Mendocino according to Cinnamon

  

"Mendocino rocks"

"woof.....If you are a dog parent and live in the Bay Area, CA you must visit Mendocino and bring your dog child along. This beautiful small town offers many dog friendly activities."

"Sand in Mendocino beach is tasty"

"woof....we were there last week and let me tell you that it was an awesome experience. I went to the beach (off leash), saw some nasty clams, went biking with my parents, canoeing, visited a botanical garden and more beach. My mom put together a photo slide about our adventure:

Canoeing with my parents!!!

Dont forget your life jacket :)

Hot tub time.

"Here are some recommendations if you are planing on going there." Accommodation:
- Mendocino Seaside Cottage. I give this place five paws up because it had everything a dog can dream of from a temporal home; hot tub with a fire place, full kitchen, private deck, ocean views, and a big back yard for me to run around. Ask for the Tropical room :) Oh and the owner was just amazing, he made sure our stay was enjoyable.
To Dos:
- Mendocino beach. Not sure if this was an off leash beach, but people there are so friendly that did not mind me running around off leash.
- Catch a Canoe. My favorite part was canoeing. This place allows dogs on the canoes and they even have life jackets if your parents forget to get you one.
- Biking around the Big River trail with amazing views.
- Botanical Gardens in Fort Brag. Just 10 minutes away from Mendocino is the Botanical Gardens and yes, dogs on leash are allowed as well! If you bring your lunch you can have a nice picnic on the garden.
- Noyo Beach, Fort Brag. I didn't like these beach very much. There were a lot of wood sticks everywhere and boat sirens go off every 30 seconds, very annoying!!!!!

Cinny en San Diego!

Cinnamon can add San Diego to her traveling list now!....We found a beach that allows dogs near Ocean Beach and it was heaven for my little ewok. She made some friends while the grown ups were swimming in the clean beach :)

We are definitely coming back to sunny SD sooner than we think!

Cinny living the life in Vail, Colorado!

We started 2010 with new exciting adventures. We took some time off before the madness of work and school begin and went to one of the best, if not THE best, skiing resort there is in the US, Vail!

This place is huge and really pretty. We could not see all of it in one week, but we were pleased with what we saw. Obviously, we took Cinnamon with us. She enjoyed the snow, the walks around town and all the compliments from random people.

Cinny patiently waiting for our connecting flight in LA.

Vail!!!

Her favorite dog store where we got her the cute pink jacket she is wearing!

she wanted to go inside every time we passed the store!

Nightlife in downtown!

It was still Christmas over there!

Snow dog!

Long day! it is so hard to be cute..ahhhhh!

While Cinny was napping, the grown ups went out to explore too!

Bye Vail, until our next adventure!!

This is the face of a happy and spoiled pup!

Christmas in Tahoe!

So this year we spent Christmas in North Lake Tahoe. It was a bitter sweet Christmas because I missed my family a lot. Besides I found out that my brother's pup is missing. When I spoke with  my little bro on the phone he was devastated and couldn't stop crying :( It made me really sad, and the fact that it was Christmas eve did not help at all!! :(
I really hope he finds the dog!

On the other hand, I was excited to spend Christmas with my two loves: Marco and Cinny!
I am so fortunate to have Marco in my life. He always brings a smile to my face and cheers me up when I need it the most :)

These are some pics of Christmas day:

Cinnamon got a lady bug plush toy and a yummy bone for Christmas!

We  went for a walk and Cinny loved playing in/with the snow!

She also ate some snow...yummy!

Looking for her ball!

Marco and Cinny!

She was very exhausted that night!

My little ewok keeping me warm!

Merry Christmas to all dog lovers!

Traveling to Bolivia with Cinnamon!

This is year I went to Bolivia for the Holidays and of course I took Cinnamon with me to meet the rest of the family. I was very scared to take Cinny with me because so many people told me that she may be in quarantine once we return. I decided to take the risk anyway. I looked online for tips and the requirements to export and import dogs and found nothing. I hope this post is helpful for those who are thinking to travel abroad with their doggies.

• The first step is to ask your airline for the requirements and then go to the Center for Control and Disease, and the Department of Agriculture to find more information about exporting and importing pets http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dq/animal/index.htm and http://www.aphis.usda.gov.
• Then go to the website of the country your are visiting for more info on requirements.
• For Bolivia a dog needs to have a Health Certificate (form APHIS 7001 ) to be filled by a certified veterinarian. Take the form to a USDA agency to have it validated.
  
• Then have it legalized in a Bolivian consulate in your area.
  Make sure the vet annotates in the certificate that your dog is acclimated to air temperatures lower than 45 F. Cinnamon’s vet forgot to put that information and we missed our flight as a result.

Returning:

• AA asks for a health certificate 10 days prior the flight and vaccine certificates. Our health certificate from the US was not valid and we needed to get another one again.
• The health certificate needs to be validated in “Senasag” in Bolivia and then in the “Cancilleria.”
• Once in the US, they might ask you for a rabies certificate. Luckily when I arrived to Miami, I was not asked for anything and we passed Costumes without any problems.

* If you have all the papers and if your dog is healthy, there is no reason to panic, just plan ahead and have all papers on time so you are not running at the last minute.

Shih Tzu ready for her first flight! 

Happy traveling!