This change means that after my workday, we have very limited time to get in any adventures before darkness falls.
Monday we made our first walk after sunset for the Fall. At least it wasn't cold and rainy. Luckily the girls had spent time outside during the day while I was working, so they settled in well for the night after just a short walk.
Tuesday morning I started my work day early because I would be working the election later in the day. The girls happily snuggled up for a quiet morning and I was pretty productive. They also spent a good chunk of the morning outside so when I had to leave to work the election, they settled in quickly. By the time I got home for the night it was 9pm. It was a long day for all of us.
On Tuesday I learned of the passing of local BBQ fixture, Gump. Not only did he make some great BBQ, he also made every visit we made to Gump's BBQ special.
Dogs always ate free at Gump's if he was working. When we visited, he was always happy to head out to hand feed the girls some of his pulled pork. Peaches loved her friend Gump, and she always got excited for our visits.
To honor his memory, Wednesday I took the girls for a special treat at Gump's and treated myself to some BBQ too. We sure are going to miss our visits with Gump, but I'm happy to know the restaurant will remain open. I'll make sure the girls still get a treat with every visit.
On Wednesday night, l made my usual trip out to the shelter for our Wednesday night Dog Walking Club. It had been a rainy, cool day, but luckily the weather cleared up enough for us to get the dogs out for a walk.
I was joined by one other person for our walk which worked out perfectly. We took two dogs for our full dog walk, and I got to walk Seaweed J Stubbs.
When we got back to the shelter, we still had time for another short walk, so we took two more dogs out for a little excercise. I got to walk Eddie Muenster. He's such a sweet boy.
The girls had waited patiently for me while I spent time with the shelter dogs, so following dog walking, I took the them out for a short walk too. Unfortunately, we had to end our walk due to lightning in the distance.
Thursday was a beautiful sunny day and once again, the girls spent large parts of the day outside. Mid-afternoon, I decided to take a short break from work and get out for a nice walk with them. It was nice to be able to walk in the daylight.
To end our week, Friday I took the girls out to the dog park for some fun. There were lots of other dogs there when we arrived, and both girls were pretty happy to have a good run and play with friends. It was dark by the time we left, and we had had a great visit. It also made for a quiet evening at my house. Sadly the dog park closes for the season in just a couple weeks so we'll make the most of our visits while we can.
Since we hadn't done much all week, i wanted to reward the girls with a little adventure on Saturday. I packed the car with everything we'd need for a day of fun and off we went.
Our travels took us North and our first stop was a visit to the Roscommon County Animal Shelter. They were doing their annual pictures with Santa and I've want to take Peaches there for this for a couple of years.
We had a nice trip North with a few stops along the way, including Phillips Cider Mill for a cider slushie and some cider doughnuts, and then we had a nice visit at the shelter. We were especially happy to see DeeDee, our favorite shelter director and the person who is responsible for Peaches finding her way into rescue and into my home.
After spending time in Prudenville and around Houghton Lake, we continued our journey a little farther North and West to Kalkaska so that we could get a few miles on the North Country Trail.
We arrived in Kalkaska ready for a hike. I found a nice parking spot in town and headed out down the sidewalk. The first half mile was in town and then the trail continued down a paved road for a little over a mile until we reached a wooded dirt road.
This was a beautiful area, and my favorite part of our hike.
When we reached 2 miles, we turned around to head back toward town.
While this wasn't the most scenic area for a hike, I was glad the terrain made it easy to get in some miles quickly, and even in town you can find things to appreciate.
We got back to the car with 4 miles completed and with time for more so we continued on along the trail.
While this is a pretty busy road, we still found some fun points of interest, including the National Trout Memorial.
After stopping at the trout memorial, we power walked the rest of the way through town until the stop light at the edge of town where the trail turns away from US.131
We turned around to head back to the car and ultimately completed 6 miles on the trail for the day. Even though it wasn't a beautiful walk in the woods, I was happy with our hike and enjoyed spending the day with the girls. We've now finished 86 miles on the trail for this year and only have 14 miles left to reach our 100 mile goal. I'm hoping to be done by Thanksgiving.
I stopped for an early dinner at BC Pizza before leaving town, and then we had a quiet drive home. It had been a good day of adventures.
I woke up Sunday morning ready for a lazy day at home. I really would have been happy with a rainy day spent in my PJs all day. Instead we got a beautiful sunny day, but it was mostly a quiet day spent at home.
Eventually I decided to run a few errands which ended up taking us near the East Lansing dog park, so I took the girls for a quick visit.
We spent about 40 minutes at the dog park and then took a nice 1 mile walk along the trail near the dog park.
It was a little chilly, but the sun was gorgeous and we were all happy to be outside.
We made it home in time for the Lions game and the girls spent some time out in the yard before we all ate an early dinner. Overall we've had a really nice weekend.
It looks like we should have some nice weather this week. Hopefully we'll be able to find some time to enjoy it.
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