Tag Archives: chicago

October 12, 2014 · 10:16 am

Pugs at the Beach

For our last morning in Chicago, Donald and Daisy had something special planned, so we headed out to fortify ourselves with eggs and cinnamon buns before we hit the road.

Last chance to dine alfresco, pugs!

Daisy didn’t seem to be too thrilled with our outing, even when we posed her next to her namesake flowers.

And we soon found out why.

Chicago is amazing, not only for the architecture and the food, but also for the beaches! Seriously!

And Daisy is not a fan of the beach.

Donald, however, could not have been happier.

We tried to line the pugs up for a butt shot…

…but no one was keen on cooperating, and chaos was the name of the game.

Donald broke free to run and chase waves, while Daisy stood and contemplated the misery that had suddenly enveloped her life.

Hey, Donald! Looking for whales? Tuna? Hamburgers?

He could not have been happier.

Even seaweed is exciting! And tasty.

Lola Pug doesn’t mind the beach, but water might as well be hot lava to her, so her joy is somewhat limited.

Daisy stood as far away from the water as she could, while still keeping us in view.

After much pleading on Daisy’s part, we decided that it might be time to pack it up and head to the airport.

You okay with that, Donald?

I know. It’s hard to leave THIS behind….

So it’s into The Bag we go, little pug…

…and up into the air to bid farewell to our host city.

Lola Pug usually sleeps in-flight, but the trip was such a quick up and down for us, that she never really got a chance to rest. She basically just lay there, and stared at me the entire time.

Smiling or yawning?

Either way, I can see all the way down to your tail here, little one.

A wonderful trip to a great city, and we’re already planning our next little adventure.

But for the next few weeks, I think we’ll take a bit of time out to enjoy our own gorgeous city in the most beautiful season of all.

Thank you, Daisy and Donald, and thank you, Chicago, for a fantastic weekend and some wonderful memories. We’re already planning our triumphant return.

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Filed under Adventures, Friends, Rescue Pugs, Special Days, Traveling Pug

Tagged as adventure, beach, black pug, chicago, dog, dog friendly, dogs, fawn pug, flying with pug, friends, happy, lake, nature, park, play date, pug, pugs, summer, sunshine, toronto, travel, weather

October 5, 2014 · 3:04 pm

Chicago Style Pugs (aka The Food Post)

One does not go to Chicago to merely “see the sights”, although the sights are quite worth the visit, alone. But I have long understood that Chicago is also very important for it’s food.

We were slightly limited to patios that accepted dogs, and many patios do accept polite dogs in this city (how terribly civilised!!!), but that sure didn’t stop us from indulging.

To kick off our morning, we decided to stay in with the pugs, so the food came to us in the form of… mother of all things pug…

…doughnuts made for Godzilla, apparently.

Only on vacation, and only in Chicago?

You know how you say you’re “only going to have a little piece”? Yah. Well. That didn’t happen.

But humans cannot live on doughnuts, alone (or can they?), so we decided to attempt to walk off a bit of our collective sugar high, and we headed to a different part of town for lunch.

It was a perfect day, weather-wise, so there was a bit of a line up for the patio, but Daisy took that as her opportunity to work on her tan and recharge her solar batteries.

When we did make it in to the table, Lola Pug had a lot of questions for the waitstaff about the menu.

Donald seemed to be a bit distressed at the lack of pug-friendly snackies…

…while Daisy checked out her Dad’s sarsaparilla.

She was less than impressed, in case you were wondering.

Being a vegetarian, I simply ordered (blindly) whatever was labelled as vegetarian on the menu.

This dish of mushroomy goodness was a total winner – for veggies and meat eaters alike.

When this was put down in front of me, I was a bit confused.

I am not normally a Frito-eater, but I gamely opened the bag, stuck my fork in, and now I have a full comprehension of what a “walking taco” is all about.

Fritos, cheese, hot tomato sauce and green things.

Perhaps a snack best left to those late nights when you’re just coming home from the pub. Kind of the Chicago equivalent of a Nova Scotian donair, I suppose.

We continued on our way after lunch, exploring some really fun shops, visiting a great art fair and buying a few appropriate items for les chiens.

Lola Pug was kind enough to wear her tourist gear at dinner that evening – food related, of course!

While The Pug sat, despondent and exhausted on my lap, I dug into this…

Deep fried Wisconsin cheese curds with spicy ketchup.

