Puppy Tour and Rock Shops

The drive from our hotel to the sanctuary is stunning with red rocks lining both sides of the road, Kanab may be small, but it sure is beautiful.

Day two of our spring break trip began with a tour of Dog Town. 

"Dogtown is a refuge for canines who need another chance at life, an opportunity for a happily-ever-after that has thus far eluded them. Dogtown is a “gated community,” with buildings that house various groups of dogs. The pooches are fun-loving, tail-wagging, friendly neighbors. They come from all walks of life. Some of the dogs are traumatized from abuse or neglect. Others are shy or under-socialized. Some have very special medical needs. But once they arrive at Dogtown, their healing begins.  Along with top-of-the-line medical care, these dogs get all of the TLC and training they need to recover from their pasts so that they can be adopted into permanent, loving homes, a dream that is realized for most of the dogs. Dogtown is home for the dogs as long as they need it to be."

We began our tour at the Puppy Preschool and got to play with two adorable and fluffy puppies!

 Next, we went to the "Maggie's" building, where we learned about how they work with the dogs on unwanted behaviors, and help them with some basic training to help them be more adoptable. They only use positive training methods.

We got to meet Mufasa, a resident of Maggie's, he was the sweetest dog I would have loved to have take him home with me, I really hope he gets adopted soon!

After our tour, we had the rest of the afternoon free since there weren't any volunteer shifts available that day. When we drove into Kanab, we noticed a few places we wanted to check out in Orderville, a very small town about 20 minutes away from the sanctuary.

First up, Forscher German Bakery. Our mom had told us about this little bakery so we made sure to keep an eye for it. It had traditional German food and pasteries. It is only open during a few months of the year, which is considered "busy season." When we stopped in, it had just opened for the season a couple of days before so the kitchens weren't fully up and running yet so we weren't able to sample anything off their menu, which was a bummer, but they did have plenty of pastries we could try.

My favorite was the fruit ring, it was equally sweet and tart.

Sam was so excited about his cherry turnover 

Next, we set off to explore a couple of rock shops we had noticed on our drive. My maternal grandfather was a geologist and he instilled a love of geology in my Mom who then passed on her love of rocks to her children. A lot of the grandkids are also showing a fascination in rocks and fossils and it's fun to see them get excited about a passion that has been in our family for generations. 

The first shop was simply called The Rock Stop, and it was literally shaped like a rock which made it very memorable.

As soon as we walked inside, the owner of the store became our new best friend. He was such a sweet person who had a very strong passion for all things geology. Once he found out we were in town to volunteer at Best Friends, and knew we were animal lovers, he offered to give us graham crackers that we could feed to the very friendly goats in the back of the shop. Such a fun and random little surprise!

We got a good little chuckle from this silly sign

I couldn't pass up buying this adorable little collection of stone dinosaurs 

The next shop was right across the street, The Orderville Mine Rock Shop.

After shopping, the kids all found some very special souvenirs, we were ready for some lunch. Jenny had always gotten a chuckle out of the Thunderbird's sign, it' famous for it's Ho-made pies, but hadn't ever stopped in to see what the hype was all about. So, I decided it was time we all checked this place out.

Turns out pies aren't the only thing that's delicious at The Thunderbird, we all loved our lunches. They serve satisfying, comfort diner food which tasted so good on a chilly spring day.

Then it was time for dessert! The coconut cream pie was our favorite, we weren't able to try all the flavors so we planned to come back later in the week to try the rest.

After lunch, we headed back to our hotel for naps and a little relaxation.

For dinner, we went to the famous Three Bears restaurant. This little mom and pop eatery is one of the kids' all time favorite places to go when they come to Kanab, I had heard so much about this place I couldn't wait to experience it for myself.

Jenny and the kids had told me it was like eating in a grandmothers house when describing the ambience of this place, and I feel like that is a pretty accurate description. The kids love lots of things about this restaurant, but I think they love the ice cream the most.