I have heard people complain about the weather and what appears to be the delay of spring. On the one hand I agree with them. When the weather is nice, I get to go outside and lay down in the sun. That is one of my favorite things to do. On the other hand, though, when the weather is nice, my mom, Wendi, gets it in her head that we (Dad, me and her) need to get out and enjoy the nice day. That is all fine and good, because I agree with her — until she wears me out!
Saturday, April 21 is a case in point. When we got up and saw that it was going to be a nice day — Mom didn’t have to wear a parka to walk me — she convinced my Dad, Bobby, that they needed to go somewhere. Dad agreed, but first he had to go to Triway High School for his work. Mom and I went with him. While he was in the building (which I never got to go into!), Mom and I walked all over the grounds. I loved it! This high school sits back from the road quite a bit and has a lot of land. I got to walk by their baseball field and down the driveway that leads to the road. Mom made us stop to get pictures by their sign. I’m not sure if it was for me or for her or for friends, but I let her pick me up for the shots. Though I prefer to keep my feet on firm land and my nose planted on the ground, I understand I’m pretty photogenic. So I let her do the selfies.
After Dad was finished, Mom told him what she had in mind. She wanted us to go to Charles Mill Lake. Both Mom and Dad have never gone there before. Mom was interested in checking it out because she had seen signs on State Route 30 for the lake for all the years she has traveled that road. She was telling me that the last time she and Dad were driving home from Mansfield to Wooster, she mentioned to Dad about needing to bring me out to the lake to visit it. Because none of us had ever been there, we didn’t know what to expect.
My first impression (and Mom’s, too, because I checked with her later) was that Charles Mill Lake was huge! It isn’t that far off of the highway, but unless you know about it, you would never guess there was this water wonderland nearby. They have a campground, which from what I could tell was full of campers. What I couldn’t tell was whether they were all just there for the weekend or if it is like my Uncle Shaun and Aunt Randi’s campground, where campers stay all year round. We drove past the campground toward the beach area. Mom ended up parking on the side of the road, because a sign said she could do that, and then the real fun began. We got out and walked to the beach.
There was so much to see (well actually sniff) that I was quite busy. The road that takes you to the beach was closed for traffic, but we could walk on it. So we walked all the way to the edge of the water several times as we made our trek to where the beach was. The beach itself wasn’t open, no one but waterfowl really care for being in the water when it is still cold. We did see a few boats out on the lake, though.
Mom kept saying how peaceful it was out there. While I imagine once the lake is full of boats and the beach full of kids, it might be a lot less peaceful. On a day like Saturday, when spring is just peaking its head out of the sand, it was nice and quiet. We walked over a footbridge to a kind of island.
After several photo shots with me as the model (and Mom sometimes), we stopped at a bench to just soak in the scenery and rest. It was very nice.
We then walked back to the car, with me sniffing all the way. We saw another couple with their dog, but I just ignored them. The other dog got a little vocal, but you know me, I kept my cool and went about my business. Dad told Mom that we should probably head home.
I think they had planned to go somewhere else in the afternoon. But as Mom was heading back out to the highway, a sign pointed in the opposite direction for Charles Mill Lake Dam. If you know my mom even a little bit, you know she took the road toward the dam. I guess there is something about water that pulls her too it. You can ask Grandpa. He would always tell her don’t go near the water, but she never listened!
At the Dam there were more people there. But you couldn’t hear them because for one thing they were all fishing and for another thing the water coming out of the dam was much too loud to hear anyone unless they were right beside you. It is kind of interesting to consider how calm Charles Mill Lake is on the park side and how fast moving and frenetic it is after the dam.
Dad got my picture by some rapids. Then we headed up the steep incline to the top of the dam. From the parking area, we could see there were some steps and what appeared to be more concrete steps leading up to the top of the dam. However, in actuality it was just a concrete barrier. That didn’t keep Mom from walking on it!
We walked all the way to the top. We looked over at the water (or at least Mom did) and then at the scenery below. It was a really nice day to be out. It wasn’t cold, but it also wasn’t too hot — which for Mom, that is a real plus.
We then had to walk back to the car. For me, the walk down the hill was no big deal. I guess for Mom it was a little more scary. She told me she worried about slipping and falling. Dad didn’t tell me if he was worried, but he’s my dad, so he probably wouldn’t tell me anyhow.
Once we were back on flat ground, I had to traverse some of the larger rocks by a little brook that comes off of the dam water. (Oh yeah, there was another footbridge we got to cross both ways.)
After that we headed home. I had an exciting day and though I was tired, I just couldn’t sit or lay down while in the car. You know, I’ve got to be ready to let Mom and Dad know if a semi-truck is near us. By the time we got home, I was so tired! Mom and Dad must have been, too, because we headed to the bedroom for a nap. I usually only let them nap for about on hour on the weekend when the weather is nice because like I said, I like to lay outside in the sun. But not on Saturday! Nope, on Saturday, after walking all over Triway High School property and Charles Mill Lake Park and Dam, I was exhausted. Mom and I slept about 2 hours. Dad slept for almost 3. I guess I wasn’t the only one tired!
Really I shouldn’t complain because my parents spoil me. They could have decided to do something that didn’t include me, yet the didn’t. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, when they decided to adopt me and make this my forever home, I basically won the dog shelter lottery! I can’t wait to see what other adventures they have in store for me this spring — should it ever decide to come and stay for awhile!