I was deemed to be an honourary American when I reached over and dipped a cheese curd into Daisy’s Dad’s cheese sauce, which tickled me, but apparently wasn’t to sweet Daisy’s liking. Perhaps she’s upset that I didn’t share anything with her…

…or maybe she’s irked because this blog is supposed to be about PUGS, not FOOD!

Okay. Next post coming up. And it will be ALL about pugs, I promise.

Now. Time for a snack, I think.

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Filed under Adventures, Friends, Special Days, Traveling Pug

Tagged as adventure, black pug, chicago, chicago style dog, dog, dog clothes, dogs, fawn pug, food, friends, pug, pugs, summer, travel, walking taco

September 28, 2014 · 9:28 am

Little Pugs, Big City

Off the boat, and onto shore!

Little legs need a little legs vehicle for longer walks, so out came the Pugmobile, and we were on our way, with Admiral Daisy leading the charge!

All tucked in safely, First Mate Donald?

So where is the first place to go when we hit the ground in the Windy City?

THE BEAN, of course!

Lola Pug always draws attention when we go out, and the little Bean sure was a hit when we went to see the (slightly) more famous and (definitely) much larger Bean – also known as the Cloud Gate, but that doesn’t really suit our purposes here, so Bean it shall remain.

BEAN AT THE BEAN!

…seriously…I’ve been waiting a LONG time to get that photo.

She posed patiently and marvellously for her snap-happy mama.

Right next to the Bean (the big, silver one, not the little fuzzy black one), is the spectacular Pritzker Music Pavilion, which we humans were mightily impressed by.

Chicago sure knows how to do that architecture thing.

It wasn’t until we were leaving the park that we noticed the “no dogs” signs, so we felt kinda sneaky and rather lucky that we weren’t pulled aside, but we knew that we had been respectful of the property, and besides – these aren’t just any dogs, they’re PUGS!

I was rather taken with the Pugmobile, so I thought I would try putting Lola in it to see if I could catch a break from carrying her in my arms through town.

Nope.

…so Big D happily took LP’s spot, and we continued on our way.

Donald was excited to see the sights of the downtown buildings.

He looked for long lost relatives up among the gargoyles on the (completely epic) Tribune Tower…

…while I was captivated and mightily impressed by the rocks and masonry that were embedded all over the building.

We humans got up to our usual shenanigans of darting in and out of shops, eating and drinking, and generally looking UP a lot at some seriously gorgeous buildings, while the pugs rolled (and were carried) along through the sights and sounds of the city.

With the Miracle Mile traversed and the sights seen for the day, we retired to a nearby neighbourhood park to feed the pugs their well-earned dinner and relax a little as the sun set.

All this adventure, and The Pug is still kinda pissed with me. What gives, girl?

Exhausted from a very full day of adventuring, Donald immediately called it quits when we got back home.

Daisy was very much up for more fun and games, but it was clearly time to hit the hay and recharge our batteries.

The adventure has only just begun, pugs!

Sleep tight, and see you all in the morning. We still have so much more to see and do!

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Filed under Adventures, Friends, Special Days, Traveling Pug

Tagged as adventure, black pug, chicago, dog, dog friendly, dogs, fawn pug, friends, grass, happy, park, play date, pug, pugs, summer, sunshine, travel, windy city

September 21, 2014 · 9:28 am

Travelling Pug

Lola Pug and I are active and happy travellers, but we’ve been grounded for a while due to a few LP-related medical questions we’ve been looking to answer.

So it was a great celebration when Lola Pug’s veterinarian, Dr. Deji, gave her the okay to FINALLY fly again. To mark the occasion, Dr. Liver Hands gave LP a well deserved treat.

…and I immediately logged into my computer to book our first flight in months.

Lola Pug has seen way too many Valentino documentaries, so her idea of a flight that is appropriate to her status is something like this…

…but her reality is somewhat less glamorous….

The Pug has always been a great traveller, and this was a short flight, so it wasn’t long before we were peeing on foreign foliage, and leaving little calling cards for friends we hadn’t yet met.

And where have we ended up, you might ask?

Well. Somewhere with PUGS, of course!

Well, HELLO, Donald! We’re happy to see you, too!

Donald’s family (Angel Payton’s people) and I have been friends for ages, but this was our first time meeting Donald and his amazing sister, Daisy in person. D&D were adopted from PugHearts of Houston a couple of years ago, and they quickly wormed their way into my heart through photos and videos. I also had a sneaking suspicion that Daisy and Lola Pug were soul sisters (but more on that later).

Daisy and Donald welcomed us into their Pugmobile and we were whisked away for a very exciting first day in their forever hometown.