Monday in the park

It seems that the best of spring weather has hit Barrie -- at least for this week. Monday dawned sunny and warm which means it's time for Roxie and I to do some serious walking. I armed myself with two doggy bags (not the eating kind), a power bar, my MP3 player and my cell phone, put on 3 layers of clothing and my walking shoes and we were off.

Monday was the perfect day for walking. It was about 18 degrees Celsius with a light breeze. I ditched my light jacket after the first km (I really only wore it for the pockets). On our way to the park, Roxie faced off with a few dogs, did the dancing-on-two-feet-hug-me trick for some other strollers, chased a few squirrels and used up one bag. I had a nice conversation with a senior and his son (I love seniors, they always say the nicest things to you -- I don't get called a gorgeous young lady very often), checked out a house I'd like to buy (until I found out it cost $510k) and dodged construction vehicles.

Sunnidale Park in Barrie is 70 acres of dog heaven. It has open fields, forests, streams, squirrels, friendly humans, and more. We set out to find the Dog Off Leash Area which is hidden in the middle of the trees, across the stream and down a big hill from where we usually walk. After we finished our trek, we saw that most of the dogs were of the big variety and Roxie is not particularly fond of them. Oh, she'll act all tough -- barking and snapping at them -- but if they come back at her, she'll wimp out and hide behind me.

So we huffed and puffed our way back up the hill (okay, I huffed and puffed, Roxie just panted) on the path of some scent that my dog just had to follow. On the way, we saw a hiker, lot of trilliums, squirrels and the first black flies of the season. This hike through the woods is the reason I brought my cell phone. The last time we did this, I realized (after the huffing and puffing) that noone knew where we were and I had just seen 127 Hours (watch the movie, you'll know what I mean). So this time, my son could phone me and ask me to pick him up. This was not the kind of emergency contact I had in mind.

After 1-1/2 hours, I finally let Roxie take a break so we found a bench where we met a nice guy who talked to us for a while (this is Barrie, we talk to strangers and it's not creepy). I chowed down on my power bar and Roxie ate grass. I guess that's the all-natural energy boost for dogs. The  problem with sitting down is that it's a lot harder to get going again, even with the power bar. We started off taking the long way home and Roxie was having none of it (she stops every five minutes and rolls around on the grass until I give up and go the way she wants).

This is when the MP3 player becomes important. With a 2km uphill walk back ahead of us, I needed something to put a little spring in my step. Roxie, the super poodle, was still going strong although she did stop chasing buses and snarling at other dogs. Luckily for me, my trusty Walkman served me up some Colin James (Just Came Back), Metric (Gold Guns Girls), Ramones (Rock 'n' Roll High School), Vampire Diaries (Cousins) and some Hippy, Hippy Shake (the Fab Four) to finish off our walk.

Tomorrow's forecast is bright and sunny. Any of my Barrie buddies up for a walk in the park?