on our drive from oregon to michigan, atlas and i stopped in north dakota for a day to visit my sister and brother-in-law and little savannah.

we went to the theodore roosevelt national park for a hike and a picnic. isn’t it gorgeous! i love the hills and the valleys and the different shades of green and yellow. it reminds me of the badlands of south dakota, which makes sense, because i think these are considered the badlands of north dakota.

if i were a giant, i would pretend the hills were rocks and the valleys were a river and that i had to get across the river on the rocks without falling in.

the bison was standing by the guardrail when we drove by. i’m pretty sure he wanted to say hello because he stood there so nicely while i took photos. (if you were here, i’d have you watch me flip back and forth through the other photos i have of him because you can see his eyes opening and closing.) (and in case you are like me and are wondering how you can tell the difference between a bison and a buffalo, apparently buffalo have longer horns and are only found in africa and south asia.)

it was beyond wonderful to see savannah again. she took atlas for a walk (with my help) and ordered him around (not that he listened). it was pretty cute. after our picnic, she wanted me to take pictures of her. she ran to a spot above the river, stood still for a moment, ran back to me, looked at the picture and said, “a cute one!!!” she repeated this over and over and over. she was a delightful change from my usual and not-so-agreeable photo subject atlas.

I take my phone and head out for a walk around the lake with the pup.

The air is cool. The wind is high. The sun is radiant.

The pup runs back and forth on the trail. He follows his nose into the woods here, up a hill there. Every so often, he comes to check on me. Every so often, he makes his way to the water for a long cool drink.

I see red, orange, yellow, green, brown. I hear a plop-plop-plop as turtles flop from their perch – tree roots that extend out into the water – into the lake. I smell autumn (I never know how to describe the smell of autumn, but the woods in autumn have their own particular smell). I taste the bitter-sweet flavor of vinegar-honey-water (my occasional breakfast drink) on my tongue. I feel the wild liveliness inspired by the chill and the trees as well as the playful curiosity that my camera inspires.

While I mean to walk around the lake, I find myself mesmerized by the leaves.

I sit or stand in front of first one tree, then another, then another. Watching, with camera and eye, the brisk lively dance of the leaves, the pause between each movement an adagio. Watching, with camera and eye, the play of the light as it sparkles and shimmers through the trees.

It is almost like nature is having one last glorious hurrah before the onset of winter.

As I sit, watching the leaves blow to and fro, I find myself wondering if the purpose of photography, of art, of any practice, is this: to slow us down enough to to see something, to really see something, like we are seeing it for the very first time; and to remind us that life is a collection of moments, and what seems like one small moment can be a glorious and exquisite gift.

Atlas is so happy here. Weimaraners were bred for hunting, so I imagine that for him, it’s like his essential nature gets to really come out and play. Finally. All his life, most of his walks have been on-leash. Now, the balance has shifted. He is a happy explorer and happy hunter and there are so many wild smells for him to smell. I could watch him all day.

Atlas does not, however, love campfires. This past weekend, we had a campfire, with s’mores and ghost stories. Where was Atlas, you might ask? In the car. He spent so much time hiding behind the picnic table that I finally opened the car door and let him in. We’ve been camping before, so I am not entirely sure what changed, but I am guessing it’s the smoke. I’ve had a few kitchen fiascos since our last camping expedition. Whenever Atlas caught a whiff of smoke, he would vanish upstairs and remain there until the smoke was long-gone.

Every time I leave Atlas with my mother, I come back to find that she has made him one happy happy dog while I was away. One time, she made him a pancake. Another time, it was a sausage. Another time, it was a pork chop. If it weren’t for the fact that I have fed him regularly for ten years – I am a proven food source – I think he might trade me in for this new model.

Atlas and Kia are still negotiating their relationship, but progress has definitely been made. At first, there was much hissing and hiding. Now, puppy and kitty can walk past each other, there is the occasional sniff, and once in a while, Kia will even tease Atlas. Kia is definitely the boss. Once, she was napping on the living room floor. Atlas walked in, laid on the floor near her, and jumped up almost instantly and walked away – it looked like he was so overwhelmed with nervous excitement that he couldn’t handle it.

Atlas has the wild, the kitty, meat, and a whole lot of love. In his world, all is well.

people, atlas here.

we went on a new walk! we walked down the road a little ways and i found a trail around some water.

i ran up and down the trail and then i ran up and down some hills and then i went in the water to get a drink and then i smelled all the smells.

and then we went on the walk again in the afternoon and helen came. i like helen.

i would just like to say that people are weird. elizabeth and helen did not run up and down the trails and up and down the hills and they did not go in the water and smell all the smells. they had their cameras.

cameras. pfffffffft.

clearly dogs are much smarter than people.

oh! i saw a fox on the way home!

it was the best day ever.

(also, i have a farm! with deer and bears and rabbits! and then i have another farm! with coyote and porcupines! every dog should have a farm. they are the best thing ever.)

by the way, i am sharing lots of stories and photos about my daily adventures on my facebook page. you should come visit.

i drove through coeur d’alene in the early morning. the lake was perfectly still and a glassy black, in a way that made the water look solid instead of liquid, like you could walk on it.

i don’t know why i didn’t take any pictures of idaho and western montana. they were both gorgeous. the hills and mountains were clustered thickly with evergreens that cascaded down to the water and there was often a crystal clear river on one side of me.

that second day, there was a lot of driving.

i stopped for gas in montana and found an interesting coffee concoction with strawberry and almond.

i stopped again at a rest stop in montana and found a way to get to the water so i could take a few pictures, though i was a little sorry i did so when atlas walked happily into the river and splashed about and then i had to put a wet dog in the car with me. that was also the rest stop where a man was walking his bengal cat on a leash back and forth in front of our car, and atlas was trying desperately to convince me to let him out so he could say hello.

