The Bucket List

Tom and I recently learned that our beloved, 11-year-old Cairn Terrier, Pumbaa, has cancer. It’s really not treatable because it’s in his nasal passage and has already spread into the bone. We are simply devastated. Pumbaa is the perky, cheerful, adventurous peacekeeper of the Tabler family. He’s also fearless and would go after a dog three or four times his size to “protect” us. He is ever patient with his brother, Rowdie, and all his silly antics. He has even allowed little Rowdie to be the alpha dog of the house just to keep the peace.

We could sit around and dwell on the fact that he has only weeks or months to live. But instead, we’ve decided that Pumbaa is going to enjoy his last days and check items off his bucket list. We are going to go on the adventures that he loves so much! First check off Pumbaa’s bucket list? Camping in the Temecula wine country! 

All packed up and ready for an adventure! (Pumbaa is on the right).

Our first stop was the Temecula Wine and Balloon Festival. Pumbaa is not a fan of loud music, so the boys stayed in the van while Tom and I checked out the festival. We caught the last few songs of The Plain White T’s, stood in a ridiculously long line to get a glass of wine, and then we escaped the crowd and headed to the campground.

Pumbaa has only been camping two other times: once in Texas when he was a little puppy (back then we had a camper) and then once last fall in our Volkswagen van. He is a huge fan of the outdoors! Our campground for this trip was the absolutely gorgeous Vail Lake Resort. 

Pumbaa took in the lay of the land and marked on every piece of vegetation he could find. Then he and Rowdie sat back and watched the birds and insects. I took many pictures of Pumbaa’s first bucket list trip but discovered later that my memory card wasn’t in my Canon camera… FAIL! So all the images here are from our iPhones.

You might think camping in a Volkswagen van would be less than ideal, but we actually love it! The seats make into a bed, and there’s a table as well. We were surrounded by huge, elegant RVs, but we like the no-frills simplicity of our van. On Sunday morning, we awoke to the most lovely day. Tom made a yummy breakfast of eggs, bacon and Bloody Marys. Pumbaa LOVES bacon! Next up on the list? Visiting a winery! We decided on Monte De Oro, and Pumbaa was so thrilled to learn that they welcomed four-legged friends!

We ordered lunch and a bottle of wine and listened to some great live music on the patio. We highly recommend a visit to Monte De Oro if you are in the Temecula area! The food was delicious and the wine superb.

Pumbaa thought it quite fitting that his bucket list adventure would actually end up with him next to a bucket!

It was such a beautiful afternoon, and we were happy to be escaping the heat of Palm Desert. 

Pumbaa got lots of attention and enjoyed being the subject of a photo shoot. Rowdie was jealous and demanded his own picture at the winery, so I told him I’d pose with them both.

We are currently thinking of other fun adventures for sweet Pumbaa this summer! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to see where we head next!

xoxo,

GET INSTANT ACCESS TO MY
LIBRARY OF FREE PRINTABLE
BLOGGING TOOLS, EBOOKS &
GOODIES FOR YOUR HOME!

Sign up to get FREE printables available only for subscribers!

Don't forget to check your inbox! We'll never send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.