Here I am on a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise and so far I’m liking the life of cruising. I’m hanging out by the hot tubs, watching dolphins on the Lido deck while Nicholas works.
Then every night I get to find out what towel animal it is the attendant have decided to make to keep me company. I’m cuter.
They even have hot cocoa on tap 24 / 7. I’m seriously considering becoming a professional cruise mascot.
I’m going on a cruise. To Mexico. For a week. Because I can. And because I had the foresight to pack my best bear bud’s passport before we left. And because it only cost like $300 to go uber last minute.
I even got an upgraded oceanview cabin.
Hasta la vista, chicos!
Today we went hiking in rattlesnake country. We went to mission trails to hike up some trail that Nicholas normally runs instead. It was cool. I dug it. Didn’t see any promised rattlesnakes. Except dead stuffed ones in the visitors center. Not as cool.
Yes we did. My best bear bud and I spontaneously decided to pack our bags, get in the car, and drive the heck out of Eugene. South.
And now we are in San Diego.
Today we went climbing at Smith Rock National Park.
Chris set up the top rope and did the belaying.
Julia cleaned.
I also got involved. I climbed.
In fact I on-sight climbed my routes just like that. Because I’m awesome.
Chalk it off as another bonding activity between my bear bud and I.
The whole reason we were up in Bend was to celebrate Julia’s birthday.
I decided as a gift that I’d give a little luck. Even though I’m a lucky bear I wasn’t about to do all the hard work so I outsourced it.
I got her a fortune cat. From Asia.
How can you not feel lucky with a gift like that?
All I expected of my day was a little hiking action with my best bear bud. We were heading out to these lava tube caves near Bend Oregon to have a little look-see, and then we were supposed to head back to the hotel for some hot cocoa and relaxation.
First sign that things weren’t going down the way I envisioned might have been the sound of gunshots reverberating through the area as we stepped out of the car.
For normal sane beings, “sound of gunshots” might have precipitated action to evacuate said area.
Instead we walked towards the sound of guns.
Let me say that again, we walked towards the sound of guns.
We eventually ended up in front of this spot. And since the sound seemed to come from the other side of the big hole of course we went down to investigate.
On the far end of this giant pothole was a small hole. Apparently it was the entrance to a large cave. As we scrambled towards the hole we were hit in the face with a cloud of smoke. And two kids popped out of that hole (left of the picture.)
It smelled a little funky. I didn’t recognize the smell but I started feeling a little funny. My bear bud explained it was 4-2-0. Like I know what that is. It sounds like a brand of cleaner.
Anyway, the kids assured us that guns weren’t being fired in our direction, and actually it was a bunch more kids shooting from the cave out into the other side.
Finding that response satisfactory, we decided to take their word for it and crawl through the hole. Maybe it was all our commotion, or maybe it was this 4-2-0 stuff, but we got through the cave to find the gun-wielders packing up and leaving.
Next thing I know we’re driving to some new location with a waterfall and we’re hanging over the precipice.
And then I don’t remember what else. Just that I didn’t get my hot cocoa.
Experiencing Chinese New Year in two different cities wasn’t enough. So we got on a boat and went over to Macau to experience Chinese New Year there too.
First we went to a temple . It was pretty crowded. Someone photo-bombed my awesome picture.
Saving grace of the temple were these cool spiral bound incense things.
It was crowded along the interpretative walk in old-town Macau. At least there were these photo stands for kodak moments to be had.
It was crowded downtown. I guess of all places of course it’d be crowded downtown. At least no one photobombed me in front of the horses.
It was crowded on the streets with food vendors. I was tempted to elbow a few people with my paws. I resisted.
And it was pretty crowded by the ruined church. But finally I got the satisfaction of photobombing the tourists instead.
That I quite enjoyed. Onward to the casinos to try my gambling luck!
It’s still Chinese New Year and I sure heard a lot of firecrackers in Shenzhen.
But it was even better to see a Dragon Lion Dance right outside my hotel room in HK.
I even got some front row viewing.
They did flips and lit firecrackers, chewed up cabbage and spit out stuffed animal horses into the crowds.
While we’re at it, here are some World Championships:
I like Dragon Lions. Time for me to invite a spirit bear dance.
Later in the day, Nicholas went for another ride.
Yet again, I wasn’t tall enough to go so I watched him for below.
I took a video of it this time from my vantage point.
It passed some time while I waited for my bear bud.