So this is how it's going to be.

Today, we started our small auxiliary vacation.  We had planned to have a large main vacation, which included a visit to Yellowstone National Park, Mt. Rushmore, Badlands National Park and points in between.  However, that was before Pogo, our main dog, decided to have a benign adenoma that pushed her right eye out of its socket and made her look like a bug-eyed goldfish, at least on her right side.

Now, we love Pogo, and we tried to ignore her growth. One never wants to think the worst about one's main dog (although we often think the worst about Lulu, our small auxiliary dog). Eventually, however, we were forced to admit that Pogo's growth was something we could no longer ignore, when our veterinarian said, "Oh, my! I think Pogo needs to go to the veterinary college in a distant city." Now, you understand, he didn't mean that she should become a veterinarian.  He had more in mind for her to be a patient.

So, we took Pogo to the veterinary college, where the doctors salivated profusely upon seeing a dog who looked like a bug-eyed goldfish. They recommended she have advanced imaging, called a CAT scan, which of course confused us because she is a DOG. At any rate, because we wanted her to succeed in veterinary school, we agreed that she should have a CAT  scan.  Once the CAT scan was complete, the doctors, who had wiped the saliva from their chins, recommended that Pogo have an incisional biopsy. Well, since we were already into this thing for several gazillion dollars, we figured, what the heck., let's go for the incisional biopsy (even though she had had two previous needle biopsies.)

Well, the result of the biopsy was, and I quote, "We don't know what the heck this thing is, but we don't think it is a bad thing." That's because they (the salivating doctors) were not on the paying end of the bill, but rather, in that way that doctors have of being, they were on the receiving end of the bill. And of course, then they went on to say, "But we think it needs to be removed by expensive surgery."

And that is why we are taking this small auxiliary vacation, instead of the large main vacation that we had planned for months on end. Now, I am not one to complain, and I can tell you that so far (12 hours into it) this small auxiliary vacation is shaping up just fine. We have parked Sadie at The Waterfront at Potlatch, one of our favorite RV parks on Hood Canal, WA.  Six years ago, when we were staying in this very space, in this very RV park, we met Kim and Pat, a couple of RVers in the next space over. They live nearby, so we told them we were going to be here, and they agreed to come and visit us, while we are staying here.

True to their word, Kim and Pat showed up with potato salad and a nice bottle of wine. We had a lovely time reminiscing and catching up on our respective family and life developments. The evening crescendoed with a dinner of grilled, bacon-wrapped filet mignon and grilled asparagus to accompany the potato salad and wine, consumed al fresco, by the shores of Hood Canal.

Now I ask you: has a main vacation ever been any more pleasant than this small auxiliary vacation? Yeah! Ponder that one for a while.