Part I: Double WOW!!

Early this morning, mum stuffed a couple of bags into MY SunshadeMOBILE, and put STINKY in the back seat of MY SunshadeMOBILE with ME.....


Look at how pleased I was about sharing MY backseat of MY SunshadeMOBILE with STINKY!


I asked mum why in the world would we wake up at 6 on a cold Sunday morning and be piled into the car??

Well my EVIL mum didn't exactly tell me why. She said we were going to Bellingham, Washington, in the USA. She also said we needed to be in Bellingham by 9:30 am, and since she wasn't sure how long the wait at the border was gonna be, we had to leave early.

STINKY and I only got a short walk at the park before we headed for the border. It usually only takes about an hour and twenty minutes to get from our house to Bellingham excluding wait time at the border.

Of course, when we got to the border, there was only a 15 min wait, not 2 hours!!! We could have slept for an extra two hours or played in the park for two hours! But NOOOOOO mum said we had to go at 6 AM!!!

Anywayz.. once we got over the border, and were doing ok time wise, mum kinda made it up to us.

We stopped at Burger King to get breakie. Even tho both STINKY and I had already had our breakfast, we still got some hash browns. I was pleased because I TOTALLY deserved it having to share MY backseat with STINKY on this mystery trip!


After the hoomans had their breakie, they drove a little bit, and stopped at a beach to take us for a walkie!


I couldn't go offleash because there was a sign by the water that says the water there was polluted by chemicals dues to the factories around.... BUMMER! I still took a minute to do some Aire-Zening tho,


I always find time to recharge my powerful Aire-Zens!

We drove a little more after our walk to a place called Squalicum Harbor. There, mum delivered two shocking announcements:

SHOCKER # 1

She told me we were going to meet ANOTHER one of my nephew (not STINKY since he came with us...). I didn't know what to think when mum told me the news. Let me refresh your memory, the last THREE times we were in the US, each time, a new STINKY came back with us.

Need to refresh your memory??

• STINKY (mum: brought 8 week old nephew Jaffa home)

• stinky (mum: brought 12 week old niece Maggie back for new owner)

• STINKY # 2 (mum: brought 6 month old Stella back)

So when mum said ANOTHER nephew, I thought ohhhh grrrrreat.... for sure I was coming back with yet another stinky!

HOWEVER...


the MOMENT I saw him..... MY other nephew...


All my worries were gone!


Not only did he NOT land shark me, he had my kind of coat and looked so much like me!!! Meet my SuperCUTE nephew Rusty - The Navigator,


Have you notice how similar Rusty's colouring is to me?? That's because he and I have sheep coats, whereas STINKY and STINKY # 2 (brother and sister from the same litter to Rusty) have the rich black and tan wiry coat. It must be a recessive gene since my brother Harry (sire) and the dam both had the blk/tan wiry coats.

Here are pictures of ME - the SuperDALE when I was around Rusty's age or a little younger. See my dark ears, and ALL THAT fluffy coat!!




(mum: I swear my heart skipped a beat the moment I saw Rusty. I had not met another sheep coated Airedale in real life until Rusty. He reminded me so much of Sunshade when she was younger, too cute for words!

Even tho a sheep coat is not the desirable coat for an Airedale according to the standard, I gotta admit I personally LOOOOOOVE IT!!)

Technically, Rusty is still young enough to be called STINKY #3, but really, I just couldn't call him that. In fact, I thought he was quite STEAMY!! Mum thought so too I'm pretty sure as she seemed *more* excited than I was....shhhh.... I know, it's embarrassing (but you're all used to it by now right?)..

STINKY of course had to come in interrupt my flirt session with Rusty..HMMMPH! (mum: he's your NEPHEW!!)


SIGH.... the one nephew I actually wanted to bring home, I couldn't......

BECAUSE......

Well, here it is......

SHOCKER #2

Rusty couldn't come home with me because he is the "NAVIGATOR" for The Island Caper - a 110 foot long and 22 foot wide cruise ship!


Rusty's dad is Captain Terry, but guess who sits in the Captain's seat???


A nephew after my own heart!

Oh, and I almost forgot, Rusty's full name is Rusty VII, because he is Captain Terry's 7th Airedale named Rusty!! Does that tell you how addictive Airedales are??

Captain Terry owns the Island Mariner Cruises company, and he takes hoomans out to sea WHALE watching!!

WELL GUESS WHAT??

Captain Terry graciously invited us, YES... ALL of US to go on his last voyage of the season so we could see some WHALES!!!

How coooooool was that??? I was soooooo super duper excited, I thought I might get to see Willy from Free Willy you know??

(take a CLOSE look at this poster)


Unfortunately, mum told me Willy died in 2003.... but she said we might see his cousins! I was so excited, I couldn't wait to get on the cruise boat! You know how I LOVE ferries and boats right??


I think Rusty haD the hots for me too! Look at him staring at my MUSCLE BUTT! (mum: Once again, he's your NEPHEW!!!)

Going ON BOARD The Island Caper!!


Made my round around the deck because I'm a curious gurrrl!


I even went up those super steep, no backing stairs to check out the top deck. STINKY wasn't too sure about those stairs, so he didn't come with us. (mum: I wasn't too sure about those stairs either, but YOU wanted to go up to SEE!!)


This is the top deck where people stand to watch the whales,


STINKY and I watched as the boat pulled away from the harbour,


It was a gloomy day and somewhat windy. As the boat was pulling out, we could feel mists of ocean water against our faces. Watch STINKY's attempt to swim with the WHALES at the end of the video....

