Since we moved to North Carolina in April, this was the first year that we had to travel more than an hour’s drive for Christmas. My parents and sister live in Maryland, so Zara, Chris, and I drove up to Maryland on Christmas Eve and returned on December 28th.
Thankfully, Zara is a good traveler. As long as she’s had some exercise beforehand, she’s great in the car. We put her cave bed in the backseat and she sleeps most of the way. She is also adaptable and flexible when it comes to being in new places. We stayed at my parents’ house for two nights and then drove to DC to stay in a hotel for two nights. Even though Zara had never been to the hotel before, she was very well-behaved and we were able to leave her alone in the room on both nights to go out to dinner.
On Christmas day, Zara was very hyper because she got multiple new toys. She spent most of the morning and afternoon obnoxiously squeaking her toys and running around my parents’ house, dropping the toys on people’s laps and demanding that people play fetch with her. She finally crashed on the couch at about 4:30pm.
Zara loves photos.
Zara as a babushka.
The day after Christmas, Chris, Zara, and I headed to Washington, DC to visit some friends. We went to visit our friends Erin, Dave, their new baby, and their dog, Jax. Zara and Jax chased each other around for a little while. Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of them. After that, Zara and I met up with some of our vizsla friends and went on a hike in Rock Creek Park.
Piper (green collar) and Zara.
After the playdate with Jax and the hike, Zara was content to sleep on the hotel bed while we went out to dinner. We stayed at the Donovan Hotel in downtown DC, which is a Kimpton hotel. All Kimpton hotels are dog-friendly and they don’t charge a pet fee at all! They were very welcoming to Zara and I would definitely stay there again.
Zara enjoys the king size bed at the hotel.
On Tuesday morning, Zara and I met up with another vizsla friend, Saoirse and her owner Audrey. Then Zara went to daycare at Vizsland for the day. It was a day full of vizsla friends!
Saoirse, on left, and Zara during a stand off.
All in all, we had a good Christmas and it was good to get away for a few days. Now that we’re back home, we’re looking forward to the fun things that 2017 will bring.
Zara enjoying her new dragon and spider toys at home.
