Voy a ser pasado otro año.

I made it to my third country in less than a year. I've been all over the west coast of the U.S and Canada. Now I can scratch Mexico off of my list! I headed down to Puerto Vallarta and spent some time with a few friends. Our room was great and had a perfect view of the ocean. I'm just glad it wasn't breezy or this could have been my last picture!


I planned on doing nothing but laying on the beach but it was so hot I started to smell wood burning. I did stop and get my picture taken with a few sand sculptures though. I had to pause for a moment and try to figure out what was going on in this first one.


I couldn't go to Mexico without checking out some local tequila. This store had so much it made my head spin. I did a lot of label reading and talking with the store keeper. After taking a few sample shots I bought a bottle and headed back to the room.


Once I had a good buzz I headed back out and got a few more pictures taken. I even met another local when I went to use the bathroom. I paid the 5 peso cover charge and headed in. I had never paid to use a bathroom before so I thought there might be dancing or women inside. No luck. Just urinal cakes and drunk tourists.





I had a fun trip and a great year overall. I contacted my owner and he said it would be ok if I spent a little more time doing the tourist thing. I figured there were a lot more places I could go if I said gone a little longer. I look forward to hitching rides and finding out where my travels will take me. I hope we all have a good 2009!

The holidays are here again so I thought I'd remind everyone to give blood.  Not only do you help out a total stranger but you also feel light headed afterward!

Cascade Regional Blood Services

Are Big and Bright

I'm back from the lone star state and figure I've recovered enough to get an update up. Talk about a trip. I made it to Texas Stadium, Texas Motor Speedway, NASA and a lot of other places I never thought I'd get to see. There are so many pictures I made a slide show of the trip, but I wanted to make sure I posted some pictures of people we ran into that were willing to pose with a nutcracker on vacation.

We ended up with a flat tire and I wasn't very much help. My traveling companions complained a little bit when they found out I didn't know how to change a tire. I might not do that well with lug nuts but I'm great with walnuts. Luckily we found a couple of guys at Kwik Kar to help us out. They look like they've never seen a stranded nutcracker before!


With our patched up tire we hit the road and headed for Texas Motor Speedway. We thought we'd take some pictures out front and keep on driving but the friendly people at the track spent some time showing us around. If it weren't for them I'd never had a chance to stand in victory lane.


We all built up an appetite walking around the track so we climbed back in the truck and headed for Sonic Drive-In. A burger and cherry limeade later we were good to go. Thanks to Brittany for posing for a picture!


A trip to Texas wouldn't be complete without stopping at The Big Texan Steak Ranch. I was going to try and conquer the 72 ounce steak but figured that wouldn't be a good idea. That thing weighed more than I do! While I might not have wanted to eat one I didn't pass up the opportunity to pose for a picture with one. My little wooden brain couldn't remember her name...but I wanted to thank her for the picture anyway!


Now it's time for my video showing all the other places we went. Thanks again to the friends who let me tag along. Keep checking for updates....I might be headed somewhere else really soon!

The Stars At Night......

It's been a while but I hit the road for an out of state vacation. I'm still not home yet so I'll post more when I make it back!

I stopped by to visit but......

I was nearby so I decided to stop by to see my owner. I haven't seen him for 8 months and was wondering how he was doing. It doesn't look like much has changed since I was here last.



I stopped by staff dining to see if he was there but the place was empty. I talked to the only person there but he said he was too busy trying to figure out why he was still wearing a Santa Claus costume.



I was thirsty so I decided to buy myself a coke. I was just about to put my money in when I realized that there were free ones stacked up right next to the machine.



The only other place I could think of looking for my owner was the locker room. He wasn't there either so I hung out for a while and decided I'd at least get a picture for my blog.



Oh well. Better luck next time. At least he'll know I was thinking about him.

The Squirrel Hunter

I got a call from a friend who was having some trouble with someone stealing his walnuts. Being a nutcracker I can't stand nut thieves. I expected to hear about some pesky kids stealing bags of walnuts and hoarding them for wild weekend parties. It was even worse. Squirrels were sneaking into his backyard and taking them one nut at a time.

After some serious planning I set up my trap and waited....and waited.....and waited.


I saw movement and watched as a little brown squirrel made it's way across the yard and over to my trap. Luckily his brain was smaller than the nuts it was hunting. Without thinking twice it walked into the cage and the door slammed shut behind it. Like a big game hunter I posed next to my prize.



I hopped in the car with my friend and headed out to the woods. We pulled over at a place that looked like any squirrel would be proud to call home. We opened the door and the one time walnut thief ran into the woods to live out the rest of it's life. (Due to my friends lack of yard space for PETA picketers this portion of the story has been edited. Actual events my have differed.)

We went back to his house and I looked across the neighborhood. There were a lot more squirrels out there waiting to steal my friends nuts. I do know one thing. It won't happen on my watch.

Whidbey Island NAS

I couldn't think of a better way to spend Independence Day then touring Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. I hitched a ride with a friend and his family and made the drive up to Whidbey Island.

On the way through Anacortes we found a police car that I insisted on getting my photo taken with.



Next we stopped to take a look at one of the better views I've seen in Washington so far. My brother and I posed for a picture but we were both pretty nervous about falling off the edge.


Our final stop was at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. We both had a great time touring planes and looking around the base. I took some of our photos and made a slide show for everyone to see. We had other pictures but they were of highly sensitive topics. I could show you those too....but then I would have to kill you.