Wednesday, August 11, 2010

SUNNY WITH A CHANCE OF SNAKES AND LIONS

So, part of my human's brain gimpiness is forgetting that she knows stuff. But thanks to DMBY's comment yesterday, my human remembered-that-she-forgot we don't have to go all the way to Florida to escape the fog (which, apparently, we wouldn't want to do until at least October anyway). We just have to drive a few minutes south of the San Francisco airport.

Because of this good news, yesterday we headed south in search of the sun. And found it! We ended up in Belmont, at a place called Water Dog Lake Park because it's the closest south-of-SFO/off-leash place my human could think of (note: Water Dog Park is not really an off-leash place, but nobody wears leashes there).

We'd been to Water Dog Lake Park with The Man once before, but my human thought the park was "lame" and the lake was more like "a scuzzy pond", so we never went back. Well. Apparently Water Dog Lake Park is only lame if you go the way The Man took us. If you actually leave the big ugly gravel road, there are miles of very cool hikey trails.

And, according to the signs, also rattlesnakes and mountain lions.

Note that the what to do if you encounter a lion part is BLANK!?!

Since my human thought the park was small and lame, she didn't bother to look at the trail map at the entrance to the park. So our walk in the lame park turned into a pretty long hike because we got kinda "misplaced". But that was cool because our lame little walk turned into a bonafide adventure.

I even went swimming in the lake/scuzzy pond to cool off:



We're all sooooo glad DMBY mentioned the SFO/sun thing. My human got to see the sun (and shed her fleece for the first time in weeks), so she was superhappy. Dutch found a few invisible squirrels to chase, so he was happy. And I'm pretty much always happy, so I was happy too. We didn't see a single lion or rattlesnake, and that made all of us happy.

TO GET TO WATER DOG LAKE PARK:
From 280, take the Ralston Exit.
Head South on Ralston about a half mile to Hallmark (I think there's a traffic light).
Turn RIGHT on Hallmark, go down the hill and you'll see a turnoff thing on the LEFT that's so short, it could be someone's driveway. Park there!

21 comments:

Noodle said...

Yay! I'm so glad you found the sun!! And, I'm extrasuperglad you didn't run into any rattlesnakes OR mountain lions!!! Very scary.

THE PUGLET said...

Yeah, it was awesome. I think it's my human's new favorite place on earth. At least until the sun comes back.

She's trying to conquer her phone now, to get the video out. She had to google google from her phone (in the woods) yesterday just to figure out how to take a picture with it. Geesh.

Wilma said...

Oh Puglet,
You are so brave. I know no matter how light deprived I was I would be way too scared to go where snakes an lions are. Although on a recent hike near our house Sluggo pulled up next to a lake and started to pee. Then Mom saw the "stick" he was peeing on turn its head and hiss. Woo hoo, I never saw Mommy move so fast. She scooped up Sluggo and ran so fast off the trail she looked like a cartooncharacter. Thankfully I don't feel the need to find tall things to pee on. Just soft tufts of grass that tickle my tummy. Either way, I am happy you found some sun and managed to avoid any dangerous wildlife.

Stubby said...

Hi Puglet! I think you should change the title of your blog to "Puglet's Daily Adventures". You guys are always doing such cool stuff.

If Mom was there she would definitely want to see the snakes. She's not such a fan of mountain lions but she wouldn't mind seeing them.

I cannot believe you went swimming in the pond with the ducks. And you didn't even have your life jacket on. You are so brave!

Stubby xoxo

Simply Pug said...

Yay! This must have been an absolutely fun outdoor adventure you guys had!

Minnie Moo said...

I love to swim too, Puglet. But my mommy makes me wear a life jacket. I tried it once without and I started sinking even though I was trying my hardest!

DMBY said...

omgomgomgomggggggg *I* am in a Puglet post! This is very, very exciting for me.

I'm really glad my comment led to such a great adventure. Good job on your swimming!

Noodles said...

Hey Puglet!! My Mommy#2 works in RW Shores right THERE at Belmont and didn't know about the park!!!
You know why the "What to do if a Mountain Lion approaches" is blank? Cuz you are Mtn L kibble and not much you can do. I could not go out at night in Lake Tahoe because the Coyotes there see me as a snack.
You swim good. I am just learning.
Love Noodles

THE PUGLET said...

Yeah, Mini Moo - I used to have to wear a vesty thing too. My human got it for me after my first swimming/near death experience. Here's a picture:

http://bit.ly/aKcxiP

I still have to wear the vesty when I swim in the ocean or with the big dogs. Totally embarrassing.

THE PUGLET said...

Hi DMBY!

Oh yeah, you TOTALLY made my human's day yesterday. And mine! Awesome timing too because today it's soooo foggy it's kinda raining. If it wasn't for yesterday's dose of sun, my human would probably be going postal right now.

THE PUGLET said...

Heya Noodles ~

WDLP is kinda hidden. Like in a subdivision. It took Miley's mom, google and our car's talking direction lady to get there.

I'll add directions to the post, in case anyone else has trouble.

Anonymous said...

Puglet, you are about the best swimmer I've ever seen! Ferocious!

Clandestine Cats said...

Puglet and Dutch, You two are fearless! We cats got together to decide what we would do if we met a lion and our minds all went blank. We hope that is fear and not the onset of brain gimp. Since a lion would be in our family, we should be able to give you some safety advice for next time, but we is way too scared. Were you swimming with ducks or mongooses? One of those is good for snakes but we are still too scared to un-forget.

Chrissi said...

First time on your blog and I LOVE it! My humans always wanted to live in San Francisco and I got all my favourite collars from the city. Maybe sometimes we'll move to SF.
All the best from Switzerland
your new daily reader
Mathilde

3pugs2luv said...

So glad you didn't run into a lion. Our human used to live up in the hills & a lion decided to make camp in a tree in her yard. She wouldn't go out of the house until he left, almost 2 days later. As for the snakes her family lives in the desert in Texas & the used to catch them when they were kids. It's good you got to visit the sun or else your human might have turned into a real serial killer & nobody wants that.
Luv, Zoey & Phoebe

Suki said...

Hi Puglet!
So glad you had your adventure in the Sun, plus you didn't melt or see any lions or snakes!

Hugs to you and Dutch.
Suki

Noodle said...

You're human's phone takes pretty good video. What a natural swimmer you are, Puglet! Are you sure you're not part Labrador?! :)

Oh! We had sun today! It was so nice even the whales were jumpin'! (Though, I was too toasty and dozy to notice.)

Crabbie Chris said...

Wow that place seems fun. My dad says he grew up there, and often went to that park. It seems like you had a fantastic adventure and I'm really glad that you didn't meet any rattlesnakes or mountain lions. You are so brave that you would even think about hiking there! Oh Pug, you and Brother Dutch need to be careful, we don't want anything bad to happen to you!!

Simply Pug said...

Yikes! Luckily you guys weren't eaten!

Unknown said...

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww you are so cute swimming. I don't know ho to :( Aine

Anonymous said...

Puglet, I think you just wanted to show off your mad swimming skillz, so you that's why you had your human take video of you!