After nine months away, we finally made it back to Pennsylvania and Aunt Cheryl’s house!

But we had some really neat stops in West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland that I have to tell you about first.

We stayed in the West Virginia Welcome Center after we left Kentucky.  It was cold again, so I still don’t know what’s going on with this weather.

We got up pretty early to head to a Harvest Host called Caring Acres Farm.

On the way, we made an unexpected stop at Hawks Nest State Park.  There were some pretty amazing look-outs there.  Mommy and daddy and me walked a short trail to a spot where we could see for miles and miles.  It was amazing!  We stopped in the gift shop before we left and I was allowed to go in!  Not only was I allowed in, but the nice clerk was telling mommy and daddy how cute I was and asked if she was allowed to give me a treat – of course she was!  She gave a couple of treats to me; I really liked her a lot!

We took a lot of winding roads up and down the mountains to get to Caring Acres.  Some of the roads were really skinny too.  Daddy had to pull the house on wheels off to the side of the road a couple times so that a car could get past us.  It was pretty crazy.

As soon as we got to the farm, the nice man named Carl gave me some really delicious homemade dog treats.  I liked them so much that I talked mommy into buying a couple more packs for me.

We were on top of a mountain there and it was really windy.  I kind of like when the wind blows through my ears sometimes, but this was crazy.  Even though it was windy, it was a really beautiful spot for us.  We could see amazing views in every direction.  It was so windy that daddy even wore a sweatshirt, beanie, and sneakers with his shorts when he took me out to go potty.  We did get to see an incredible sunset and sunrise while we were there though.

We were headed to Lake Anna State Park in Virginia for the next few days.  I was really looking forward to it.  We were there back in November of 2020 for just a day and I really liked it then.  So, when mommy and daddy told me that we were going back for three days, I was pretty excited.

We were only there three days, but we went on a bunch of hikes.  Mommy and daddy and me went on a couple and then just me and daddy went on one before we left on our last day there.  I even got to dip my toes in the water while we were there.

We went to visit mommy and daddy’s friends, Homa and Andrew after we left Lake Anna.  We hadn’t seen them since 2020 either, but daddy sends them post cards a lot.  They let me come inside their house and gave me a really big treat.  I had to work hard to get that treat down, but I was persistent and ate the whole thing!  Homa and Andrew have two dogs and they were outside when I came into the house.  I explored everywhere in that house.  It was really big, but I checked out everything.  I also wanted to make sure that those two girls could smell me when they came back in.

After we left Homa and Andrew’s house, we went to another place that we were at in 2020.  It was called the Battlefield Country Store.  It’s my favorite Harvest Host ever because the last time that we were there, we won ten pounds of bacon!  Can you believe that! Ten whole pounds of bacon!  Man, I love that place.  We didn’t win bacon this time, but we still had fun!

We went to meet Homa and Andrew again on Sunday with a bunch of their friends.  I had to stay in the house on wheels and listen to music, but that’s ok.  I got a nice nap in.

We drove on some really bumpy roads through Baltimore before staying at a Cracker Barrel for the night.

By this time, we were less than one week away from seeing Aunt Cheryl and the rest of our family.  We were staying at another place that we were at in 2020.  Bar Harbor RV Resort just outside of Aberdeen, Maryland.  This was like the 2020 redo tour or something.

It was fun there.  I didn’t get really long walks in like at Lake Anna, but we still walked about 2-1/2 miles each day through the neighborhood.  Mommy taught me all about high tide and low tide each day.  She kind of became a tide expert while we were there.  Daddy had two of his players, Collin and Mike come visit us one night.  Daddy gets so happy when his players come visit him.  I like it too because they all pet me.  I also like it because I like seeing daddy happy.

We left Bar Harbor the Friday before Mother’s Day to head back to Pennsylvania.  It rained all day.  We were going to go to the Green Dragon so that daddy could get a soft pretzel, but it was too ugly to do that.  You know the weather is bad if daddy decides not to get a soft pretzel.

So instead of Green Dragon, we went to Kelly and Greg’s house before going to do all of our laundry.  Mommy and daddy were really happy to see Kelly and Greg.  They smelled like that Rip character when they came back out to the house on wheels.  I wasn’t happy about that, even if he is a puppy.

