Ausable River Rest Stop

Another trip up to the farm had begun on a Sunday morning. I drove right past the Frontier Town exit and on to the High Peaks exit, merged onto Route 73 and headed for our favorite little campsite on the Ausable River. I let the dogs out to run and boy, were they more than ready!:

It's difficult to get photos of little Madeline unless I tell her to sit because she otherwise scurries around with her nose to the ground. So I got her to sit on an old log beside a row of Eastern White Cedar seedlings, but even then her active little nose was following every scent which wafted by:

The two old timers, Winky and Wally, were dragging their feet as usual and I had to keep walking back to bring them along. Winky is showing his age more markedly with every passing week. I do think his crabby personality is finally thawing, though:

Wally has a sparkling personality but very little eyesight. He still needs occasional reminders that he's with a group, not alone:

And little Madeline sat on a bed of moss, all of her own accord. I had to record the moment:

Winky was very slow, but really tried to keep up. In fact, he did better than usual:

Daphne and Clover, as you've likely guessed, were busy racing each other up and down the trails at full, breakneck speed:

So I grabbed Daphne as she sped by and sat her down on a rock to cool her heels:

It was soon time to go and I called all the dogs back toward the car:

Fergus and Seamus arrived first, probably because they were the most eager to please:

I got everyone loaded up into the car and and counted noses. But where was Winky?:

I walked up to the car window and looked down and there he was, staring up at me. All was well, the dogs were in place and we resumed our trip up to the farm: