Documenting my own family adventures | April 2021 | Ali Boundy

Dogs are only put on this earth for a small fraction of the time we humans are, and one of the things I love most about my husband is that he doesn’t take a single ounce of the time we get with them for granted. Marcus and I have 3 goofy, ridiculous, hilarious, and perfect dogs that we center our entire universe around – and each one of them gets their own bucket list trip.

Ever since Naga was a puppy, Marcus believed she would love to go to the ocean. She’s 7 years old now, with car sickness, arthritis in her back and a pancreas that doesn’t function. We know she’s getting older and our time to comfortably take her bucket list trip was dwindling. So we made it happen. We cancelled and replanned the trip amidst the pandemic numerous times. But finally, we buckled down and truly did it.

We booked the cutest dog friendly hotel room in Monterey Bay, California called The Sanctuary. They’re not just dog friendly, but they thoroughly enjoy hosting dogs. There was even a welcome sign in the lobby with Naga’s name on it.

It’s difficult to put into words how special this trip was for Naga, so I’l let the photos do the talking. She loved playing on the beach, yes, but I think she loved one-on-one time with her favorite humans more. She relaxed in the bed after romping on the beach, and she was snuggled and praised endlessly. We’re thoroughly aware of each of our dogs’ love languages and word of affirmation is hers. Her tail wags and she smiles wide every time she hears us sing “Good giiiirrrllliiiieeeee Booooooooz” – priceless.