We didn’t get down to Aunt Cheryl’s house until after 5 o’clock.  Sherry and Stephen were coming to pick mommy and daddy up to take them up to Jimmy’s house for a birthday party for James.  I was going to stay with Aunt Cheryl to take care of her.

Aunt Cheryl had treatment for her yucky disease called cancer the day that we got to her house.  When we walked in, she was already in bed, pretty wiped out.  I jumped up on her bed to let her know that I love her and that really surprised her and mommy and daddy.  Sometimes they think that I’m too old to do that sort of stuff, but I can if I really want to.  And I definitely wanted to let Aunt Cheryl know that I loved her because I knew that she didn’t feel well.

Over the next couple of days, mommy and daddy got to see a bunch of people in our family.  They went to the party at Jimmy’s house and saw Stephen, and Sherry, and Alex, and Erin, and Junior, and Lizze, and Jimmy, and Val, and Austin, and of course James, the birthday boy.  Whew, that was a lot of people!  They also saw Buddy – blah, blah, blah.  I don’t like when they visit other dogs because I want mommy and daddy all for myself, but it is what it is, I guess.

They went to visit Mom-Mom on Saturday.

Then on Sunday, they went to breakfast and saw Uncle Donnie, and Aunt Kathy, and Donnie, and Erin, and Pop-Pop.  After breakfast, they went to BJ’s Wholesale Club to go shopping and saw Daniel, he’s my daddy’s nephew who Uncle Donnie named after my daddy.  Daddy also saw one of his old players while he was getting gas at BJ’s, Eli and his daddy, Victor.  Wow, so many people!

Aunt Cheryl brought bacon back from breakfast for me too!  What a gal!

But we weren’t done with visits yet!  Kelly and Greg came over to Aunt Cheryl’s house later on Sunday to be with mommy for Mother’s Day.  I got to hang out with them while daddy made burgers on the grill.  I made sure to rub up against them so that Rip would know that they were with me once they got home.

The next weekend, Rebecca, and Julian, and Stephanie, and Lillian, and Matthew, and Steve all came to visit too!  It was a lot of fun and people did share quite a bit of food with me.

Me and daddy have taken a lot of long walks through the neighborhood since we’ve been at Aunt Cheryl’s house too.  We’re even going to go down and hike the Exeter River Trail one day soon.  I can’t wait for that!

I’ve had a lot of fun and a lot of visitors since we’ve been at Aunt Cheryl’s house.

It also makes me sad sometimes too though.  I know that Aunt Cheryl is in a lot of pain.  I hate that cancer thing that she has and I wish that I could take all of her pain away for her.  Some days she sleeps even more than I do, so that’s a lot.  But even though she’s in a lot of pain, she is still always looking out for everyone else.  Like she bought a bunch of bacon for me but wasn’t able to have it cooked up for me by the time that we got here.  So, she made sure that mommy cooked that bacon once we got here.  She also kept reminding mommy that daddy was running low on cereal and that she needed to get some the next time that she went to the store.  Isn’t that the epitome of a special person?  Someone who no matter what they’re going through is still thinking about taking care of others.  Aunt Cheryl is really special.

Aunt Cheryl asked daddy to cut her hair for her the other day because it was starting to fall out again.  Daddy gave her the same type of haircut that he has.  Even though they have the same haircut now, I can still tell them apart because daddy has a beard.

Mommy is doing a lot to take care of Aunt Cheryl now and help her.  It’s my job to help make everyone smile even though I know that they might be sad.  I definitely have to make sure that mommy pets me a lot even if means I have to be a little overbearing.  I know what she needs.

When there’s a whole group of people here, I am on duty!  No naps for me at those times.  It’s my job to work the room and let anyone who is feeling a little down pet me.  Sometimes if petting me doesn’t make them feel better, I suggest that perhaps if they gave me a treat or a piece of their sandwich, they would feel better.  I sure know that I feel better after that, so why wouldn’t they feel better too?

We’re going to be at Aunt Cheryl’s house for the whole summer now, but we’re just taking it one day at a time.