Lola Sets Her Sights on Cliff Diving!

Wow!  What an exciting weekend!  Lola and I spent Saturday at the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2011 at the ICA in Boston, and it was AWESOME!

Working on her spokesmodeling . . .

I was so excited when I read that the event was taking place here in Boston, and even more excited when I found out that it was free!  I had heard of and wanted to watch the event  for a few years now, but never actually expected that it would happen!  This was the first time that the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series has ever made a stop on the East Coast of the United States, and I imagine it will probably be the last of  Lola's exciting Boston adventures.  I figured that it was right up Lola's alley, being the dock diver that she is . . .   It must have been fate.  : )

People watching

We got to the event later than I had hoped (due to me getting mixed up with the directions.  Sometimes a smart phone WOULD come in handy I guess . . .), and had to make our way through the crowd to find a decent spot.  In a mass of 23,000 people, I was surprised at how reletively easy this was.  We walked along the edge of Fan Pier closest to the ICA and ended up getting a great spot on the grass in the shade.  Lola had a fantastic view of all the people walking by, and my view of the diving platform wasn't too shabby either. 

Lola, Shia and I

As usual, Lola started making friends right away.  We sat next to a little girl named Shia (sorry if I spelled it wrong), who was a self-proclaimed dog-lover and reminded me a bit of myself at her age.  She fed Lola treats, let her drink water from her hands, and practiced a few tricks.  We got to talk about her dog at home as well.  She was a wonderful girl, and Lola was very happy to have all the attention.  Thanks to Shia's Grandpa for taking the picture and sending it to me, and to her father for giving me permission to post it!  

Our view

As for the event itself, I must say it was spectacular!  I also feel that "breath-taking" is an appropriate description.  I believe the announcer said that the diving platform was 80 feet above the water, and the view on the big screens was just beautiful.  I really wanted to be up there!  Of course, I would have jumped and plummeted to the water, not nearly as gracefully or skillfully as the divers themselves.  I was amazed at some of the tricks they were able to pull off, twisting and somersaulting through the air multiple times before landing with minimal splash.  There were even divers (or just one specific diver, can't remember for sure) that started off by doing a hand stand!  I can't imagine how difficult it must be to do a hand stand on the edge of a platform, 80 feet in the air.  I can't even do one on flat ground!  Just stunning. 

 Close-up, The Final Round 

I was most surprised by the ability of a crowd of 23,000 people to be completely silent before each contestant took their dive.  It was moving, actually.  I can't explain the feeling accurately, but it was a beautiful team effort in a city that is usually concerned about individual needs.  It was the kind of quiet that feels unnatural, especially in a crowded, busy city!  It was the kind of quiet where you could hear people whispering 10 feet away from you.  I could even hear the splash as the diver entered the water!  I must say, it inspired a bit of awe.       

 

Celebration!

After the third and final round, the top three divers were: 1st place~Gary Hunt from the UK, 2nd Place~Artem Silchenko from Russia, and 3rd place~Kent De Mond from the U.S.  They celebrated with champagne showers and a few chugs of the bubbly, and were given quite heavy looking trophies.  Congratulations!

Lola is obviously thrilled . . .

Lola was not as enthralled by all of this as I was, but she did a very good job of laying in her spot and smiling at the people walking by.  However, she was ready for some action . . .

Kyle Mitrione, Lola, and David Colturi

Eagerly, Lola and I made our way over to the ICA building to get a closer experience of all the action and see what kind of pictures we could get.  Right off the bat, Lola found her way to two of the wildcard contestents, Kyle Mitrione and David Colturi, both from the U.S., taking pictures with fans.  I explained to them that I am writing a travel blog about Lola's adventures and take pictures of her around the city and asked if they would mind taking a picture with her.  Believe it or not, it sometimes feels a little awkward asking people to take pictures with your dog!  ; )  However, they were very friendly and happy to pose with Lola, and it looks like she was happy to pose with them as well.  The picture turned out great guys, thank you so much!  (And good luck on qualifying for the Olympics, we'll be cheering for you!) 

Interviews on the Dock

It was such a great event, and I must say that all of the people we met were very nice and friendly, even when being bombarded with requests for pictures and signatures.  I felt a little bad asking!  Luckily, Lola meets very few people who aren't won over by her stunning good looks and stellar personality.  ; )

Lola with Kent De Mond, USA, Third Place Finisher!

The Red Bull Cliff Diving Event was Lola's first experience meeting celebrity types, and I think she kept her cool pretty well.  She understands how grueling it can be having people follow you around snapping pictures and wanting to touch you all the time.  She is a mini-celebrity in her own way.

After all of the excitement was over and the divers left to rest up for dinner, Lola and I stayed and enjoyed the peaceful view of the harbor.  I have been trying to take in as much of Boston as I can before I leave, and it was a perfect night to relax in front of the water.  Lola was exhausted from a long day of modeling anyway and decided that a nap on the deck was just what she needed.  She also decided that I was not doing a good enough job of petting her and went to make friends with the 3 people sitting below us.  Lola graced them with her presence and allowed them to scratch and pet her for the next hour.  We had wonderful conversations about all of Lola's past and potential future adventures.  They gave me some great ideas to try and goals for the future.  More wonderful people!   

