The trail behind my house

Okay, I've been here two years now, and I've never explored the horse/hiking trail behind my house. It goes from the end of my street to Tucker's Grove, a local park about two miles away.

Katrina and I met at the park with our dogs, we left her car there, and then I drove the whole lot of us back to my house. We set off.

It was lovely, and I'm a bit ashamed of myself for not going before now. I never had someone to go with me, and since it is rather isolated back there, I haven't gone alone. What about Charlie you ask? Okay, so technically I wouldn't be alone, but if something happened out there, Charlie's just not the "Timmy fell down the well and needs your help" kind of dog.

To those of you who don't know me, the picture is of Katrina and her dog Jelly, not me. I'm trying to figure out how to add another picture within my blog, but after my writing, but I may not be successful. That is the view of the Santa Ynez foothills, and is also the view I have from my street. This was just a couple hundred yards in from the trail head, and it looks like we're out in the country. Which we are. Sortof. Not really.

If my mail is on a rural route, does that count?

Anyway, there was a little creek, and we crossed over a dam, and it was shaded most of the way, and Charlie didn't putz too much. We watched out for poison oak, which the dogs ignored, and I took lots of pictures of the pooches. We didn't run into any horses, although you could see evidence quite often along the way of their travels on the same path. And, that evidence of which I speak was as interesting to the dogs as the poison oak was not.

"Charlie NO!" was heard quite often on the trail, as I raced to keep him from dive bombing into fresh horse poop. I did a decent job of it.

Charlie did well crossing over the tippy stones in the creek, and didn't get too wet. I didn't fall in either, which is a minor miracle.

At the park, the trail ended at a large field. One which is now an off-leash play area for dogs. Whoo boy! I didn't know about this place. Somewhere Charlie can run and eat grass and not get too dirty off-leash. It was an added bonus. There were picnic areas with barbecue stations, a bathroom, and a water fountain. What a great place to have a doggie friendly party.

Got me thinking. What about throwing Charlie a birthday party? I know, how lame... but see, it's not for him, not really (god, I hope he's not logging on and reading this when I'm at work). It's for us, the doggie owners. The doggie owners who aren't allowed to bring our lovely guys to parties. Those same parties to which people bring their toddlers and young children. Those parties that could have been fun, but instead end up being all about whether Alexi's boo boo needs a kiss, or whether Kevin's hot dogs are cut up in small enough pieces. Parties where we have to edit our conversations because "little pitchers have big ears." Parties that end at 8:30 because it's past Sammy's bedtime.

I sound bitter, but I'm not. I'm just excited about the thought of a party specifically encouraging people to bring their dogs. I think my dog takes up a lot less time, space and concern than a child, yet he's not allowed a lot of places that noisy, screamy, demanding kids are. That's life, and I'm not going to cry about it.

However, I am going to plan this party.

Maybe we can all hike to it first on the trail behind my house?