And we were off again!

Saturday was a pretty pawsome weather day. So we ventured off to a new walking/hiking place. Well, it's not that new, Mum used to walk this path BD - before dogs. But when we head down this way we usually hike along the river bank, but it's been raining a lot lately, it was super muddy down there, and the river was higher, so we decided to take the walking path instead.

The location is River Road Park - just about a mile down the road from us, which makes it super convenient.

After a brief Gracie potty break, we were off. The entire path is about 5 miles long, back and forth to/from the car.

After a little stretch, we head around the tall grass field. Mum was thinking all along she would never find me or get me out of there. She did let me go in pretty far on leash, which was awesome. I found a field mouse and picked up a whole lotta burrs. When we got back Mum was pulling burrs outta me for about an hour. Didn't like it!

On the other side of the grass field is a little wooded area, then beyond that is the super exclusive Prairie Farms Golf Course. We like this path because even though its right up to a golf course, everywhere you look you see signs that say don't spray/don't mow. Yeah! Less chemicals!

We walked along...I enjoyed staying on the edge of the path in the muddy area of course, many more smells there, and Mum could stay on the path and stay nice and clean :)

Every now and then we would stop because there was some amazing, and I mean amazing, smell. Probably the remnants of some critter.

Further along there is a little bridge over a small stream. We saw these red berries, but Mum wouldn't let us go near them. We think they are wild currants, if Mum remembers correctly. (click to bigify).

After a little further, we met a new bud! This is Connor (hope I spelled his name correctly). He and his Mom were walking the path, and we all instantly took a liking to both of them. You know how rare that is for me. It seems that I instantly take to my Sheltie kind, its the terriers that get me all riled up. Not that there's anything wrong with terriers at all!

Connor, Gracie and I sat and downed for treats (Mum brought along some of our kibble). We exchanged email addys, and then we were off again, planning sometime to hike all together.

Further on is the area where many of the houses are. Mum remembers this house well from when she used to walk here on her own. It's her absolute favorite house in the entire area. The color of the house in the pic doesn't do it justice at all. It's an amazing shade of green. Mum loved this color so much she painted her bedroom this green.

Off again...

Here's a nice (well as good as a phone camera will do) pic of the trail. The further in we go, the further into the woods along the river it goes.

Then we came to an area to go off road. We ventured down....We stopped here for a drink break. Our hikes are getting longer and longer, so now Mum brings water from home, since we use water filters at our house, and like to keep on the same stuff.

Saw some little blue wildflowers...just about the only thing we saw in bloom.

And finally, we made it to the river. It's really difficult to see in this photo, but the river is way down a high embankment, more like a cliff. Brought back some memories for Mum of her 'sliding down the cliff to the river days' near where she grew up. She would get some big boxes from her Dad's shoe store, cut them flat and slide down into the river. She loved it...may have to try it sometime, but not on such a steep cliff.

We walked on and on....about five miles. Then it was time to head home for dinner. We'll leave you with a hint of the Fall color to come :)

Hope you all had a great weekend!