A big thanks to Carol for the ride home!

As the night came to an end, Lola and I prepared ourselves mentally for the long trek home on the subway.  Our hero, Carol, happened to be driving that way anyway and offered us a ride.  Although we do not encourage riding in cars with strangers, we took her up on the offer!  As we were leaving the parking lot, two women saw Lola sticking her head out the window and "HAD" to come up and pet her.  I just think it is so funny the effect Lola has on people sometimes!  But nothing really surprises me with Lola anymore, like I said, she is a mini-celebrity!

Another magical day meeting new people and enjoying the city I love so much.  *Sigh*  : )

Again, I would like to thank Shia and Luke; Kyle Mitrione and David Colturi, Kent De Mond, and Carol for allowing me to include their pictures.  It was wonderful meeting you all!

~Crystal & Lola 

Rainy Day Fun

Over the course of the past 349 days (otherwise known as our time in Boston), Lola and I have experienced many rainy, snowy, sleet-y, and just plain wet days.  To entertain ourselves and keep my sanity intact, Lola and created a variety of rainy day games to play.  Being that today has been a very rainy day and Lola had LOTS of energy when I came home, I figured that for tonight's blog entry I would journal a few of her favorite yucky day activities.  

Our first activity is one of Lola's all-time favorites, even in nice weather.  It's called "Indoor Squirrel Watching".  With our couch in front of the bay windows, Lola is able to lay in one spot and hunt for squirrels in the back yard, see our landlord in the driveway, and watch all of the people, cars and cats passing down our street. When we open the windows, she can HEAR and SMELL them too!  

What!?  Where's the Squirrel?!?

A-ROOOO!  So exciting!

What was that sound?!

Peeping Lola

This picture nicely showcases her "Upside-Down Snowman" marking on her back, as well as her ability to lay on the back of a couch like a cat.  Not quite as gracefully though . . . 

Our second game tonight was "Save White Bear!"  Poor White Bear gets into many dangerous predicaments, and it's Lola's job to save her.  Tonight I played a monster trying to kidnap White Bear.  Just as my hand gets close, Lola rushes in and rips her away from my grasp. It's so intense! *wink, wink

Here I come . . .

Somehow White Bear also found herself hanging from a deadly cliff.  It was up to Lola to rescue her!

"I'll save you, White Bear!"

Our third and final game tonight was good old "Hide and Seek", in the basement.  Our basement is long, and the shelves in the middle help to make a loop to run around.  How this game works is I throw her ball to distract her, and then I hide behind something.  Sometimes she runs around 4 or 5 times before she finds me!  Although, she is starting to learn all of my tricks!

Where did you go?

Found you!

Screeeeeeech!

This is a picture of Lola running past (on her 2nd loop), finding me, and stepping on the breaks.  She gets so excited every time she finds me.  

One more time . . .

I can't lie, basement hide and seek cracks me up!  Sometimes she'll run upstairs and look for me and then come back down.  Then she finds me, wags her whole body and roars.  Plus, its a great way for her to get some running time without having to get soaked outside. 

Of course, my favorite rainy day activity is snuggling on the couch with my sleepy, worn out Lola and watching a movie, which is exactly what we are doing right now . . . Goodnight!

~ Crystal & Lola

  

An Evening Jaunt at Dog Beach, Nahant

Dictionary.com defines the word Jaunt as, "A short journey, especially one taken for pleasure".

I can think of no better word to describe our trip to Nahant today.  Just a 30-minute drive north and out onto an island is a wonderful dog-friendly beach, one of the few in the area.  We were there at low tide and the sand stretched out forever.  Lola and her friend Chelsea wasted no time running out towards the water.

Lola and Chelsea, off in the distance

It took quite a while to walk out to where the water was more than ankle deep.  Along the way we waded around empty shells, hermit crabs and spitting clams, and almost stepped right onto a crab hiding in the grasses.  Of course, the dogs were running to fast to notice.

It's amazing how fast Lola STILL is even when running through the water!

Once we got out to deeper waters, it was ALL about the ball.  Lola and Chelsea were well-matched competitors and took turns having the ball and chasing each other.  Life was absolutely perfect.

I think for the first time ever Lola actually looked fairly graceful.  She was bounding and leaping through the water with such ease.  She really does belong there!

Action shot: Catching the ball in mid-air.

I really love this picture!

The sun was beautiful shining down on the water.  It made for a gorgeous view of the Boston Skyline.  My cell phone camera was not quite adequate enough to capture it though. However, I am often surprised at how nice of pictures I can take on it.  Today's shoot was interesting because, in the sunlight on the beach, I could not really see the pictures as I was taking them.  It was like the "old days" of actually having to wait until you developed the film to see the pictures when I loaded them onto my computer.  It was a nice surprise to see that they all turned out so well!  