montana is a very long state.

to break up my drive, i stopped in bozeman, since it has always been on my short list of places i think i could live.

unfortunately, the day was hotter than i anticipated, even though it was late in the day, and atlas looked miserable while walking and couldn’t stay in the car, so we wandered the main street for a short while and then continued on again.

it worked out well, since another storm had been following us, and it caught up to us a short while down the road, in livingston. i stopped at a tiny rest stop to wait out the rain, and entertained myself by taking pictures.

we drove until it was dark, and then stopped at a rest stop to sleep for a few hours.

i got out a treat for atlas and peanut butter and crackers for me. atlas likes to eat his treats on the grass, and i was afraid to let his leash go, so i found a picnic bench by the road where there was a patch of grass right next to it.

i was sitting on the bench when my eye was caught by a two foot long snake that was wriggling its way toward me on the asphalt. it was very close. poor atlas did not get to finish his treat that night. we both went in the car immediately.

i used to be deathly afraid of snakes, and i cured it, but i am still not entirely comfortable around them when i am not sure whether they are poisonous or not. i will confess that my sleep that night was not entirely restful. i could not help wondering whether snakes could crawl up the side of a car and through an open window and that is not really the sort of thought that helps one fall asleep.

we left oregon last thursday morning.

after making one last run to the storage unit, i began to put everything else into the car. (when i saw the piles on my living room floor, i was worried i had over-estimated my car’s capacity, but everything fit nicely, with the exception of atlas’s giant dog crate.)

usually, when i am making multiple trips back and forth, atlas wanders back and forth with me, or else he explores the bushes behind the apartment. this time, he walked out with me, then he stood like a statue next to the car, his eyes fixed upon me. many many trips later, he still hadn’t moved.

part-way through, i brought all my pillows and blankets out to the car to make a comfy bed for atlas. i arranged everything nicely, then i asked him to get in and test it for me, so i could see if it needed any adjustments. he jumped up onto his bed and then he refused to get out. his face clearly said, “i am not leaving this car. you might forget me.” it was pretty cute. he never did get out. instead, he enjoyed his bed while i finished packing.

when i left, i was exhausted and excited and had pickle juice on my feet.

there must have been a jar of pickle juice in the garbage with a lid that was ajar because when i carried the last bag of garbage to the trash bin, pickle juice began to drip onto my toes and then the bag broke and everything spilled onto the ground. i had already locked the apartment for the last time, so i improvised and cleaned my sandals and feet with a jug of water and a towel that i pulled back out of the trash bin.

that first day, there was a lot of driving, and the drive was uneventful.

we stopped at multnomah falls so i could say a proper photographic goodbye to my beloved portland/oregon.

we stopped again at a rest stop in eastern oregon, where i found some lovely weeds along a fence line and atlas found a snake draped on a fence post.

we stopped again in cornell, washington, to meet a bloggy friend for dinner. we took subs to a park and ate them there, a few wasps as our companions, so atlas could lie on the grass and eat a treat.

after dinner, we raced a storm all the way to spokane.

the sky was black behind us, thunder crashed overhead, and lightning split the sky in front of us.

my general plan for the trip was to either camp for the night or stop at a rest stop for a few hours of sleep.

we couldn’t camp that first night because there were flash flood warnings in effect. i stopped at a rest stop near coeur d’alene to sleep for a bit, but the storm caught up with us and the rain was so heavy that i couldn’t leave the windows open. atlas kept panting, so i got back on the road, thinking i’d drive to the next rest stop and see if we left the storm behind.

it was raining so hard that i didn’t feel safe driving, so i took the very next exit.

guess what we found there?

the first thing we found was a hotel that allowed dogs. not only that, when i went inside, there was a picture of a weimaraner next to their desk. when i told the clerk that i had a weimaraner in the car, she introduced me to dodger, their guest services manager, who just so happened to be a weimaraner. (that’s him in the bandana.)

finding dodger on that rainy night felt like the loveliest example of serendipitous magic, and i went to bed happily.

i am just popping in to say that atlas and i are in michigan! it was a long journey, especially the second to last day, but we are here and we made it safe and sound.

i will tell you some stories and share some photos once i get my computer set up. also once i rest a bit; i woke up this morning and realized that i am exhausted. hopefully soon.

atlas was an angelic traveler. i appreciate him immensely.

he is exhausted too. he is not getting much sleep, what with the kitty-related excitement and the need to keep me under constant surveillance. i suspect he will crash at some point.

(in unrelated news, apparently atlas likes beets, because i just had to stop writing this to see what he was nibbling on in the kitchen. he had taken some beet ends out of the garbage and was enjoying a snack.)

there are a few photos of atlas the traveler on his facebook page.

happy wednesday!

as i prepare to turn off my computer and hit the road, i thought i’d share two photos of our day yesterday.

we spent almost all of it at the auto repair shop and the tire shop, waiting for serendipity to be made road-worthy (apparently, she was most definitely not). i had a million other things to do, and at first was worried about the cost and the lost hours, but it wound up being a day full of good conversation, a walk with atlas, and camera play with the fountain (something i have always been meaning to do, only it was always full of children).

and everything i needed to do still got done anyway, plus there was time for a spontaneous goodbye dinner with a friend.

atlas was the most patient wait-er ever. i adore him times a million and seventy four three twenty-seven. i have decided that moving without a dog is easier and possibly slightly more enjoyable, but i wouldn’t trade him for anything in the world and i am so glad that he is here for our adventure.

i leave you with a wish for moments of sweetness and magic, particularly when they are least expected.