Humane Society for Southwest Washington 2014 Walk - Photos and Story

Our 2014 Photo Essay is Here.....

Exploring Vancouver USA - History, Scares and Bouncy Water

Here I am on the Land Bridge

I had a great morning exploring Vancouver USA. We started at the Red Lion at the Quay right on the Columbia River. There was a jet excursion boat going by. I don't think I'd like all that spray!

So we headed out along the Waterfront Renaissance Trail, one of my favorites, but turned in toward the railroad tracks at the Old Apple Tree. We were going to explore the Land Bridge.

It is a bridge that took me from the present day back into the past. If you ask me, the person who made this bridge had to be a little, well... tipsy. It was kind of wavy, you see. I did like stopping at the sculptures and sniffing around them. I even jumped up on one of the walls and looked out to see the Columbia River. 

The Land Bridge was interesting and sniffable

Soon we saw the Fort! Fort Vancouver, a relic of the past, looked like a great place for ME! 

There were mowed fields, orchards and shade from very tall trees. We didn't go into the fort (I hear they don't like dogs hanging out in their heirloom garden) but we did walk around the fields and trees. I especially like the shade trees because by then it was getting warm. I wonder if they had dogs at that fort in the old days.  I know they had furs and pelts there and thought it would be great to have some for a bed!

Here I am at Fort Vancouver.
Soon we were under Shade Trees.

So then we headed up to Officer's Row and more shade trees. I got really excited because there were some squirrels in some of the trees. As we walked along the sidewalk with the huge houses, I imagined myself lying on one of those big porches on a hot day sipping mint juleps.  There's my southern heritage coming out!

But alas, we kept walking. Soon we were downtown. I had a bit of a scare as I walked across the street. There was a hot dog stand that smelled mighty good but something took me by surprise. A HUGE GIGANTIC HOT DOG SCULPTURE stood in front of the stand. I WAS SCARED and pulled toward the street... cars or not! But soon we left all that behind and kept walking on Main Street. 

I stopped to check out a huge heart. There are a lot of them downtown. They are called art. But I just thought I'd sniff them and keep walking. By then I was getting really interested in having some water.

Here's that heart. They are all over the place.

We wound our way through downtown and soon we came upon Esther Short Park. There were fountains there where I hoped to have a drink. It was a beautiful shady park and first I stopped at the fountain that looked like a creek. But the water was spraying and bouncing. Not for me! So then I spied the Salmon Clock fountain and thought there might be a pool of water there.  But NOOO! The water was bouncing and splashing there too. I pulled away. I don't like that type of water. I'd just wait 'til I got home.

Soon we were back down to the Red Lion parking lot. By then it was getting rather warm. My black coonie fur was soaking up the sun. I was happy to go home to my BIG BOWL OF WATER!

It was a good walk mainly because of all the shade trees. I think I'd like to do it again and skip the scary hot dog cart!

Thank you to the Vancouver Volkssporters Walking Club for the Great Walking Map.

Burnt Bridge Creek Trail: Scaring Frogs and Annoying Ducks

Here I am sniffing around the trail head, looking for the rabbit

Today was a good day. The rain stopped and we quickly went for a walk on the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail in Vancouver. It's only a block from my house. I usually have fun eating grass, greeting other dogs and chasing a rabbit that hangs out near the trail entrance. This wily bunny knows I am on a leash so he taunts me. But today was better than a rabbit day and I will tell you why.

At first it wasn't all that exciting. I met two pit bulls, big ones, that were very friendly. And some bike riders passed us, scaring me a bit. But for most of our one hour walk, we were alone on the trail. I like the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail because it is asphalt and I don't get my paws muddy. And it runs along a creek with wetlands. It's an 8 mile trail but I am not up to more than 3 miles at a time. 

Now let me tell you about the best part of our walk. We reached the native plant nursery and took the fork that goes across a little bridge. The water runs through there and when it rains, it creates ponds. And in the ponds are fun things. :)  I got there and started looking at the ducks. They looked at me and decided to slowly move out to the middle of the pond. They weren't all that scared. I guess if I was a Retriever, they would be scared.

Here's the ducks watching me.

But all of a sudden as I walked along the bank, big things started jumping into the water. Lots of them! These were big frogs and I scared them. Once I got over MY surprise, I started looking for them, sniffing along the bank. I was having so much fun scaring frogs that I even waded into the pond, getting my paws in the mud. I thought I might be able to see where they go. I know I wasn't supposed to go wading, but it was just my paws, really! I loved sniffing for frogs. They smell like fish, kind of.

Who me? I wasn't hunting any frogs in this pond!

If I wasn't an all American Coonhound, I might be interested in eating one. But I am not a French Poodle or anything French so I decided that cooking up a bunch of frog legs was not too appetizing. But I loved scaring them!

We wandered around some more on the way back. I got tired, from all the excitement and stopped while my owner snapped pictures of the flowers. She does that kind of thing. But, between you and me, she doesn't let ME stop and eat grass when I want to. Only SHE can stop when she wants to. 

On the way back it started raining again. But we were close to home so I didn't get too wet. 

I'm ready for a nap now. I think I'll dream about chasing frogs some more!