The Great Hike

Missaroo and I went hiking today, and that's not a term I use lightly. We went on a real hike up and around Tubbs Hilll in beautiful Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. It took us about an hour, but we weren't in a hurry and we did stop once to let the Missaroo have a rest. I worry about her getting too hot as you know, but today it was 75 and sunny with a light breeze and plenty of shade. It was the perfect day for our first hike.

It was hard, but not in an overwhelming kind of way. It pushed us to our limits without being too difficult to overcome. It felt like quite the accomplishment to say we did it, but unlike climbing a mountain, something I would definitely do again and soon! The best part was I think it also mentally challenged us more than our typical neighborhood walk. Missy and I had to think about each step we took. We couldn't just wander along, we had to think about the next step, the next rock, and yet we could still take in the beauty that surrounded us. We worked hard just moving through the hill so that the hard work was effortless because we didn't have to think "what can we do to push ourselves." We were just doing it by being there. Walking was a harder task than it would be normally just high tailing it down a busy street.

I loved every moment of it. Even when we came across other dogs it was much better than when we see them in the neighborhoods. Everyone there, but me of course, had a friendly dog. None of them barked at the Missaroo, so it became much easier to pull her off to the side and make her behave while the other dogs went by. For as many dogs as we saw, that's the least amount of barking she's done in a really long time. Now, I also think part of that was because she was tired and barked the entire way there in the car. We saw A LOT of motorcycles. I mean, a ridiculous amount of them. Thank goodness for her seat belt restraint.

I'm sure there are still doubters out there who don't believe I love where I live. I might never be able to convince those people because they just choose to believe what they want. But let me tell you, as we walked along our hike today I couldn't help but think, the Missaroo is NOT a Chicago dog. She's a Northwest gal, who loves the great outdoors and our great hike. She also has a great sense of direction. It proved true today. Every time we came to a turn or curve in the path, I would stop and look to see which way I wanted to go. Most of the time I was kind of undecided, but the Miss knew which way she wanted to go and since we were in no hurry and didn't have a map, I let her chose. She was right every time. She's quite the navigator.

Another bonus from today, when I talked to my mom on the phone she knew EXACTLY where I was talking about. She even described it to me! She said, if you're looking at the lake from the resort it's off to your left! Yes! She was right! It was a pretty cool feeling that I could share what I did with my Missaroo and my mom today. What a great hike!