Guess who took us to her beach last week? Huxley was sad there was no time for playing, Brychwyn gave her some kisses (once he accepted her into our pack) and Wilhelm... he's in love! |
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Typist: Bethany We woke to a much dryer Warren Dunes State Park on the Eastern shores of Lake Michigan last Tuesday morning. Since being rained out of setting up the tent the night before, I liked not having to take the time to take down and load up our camp and enjoyed having time to do some dog grooming. 'R' Blood on the Tracks Boys probably disagree, but as soon as they were tidied up, we headed off to explore more of this large, dog friendly Michigan State Park. The next part of our day was very special. We drove around Lake Michigan and met our friend Sugar the Golden Retriever for a personal tour of her neighborhood park. For those of you who have never met her and have only seen pictures, she really does smile like that all the time! Brychwyn and Huxley were very ramped up after our morning drive, so they were pretty high energy (which is a nice way of saying they were barky, jumpy and snappy) when we met up with mellow Sugar, but she was very kind to them anyways. After strolling around as a pack for a while, Brychwyn ended up giving her some very sweet kisses. Wilhelm was star struck and, while trying to play it cool, it was obvious he has a little crush on this smiling golden girl. Sugar's park is wonderful! She showed us the stairs she runs to stay fit, her beach and the grass field she runs in. There were lot's of kids to watch, big trees to sniff and squirrels and birds the boys wished they could chase/herd. I so enjoyed that we woke up on the East side of Lake Michigan and now got to enjoy the West side. Such an adventure! After this very exciting morning and afternoon around Lake Michigan, the beauty of driving over and along the Mississippi river to Wildcat Den State Park in Iowa was met with drowsy excitement. Since we were all pretty sleepy, I got the tent up right away. We then had a moonlit stroll around the campground, appreciating perhaps our last chance to chase a few lightning bugs, and headed off to bed. It will be good for us to be well rested for exploring this Iowa State Park and visiting the Mississippi river in the morning, especially before it is too warm for Cascadians to hike (which we have learned is over 75 degrees and any humidity.) Typist: Bethany Last week, 'R' Blood on the Tracks Boys and I bade farewell to a warm, sunny Monday in Western New York to begin our journey back to Cascadia. There was a lot of running, playing, chewing and a hike around the pond at my aunt's house, before we loaded up and drove all day to the shores of Lake Michigan. We arrived at Warren Dunes State Park near Sawyer, Michigan in the early evening. Since the dogs had patiently spent the whole day in the car, we parked in our campsite and headed to the dunes. The trail from the campground to the dunes, the Mt. Randal trail, first goes past a huge dune called Tower Hill, which we, of course, decided to climb. Well, we tried to climb it. Between the very loose sand of the dune and the humidity that we Cascadians are not at all used to, we got about 3/4 of the way up, panted a lot (yes, all of us panted a lot) then we ran/slid down. We followed the Mt. Randall Trail for what felt like forever (in the humidity that we are not used to) through what seemed like a tropical jungle (not just because of the humidity but because of the amazing trees and vines growing on the dunes.) When we finally caught sight of Lake Michigan, we sped up, quickly hiking out of the humid forest and onto the breezy, sunset lit beach. With a lovely sunset, dramatic lightning strikes over the lake and a whole huge, dog friendly beach all to ourselves, we stayed until it was almost dark. I love storm watching and always feel so lucky to have dogs that don't mind the crackle of lightning or the boom of thunder. Since I had not planned on such a long excursion, I did not bring a torch, so we walked back to the campsite on the road. Those dark clouds that had made for an awesome sunset and some great storm watching, began to dump rain on us about half way back to the campground. As we trudged on through the down pour, I thought, "I have not yet set up the tent... If it stops raining long enough for me to set up the tent, it is a very small tent to share with three sandy and now very wet dogs... How do I make it work for us to sleep in the van and will the dogs mind more crate time?" Well, they answered my questions by happily hopping up into their crates and beginning to snore as soon as they finished their dinners while I sat in the drivers seat wondering if the rain would let up. I took their cue, grabbed a blanket, leaned the seat back and joined them in soggy slumber. The Cascadian Nomads took their father to visit Presque Isle State Park on Lake Erie. It certainly is a Happy Father's Day for him and we wish the same to all of you awesome fathers out there. Thanks to Dachshund Nola, My Life in Blog Years and You Did What With Your Weiner for hosting the Black and White Sunday Blog Hop and thank you for hopping by. |
Cascadian Nomads
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