Made it to Seattle! Sunny and a near perfect 65 degrees. The first night I settle on staying in Georgetown, a artsy/grungy hood. It sucks for finding a place to pee, though. I also felt a little extra vigilant through the night. However, it was nice to sit in a bar in the afternoon [the first bar I had been into since starting the trip---one of my rules for safety is to not hang out in any drinking establishments at night].
The next day, I hung out in All City Cafe, looking for dog parks, museums and restaurants. I relocated to Alki Beach that night for sleeping. What a great area! Plenty of parking, plenty of shops within walking distance of the van and oh-so-much beach time for the pupperoni. I found a Starbucks, which I'd normally avoid based on principals, but it's turned into my best friend for working on my laptop [whose battery never lasts more than 5 minutes at this point] and charging my phone. I also washed my hair in their sink [sorry, Starbucks patrons, I was getting desperate].
I met a lot of friendly folks in Seattle....it seems to be a very dog-friendly place. I spent a week there, mostly on the beach watching people and eating. I only went into town once...and that was to the vet. Millie ended up getting worms. Bleck. Props to the awesome staff at Urban Animal! After driving in that mess, I had no interest in going back.
There are definitely some drawbacks to traveling with a dog. Before adopting Millie, I sat on the pros and cons for a long, long, LONG time. Concerns include temperatures in the car [whether too hot or too cold], you can't take dogs on buses or trains [which limits what you can do in a city], a lot of parks and beaches do not allow dogs, a lot of motels do not, either [should your van need to go into the shop overnight], your dog getting stolen if you do go into a restaurant/laundromat/grocery store/etc, exposure to sick or aggressive dogs that might require a trip to the vet [bites, worms, fleas]. Not to mention you can't be MIA all day or night. And with a pointer, you also need to make sure they get their exercise before they explode with pent-up energy. Despite all this, I so very happy to have Millie in my life. Her companionship has made this trip more satisfying than it could have been otherwise. She helps make me feel safe and makes me laugh pretty much every day.
On that note, I would have stayed longer except it was July 4th and I didn't want Millie to endure a frightening hour of explosions. And so we headed to Cape Disappointment on the southern most tip of Washington. NOTE: next time, we will go to San Juan Islands.
