in Tucson the first thing we did was put the artificial grass down in the back "yard". You may think that is not a big deal until you realize there is very little grass in the desert and all the "lawns" are rocks. A small dog that has always had a lawn in which to do her "business" may not adjust too well to the change in their bathroom environment. Oy, the things we do for this dog.

If you look way far in the back of the yard you will see our little adventurer Miss Edy. 

The first few times out she went straight on the turf and did not venture out on the rocks. Then after a few days she started venturing farther and farther out into the "yard". The rocks are pretty large for her little paws, so she would walk very slowly and as slow as this dog is naturally it was more of a snails pace on the rocks. Edy would end up wetting on the turf and dumping in the rocks. Makes no sense at all to me, but that was now her desert routine every day.

This dog loves to lay beside us on the couch.

My Son's sweet dog Dahlia went to spend the week with our future daughter in laws grandparents while we were there visiting. Their dog is a lab mix and a bit nervous so, Edy and the extra adults seemed to stress her out, so it was just easier on her to go someplace quiet. Their dog is not allowed on the furniture, but since Dahlia was not home to to see, Edy was allowed to sit on the couch with everyone. Which was pretty much every night. This dog is so spoiled!

This was pretty much Edy's position for 13 1/3 hours on the trip back to Dallas.

We had a great visit and on the ride home Miss Edy slept the whole trip back. I really think this dog is actually part Koala!