I took a mental health day today.  It’s just the dogs and me today and I decided that I needed a day to do something that I really love to do, (besides going wine tasting).  I mulled over all the different things I would really love to do if I had a day all to myself.  The winner hands down is taking the dogs hiking someplace pretty rugged and primitive.  There is a place not far from here that fits the bill perfectly.  The only problem is that I’ve only been there once and am not sure how exactly to get there, so I came up with the most logical solution.  I co-oped a friend of ours that takes his dogs there all the time to take us along. 

I’m so excited, the weather will be great, 58 degrees this morning with a high of 70.  The dogs are already out of control, using the front room as their personal wrestling arena, killing time chewing on each other’s faces.  I know, we’re really warped.

I promised that I would wait until 8:45 before calling our friend, but could only make to 8:30.  Thankfully he was up and had started on his first cup of coffee.  I loaded up the dogs and headed his way.  The morning was beautiful.  Sunny and cool, perfect for a hike.  The dogs were so excited, pacing around the back of the station wagon on the drive over.  We parked the cars, unloaded the dogs, he brought one of his, Stella, a Belgian Malinois mix.  She weighs in at about 65 pounds and the sweetest little girl.  The dogs could barely contain their enthusiasm, all the smells calling them, teasing them.  They were in sensory nirvana.  They all headed off down the road, sniffing and peeing on every weed, AJ immediately took a dump right in the middle of the road.  The first of many this morning.  That’s my AJ. 

Charlie ran back and forth across the path and into the underbrush and woods around us, always on the hunt searching for a promising scent.  What surprised us both was Stella was right on his heels the entire hike, following him everywhere.  Charlie acted like they had been hunting buddies forever.  For Charlie, that’s really something.  AJ and Orso stayed pretty close to the path and us, not wandering too far, but we would have call Charlie and Stella back often.  Neither one of us wanted to try out my de-skunking kit. 

We were the only ones out there.  It was wonderful.  A truly refreshing, relaxing and invigorating mental health day.  I can’t wait to go again.