HOUR 1 on the Caper:

I stayed on the outside deck to enjoy the scenery of the peaceful sea,


I saw a BIG cargo ship,


My grandpa is a Harbour Pilot for Kaohsiung Harbour - the 6th ranking International Container Terminal in the world (was 3rd...). Before grandpa was licensed to be a harbour pilot, he was Captain for BIG cargo ships like this.

When mum was about three years old, grandpa took mum on one of his cargo runs. It was a three months voyage, and mum had the GREATEST time. Not only did she walk the First Mate on leash (rope around neck, crawling on all four) on a regular basis, she peed in the toilet of a brand new yacht that was to be delivered (pretended she just wanted to "see" the inside), and somehow manage to SHUT DOWN THE ENTIRE SHIP (a 50 000 ton ship) - which meant EVERYTHING (coordinates, etc) had to reprogrammed.

There was a very important master button on the control deck, and grandpa made sure he told mum "you can touch anything, just DON'T touch this button ok?" Mum said OK... looking innocently... and the next day, that was the button she pressed!!! She wasn't tall enough to reach the button, so she rolled a chair over, climbed onto the chair, JUST to press that button!!

Boy did grandpa learn his lesson - if you don't want mum to do something, don't tell her DON'T! Grandpa never got mad at mum tho, he's just too gentle that way.

Now do you see WHY mum gets along with Airedales so well??? She IS an Airedale!!! Actually, she was worse than an Airedale pup when she was a STINKY hooman pup. Now that she's older, she has calmed down somewhat, but still has her moments.

(mum: can I talk to you for a moment Sunshade??)

*comes back looking all abused....* (mum: YEAH RIGHT!!!!)

Sticking to my post....

Sucking in the salty ocean breeze,


I posed,


And posed with STINKY,


We waited,


But no signs of WHALES....

Rusty came to say HI. He was with Captain Terry in the control cabin most of the time.



HOUR 2 on the Caper:

We moved inside the Caper since the humid ocean breeze was getting too much for mum,


This is what the inside of the Caper looks like,



I was a good gurrrrl. I behaved calmly unlike someSTINK else,


STINKY wanted to say HI to every passerby, and whomever attempted to pet him got some land sharking. I ignored all the people I didn't know, because, well, that's just me.

Still no signs of any WHALES.......

So I had a snooze,


Captain Terry came down to visit us. Look at what he brought us!!! A plate of Rusty's hot dog treats!!!


That woke me right up!! STINKY was very busy land sharking Captain Terry's chest and chin and face and hand and arms, but Captain Terry didn't seem to mind one bit. I don't understand!!


HOUR 3 on the Caper:

I woke up from my nap, so it was time to eat again. Mum brought STINKY and I each a chewy.


I got a tendon chewy and it was super good!


After I finished my chewy, mum took me for a walk around the outside deck,


I couldn't help it, I was just drawn towards the captain's cabin....


Ohhhh my cute little nephew!!


I think he LOVED me too! Just look at him doing play bows!! He liked me more than he liked STINKY for sure!

What a funny guy my nephew is!



HOUR 4 on the Caper:

FINALLY! We heard from the announcer that there seemed to be some WHALE activities!!! So.... we all headed to the outside deck,


At first, I was a little disappointed, because I didn't see no whales! But sharks?? OH YES.....


Mum told us to not get frustrated, she said to keep our eyes open for any movement in the water,


I did as I was told, I remained calm and waited patiently,


I made sure I covered all angles,


In case the WHALES decided to pop up from the other side,


This was me waiting,

HOUR 5 on the Caper:

The Caper sailed into Canadian waters, and we started seeing other WHALE watching boats. Look at this one, it's from my hometown, Victoria, BC!!


When you see other WHALE watching boats, you know the WHALES are close by!!


AND THEN!

I saw something stick out from below the water,


I SAW THEM!! I SAW THEM!!


Waaaaaaay toooooooo COOOOOOOOOOL!!!


I couldn't take my eyes off them!!!


STINKY was too busy socializing with the hoomans, he paid no attention to the activities in the water.


I was fascinated by the WHALES! Even when I got tired standing, I still made sure I got a good view of them,


(mum: this girl was so focused and intriqued. We were out there for about an hour or an hour and a half. She didn't take her eyes off the whales once they started surfacing.)

Here are some photos we took of the WHALES, (click on photos to enlarge)






HOUR 6-7 on the Caper:

We started our voyage back to Squalicum Harbor. I was exhausted from WHALE watching, I slept most of the way back.



HOUR 8 on the Caper:

We reached Squalicum Harbor. Here I was watching as the Caper pulled in,


Both STINKY and I were anxious to get off. I mean it was fun, but 8 hours was quite enough thank you!

Waiting to get off the boat,


So I survived the WHALES, no attacks. I, however, got many shark attacks......


Going up the ramp onto LAND!


What was the first thing I did?? Well THIS of course!


Both STINKY and I held our pee pee for 8 hours, so yes, we both had to go.

Captain Terry and his crew were extremely pleased with the way STINKY and I behaved, and Captain Terry welcomed us on his cruise boat anytime!

THANK YOU Captain Terry for this wonderful, once in a life time experience!! Now can Rusty come and live with me??

Since we were stuck on the Caper all day, Captain Terry invited us to his lake house for a romp!

A LAKE HOUSE???

How lucky is that Rusty anyway??

Our play at the lake house is coming up.