A Nostalgic Stop At The Schroon River

"Why nostalgic?" you may well ask. Because this rest stop is quite distant from the farm and my days of traveling between Albany and the farm are over. I don't think I'm likely to stop here again. Also, of course, I missed having old Wally and Winky with us. But dogs seem to always stay in the present, so they just ran and had fun:

I'd parked quite far off the road and we had just a short trail to follow to get to the river:

And all the dogs were quite excited about it:

I was pretty darn happy myself:

We broke out of the woods and onto the sand dunes, where wild strawberries were in bloom:

Seamus, of course, went right for the water:

Clover and Daphne went sniffing to see what they could find:

They sure had fun. Decorum and restraint are not among their virtues:

Daphne momentarily considered going in the water, but then thought better of it:

And all in all it was a glorious day on the banks of the Schroon River:

But, as always, it was soon time to go and I gave the pooches a call:

We trotted back to the car. Once the dogs were all loaded up inside, I continued the journey:

A Return To Frontier Town - Part 2

We were making our first rest stop of the newly arrived spring season at the Schroon River in Frontier Town. Seamus, with his thick coat, ignored the icy cold of the water and splashed right in:

Little old Winky waddled down to the shoreline but didn't even take a drink:

And all of the dogs took a nice walk along the river's edge:

And of course they played. This shot captured Madeline in mid-run:

When it came time to leave, I called the dogs back up toward the car. Winky lagged behind:

The younger dogs ran ahead, experiencing everything as a fun adventure. But Wally and Winky needed constant encouragement:

I coaxed and clapped and waved my arms for Winky, who is deaf (or nearly so). He began making his way back toward the car - slowly, very slowly, with many side trips:

When we got back to the road, I snapped this photo of the deep water and mud which prevented us from getting back into the old village. I guess we'll have to wait for warmer, dryer weather:

I collected all the dogs into the car, but we had to wait for Winky. I eventually walked back to get him. I snapped a leash on his collar, led him back to the car and helped him jump up into the back. And then we continued on our way to the farm:

A Return To Frontier Town - Part 1

Another trip north to the farm had begun and I was very much hoping that the snow had melted at Frontier Town and we'd be able to drive in to the old village. It had indeed melted, but then the liquified snow formed deep puddles which filled the road, some places appearing to be a foot or more deep:

In fact, the old road which would have taken us back to to the abandoned village was filled with new ruts, some of them quite serious. Then I saw these logs and figured that meant that loggers had been using that road and tearing it up all winter long. And as you can see, the snow wasn't all gone yet:

There were places where the blacktop had been gouged out, leaving deep holes filled with sharp chunks:

I couldn't get all the way back to the village, but I did get close to the Schroon River shore. So I parked the car on a safe looking part of the road and walked with the dogs back toward the river:

The youngsters ran ahead with enthusiasm, but old Wally and Winky lagged behind:

And there was the Schroon River, just waiting for us to explore it anew:

The younger dogs ran down to the shoreline, lickety split. I stayed back, trying to get Wally and Winky to follow:

Finally, the two of them came meandering down the road:

Daphne and Clover, AKA "The Silly Sisters," began running and wrestling and toying with going into the water (though they never did). But we'd just arrived, so there was more to see and do. I'll post the rest of the story tomorrow:

A Winter Rest Stop At Frontier Town

Well, here it was another Sunday morning and we were headed up to the farm. I'd moved from the apartment into the farm house on our last trip, and this trip - well, I had a lot to do. But first we had to get there. I stopped, as usual, at Frontier Town at Exit 29 to give the dogs a rest stop. But this time there was a layer of slick ice all over everything and a layer of crusty snow atop that. Seamus took a spill on the ice within seconds, but quickly got up and continued on his way. Wally walked over to pee on the car's tire while Clover careened off at racetrack speed:

The sun was out, but still it was chilly and slippery. The Schroon River was just the other side of those Birch trees, but there was no beach or convenient access at this point. Clover stopped only momentarily while I snapped this photo:

Both Madeline and Clover raced toward the river and I worried briefly that they might get into something dangerous. But they were merely exploring and enjoying a good run:

We were near the performance stage where, I supposed, Frontier Town used to have Country Western singers perform. Madeline trotted across our own tire tracks as we explored the area:

We walked behind the performance stage/band shell and Fergus gave the old electrical equipment a thorough sniffing:

Of course I had to watch the two oldsters. Wally is blind and Winky is deaf, and both are prone to wandering minds. So I kept waving my arms for Winky and calling loudly for Wally. And yes, that's the Schroon River just behind the band shell:

A better look at the river. There were steep banks here, though, and we kept safely away from it:

I caught Clover running like a Greyhound across the snow. She does this all the time but, as you can imagine, it's difficult to capture it in a photo:

We circled the band shell and headed back toward the car. Madeline seemed to know just where we were going and headed there by way of the most direct route:

I turned around and saw Winky heading off in the wrong direction. I couldn't call him back because he was deaf so I began to trot off to catch up to him. That got the other dogs running that way also and totally confused old Wally. He didn't know which way to go:

But I managed to bring Winky back to the group and we once again began passing by the band shell on our way back to the car:

One last shot of big eared Clover as I loaded the other dogs back into the car. With her high energy and adventurous spirit, she often resists getting back into the car until the last moment. When all the dogs were loaded into the car, I began retracing our tire tracks through the snow and ice to get back onto the highway and continue our trip to the farm:

A Return To The Schroon River

Another Sunday morning dawned and I loaded the pooches into my little red car and began a trip north to the farm. We made it as far as Exit 29 on the Northway before I pulled off the highway to give the dogs a rest stop. I drove into the abandoned former Frontier Town and headed right for the shores of the Schroon River. The dogs knew this place and just where to go, but they had a lot of sniffing to do on their way down to the water's edge:

Wally and Madeline seemed particularly fascinated by the base of an old fence post. I'd bet it'd been the site of a lot of canine leg lifting, perhaps recently. I certainly can't be the only dog owner who has discovered this spot:

Seamus, Fergus, Daphne and Clover wasted no time getting to the river:

Madeline, as is her custom, went slowly with her head down, sniffing like a Beagle:

And then from the water's edge they all ran up to the top of a sand dune:

And back down to the pebbly shore of the Schroon River:

This time we went farther, pushing through the brush along the river just to see what was there:

There wasn't much there of interest, but I did get a nice action shot of Fergus in mid-frolic:

And then we all began our march back toward the car. As you can see, the scenery was fantastic:

Clover and Daphne took a drink of water but kept their feet dry:

And then back up to the car which was parked in the trees:

Well, there were two holdouts. The two old timers, Wally and Winky, were not moving as quickly as the youngsters. They took more time to make their way back to the car. Once all the dogs were safely back in the car and I'd counted noses several times to assure myself I hadn't left anyone behind, we resumed our journey up to the farm. But I'll post more about that tomorrow: