Life Lately October 2026

October was a lovely month, with its changing leaves and cooler temperatures, and it brings me one step closer to my favorite season of winter! There's not a ton to share in this particular post, as I've already written about two of the weekends in separate posts (Chicago and New River Gorge NP) and I'll be writing another post about the last weekend of October!

We took a very quick road trip up to Toronto at the beginning of the month to surprise C's mom for her birthday. When we arrived, C called her from the car under the guise of just saying hello, and I took Avalanche into the house while she was distracted so we could catch her off guard. It was the best! We also took Avalanche into the city so we could see the new Joe Carter statue celebrating the back-to-back Blue Jays World Series championships in 1992 and 1993. We were in university and we lived and breathed all things Blue Jays during that time, so we loved seeing Joe Carter's walk-off home run finally immortalized!

elevator in the parking garage,,,
as usual, he was not a fan

We saw a live-to-film performance of Coco by the National Folk Orchestra of Mexico and it was absolutely spectacular! Coco is one of my very favorite movies and the orchestra was nothing short of incredible. We had great seats and we love this theater!

In addition to the fun things we do, there are always quiet little joys that mean everything to me:

beautiful flowers from my best friends
after losing my YaYa

spirit week at school had me thinking
about the craziest stuffy I could bring...

...my enormous Pooh Bear, who was
buckled in for safety, courtesy of C

on our way up to Toronto, we stopped in Pittsburgh
and met my dad for lunch to celebrate his birthday

I got to hang out with my best friend of 23+ years
because her adorable son had a
baseball tournament near our house

Finally, here's my monthly round up of Avalanche pics:

for the first time in many months,
he jumped up on our bed!

he's so adorable!

this is "his" chair in our family room

it is almost always covered in his fur

this is what is looks like when
we comb the fur into a pile to clean the chair

we're in the throes of Husky Shedding Season

no complaints, though...
he's worth it

Happy Tails to you!

New River Gorge NP

Last weekend, we took a road trip to West Virginia to visit New River Gorge National Park. It was designated as a National Park in 2020 and it's our 42nd National Park! It's less than a five-hour drive from our house - not quite as close a Shenandoah NP, but compared to other NPs, it's practically in our backyard! As I shared in my last post, we’re on a quest to visit all 64 National Parks, and having this one nearby is great!

One of the most famous spots in the park is the New River Gorge Bridge, which is what’s often depicted in photos of the park, but since it just so happened to be "Bridge Day" on Saturday, October 17 (a yearly event where extreme sport enthusiasts jump from the bridge into the gorge), we avoided that area of the park because we'd read that it would be extremely busy and obviously have no personal interest in jumping from a bridge! LOL!

As you'll see, we had the most beautiful weather and Avalanche loved all of the trails; I'm sure the park is lovely during the rest of the year as well, but the changing leaves and cooler weather made for a pretty much perfect day!

what you can't see in the photo because of the grass
is that the bottom side of the frame reads
"Bark Ranger"

We spent Saturday night at a nearby hotel and Avalanche is truly becoming a hotel expert, even though he still does not enjoy an elevator experience whatsoever!

he is always confused by elevators, and honestly,
I get it - you start in one location and somehow
end up in another location just by standing
in a metal box

he can never exit an elevator
quickly enough!

once we're out of the elevator,
he's all about the hotel life

he got a swag bag when we checked in

it contained a ball, a bag of treat,
and some wipes and baggies

absolutely at home in a hotel room

the sunset was too pretty
to not take a picture

On Sunday morning, we drove home, stopping at the Blue Ridge Tunnel for a walk, which we'd done with Avalanche one other time. It's little less than a mile in length, but much of it is in complete darkness, so you need headlamps or flashlights. It's a pretty fun little adventure!

I think his shadow looks like Batman!

Another National Park and another fun weekend! We currently don't have another National Park trip planned until February, so we're hoping the weather cooperates and we're able to go!

Happy Tails to you!