 Waiting for the ball to be thrown

At first it was just Lola and Chelsea, but soon we were joined by Maisy and Lilly.  Maisy was quick to join in on the fun, and promptly took her turn with the ball.  Sweet Lilly had never been to the water before and was having a blast figuring it all out.  She really didn't understand why her face kept getting so wet!  She was adorable, but never managed to make it into any of the pictures.  Sad.

Lola chasing Maisy 

Every so often, Lola would stop playing just long enough to remember that I was there too, and would come give me a tail wag and let me throw the ball for her.  Thanks Lola, so sweet of you. 

Stopping by for a quick hello

At this point, you could definitely tell they were getting tired, but neither one of them ever wanted to stop chasing that ball.  There was just too much fun to be had!  Unfortunately, the day was coming to an end, and so was our time in Nahant.

Lola investigates a crab

As the tide started to make its way back in, we started to make our way back to shore.  My feet were much more sensitive to the broken pieces of shell after standing in the salt water for a couple of hours, but I took the opportunity to find some decent shells to bring to class and show the kids.  During the walk back to shore, we discovered another crab in a little water hole.  Mike helped  it out and both Lola and Chelsea managed to examine it without getting pinched!  I was a little nervous though . . .

This picture makes me happy.

At the end of the day, there is just something so perfect about dogs playing on the beach in the setting sun.  It truly is a shame that Lola and I didn't discover this place sooner.  We would have been here every weekend!  A very big thank you to Mike and Chelsea for bringing us along on this adventure! 

 ~Crystal

Lola goes to Fenway Park

Alright, so we haven't hit the road just yet, but we are doing some pretty awesome things before we go.  On Thursday I took Lola to Fenway Park  for a walkabout and got some really great pictures.  She sometimes surprises me at how well behaved she can be!  The only way it could have gone better is if we had gotten to go into the park.  THAT would have been amazing.  Here are some of the photo highlights of our trip:

Lola and her Pirate friends! 

These are some Freedom Trail tour guides that were quite taken with Lola at the Boston Common on our way to Fenway Park.

Lola picks up tickets for the game.



This is my favorite picture of the Fenway photo shoot!  We just started working on this trick, called the Up-Stay, a couple weeks ago.  I was so excited when she actually did it for this picture!  I tried to get her to do it a few other times during the shoot, but this was the only one where she stayed in the standing position.

Lola sits with Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky, and Dom DiMaggio, Teammates for life.

This statue was unveilled one year ago as a tribute to the lasting friendship of the players.  The plaque, in part, reads:

"They came to Boston from the West Coast -- 2B Bobby Doerr from Los Angeles Calif. in 1937; LF Ted Williams from San Diego, Calif. in 1939; CF Dominic DiMaggio from San Francisco in 1940; and SS Johnny Pesky from Portland, Ore. in 1942.

They were Red Sox teammates for seven seasons, but best friends for a lifetime. In total, they played for the Red Sox for 52 seasons and have over 150 years of service with the Red Sox organization.
They served their country in World War II, a total of 11 years.
They led the Red Sox to a record of 653 wins vs. 424 losses for a .606 pct. during their time together."--Boston.com

Lola and I also came from the West Coast.  Just saying.  : )

Lola and Ted Williams

This statue commemorates Ted Williams and the work he did to support the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and The Jimmy Fund, the official charity of the Boston Red Sox.  I wanted to get her doing another up-stay for this shot, but she decided to jump all the way up both times.  Sometimes you just can't argue with the model!

Waiting for her Fenway Frank

This is as far inside of Fenway as Lola and I got.  Although they were so impressed with her I probably could have tried to get her in farther!  For this shot I would have loved to have her on top of the picnic table, but I didn't want to press my luck. 

A great place to be.

I was really hoping that the Red Sox Logo on the back of her shirt would have shown up better in this picture.  Even so, I love this picture. 

Looking out on Red Sox Nation

Lola and I stopped an rested for quite some time on these steps.  She was exhausted from all of her hard work.  The door behind her is the entrance to the Boston American League Baseball Office.  At one point while Lola was laying down, The door opened and hit her in the bum.  It  didn't even occur to me that the door would open out, or at all for that matter.  A group of attractive baseball men exited, but I couldn't see anyone I recognized.  The man who hit Lola with the door kept looking back at her and I hoped he would come talk to us, but he had work to do.  *sigh*

Taking it all in

The passers-by were very amused by Lola's ability to sit and stay in the middle of the sidewalk when people were walking all around her.  I was pretty impressed too.  She did an amazing job-no leash for most of the pictures!  Never once even got up to walk around when she wasn't supposed to.  Lola definitely made a lot of people smile that day.  : )

Joyful over the broken curse

The pictures behind us are shots taken from the 2004 World Series, when the Red Sox broke the curse.  It was an amazing day, even if I was 3,000 miles away when it happened and Lola wasn't even born yet!  I am always caught off guard when someone volunteers to take a picture so that I can be in it.  Lola obviously has it down and came up with a great pose.  We really did have a great time at Fenway, even if we didn't go inside.  Perhaps next time . . .

~Crystal