I am finally getting around to posting my Keeping Up With K9 Kamp activity for August. This month has been super busy with B&B guests almost the entire month, Mom’s work has been out of control, and we have been trying to finish my book so everything will be in place for the launch on September 19th. With all these “going ons” we decided to just combine one of our Snoopy hunting trips with a walk in a new place which was on the list of qualifying activities.
Mom thought it would be fun to walk down along the Mississippi River, so we stopped at a parking lot in the Great River Passage, and took a walk for a good hour around the Crosby Farm Regional Park. All of us love finding new places to walk and Katie is more energetic too on new trails. We took a crash course, and learned that the entire park with its 736 acres is the largest national park in the St. Paul park system. The park contains 6.7 miles of paved trails along the Mississippi River’s wooded bottom lands.
There was only one flaw in our plan…what do you find in those wooded bottomlands? Reptiles! What is my mom terrified of? Reptiles! When we were about half an hour in a snake slithered over the path, which I found interesting. Mom let out a huge scream, and yanked me to the moon and back. Some other walkers saw this occur, and assured Mom the snake was harmless, but that was it. Once we see something like that we need to get out of there immediately, so we did not do the entire trail, only about 3 ½ miles. Rats, mice, spiders, just about any creature is fine but NO snakes. Mom had some bad experiences with snakes as a kid and she can’t deal with the sight of them.
Aside from that reptile issue, we did have a nice walk. It was a hot day out but most of the trail was in the shade, so we did not overheat.
The river was gorgeous with all the lily pads and grass stuff. Katie and I took a break to admire it a bit.
Lots of larger trees had fallen down in the park, and I thought climbing up on one would be fun.
We sat next to some pretty yellow wild flowers.
There was a shaded area with a nice bench for us to take a break on.
All in all it was really a fun place to go but we will probably never go back because of the snake sighting. Actually, Mom may take us back in the winter when those terrible creatures don’t come out. We would like to go back.
I am joining in the FitDog Friday blog hop sponsored by SlimDoggy, Peggy’s Pet Place and To Dog With Love Stop by and see what other dogs are doing to stay fit!
Yikes Snakes, we have Adders in our woods so I’m not allowed to go in the thicket. Looks lovely Emma xx00xx
Mollie and Alfie
It was lovely until Mom freaked out!
Lovely place except for the icky “reptiles” That’s PAWsome that Katie was w/ you. Love your photos n Happy SMILES. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar
We always do things together, Mom wouldn’t have the heart to leave one of us behind on a nice walk 🙂
We agree lovely apart from those sneaky snakes. Have a fabulous Friday.
Best wishes Molly.
I don’t see a need for those nasty beings in this world!
Hi Emma, too bad your mom doesn’t like snakes, I think they are pretty cool. Although we have some dangerous ones out here so we have to be careful. Thanks for joining the Hop – hope you get to go back to that park cause it looks pretty nice.
We have a few places on our winter list because of the “summer dangers”. I think Mom’s second worst fear would be if I would grab a snake. She might abandon me if I did that!
Too bad about the snake. That is a beautiful park and your mom got some pretty pictures. I think we would like that park (despite the s****). 🙂
We will revisit when it gets cold out I am sure.
I’ll bet it would be lovely in the fall, and you probably wouldn’t see any snakes then! I think you should go back. It’s beautiful there!
Bunny
On a cold fall day maybe…but then you never know what is under all the fallen leaves…crazy fear, we know.
Snakes don’t bother me, but I completely understand the feeling. I freak out from bats. I have had 2 scary experiences with bats in my home. The first time was about 10 years ago. Having it happen again last week (after so many years!) came as a big surprise! I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night and it ‘swooped’ me twice! Long story… but in the end a friend who loves bats came over and took it outside for me.
Mom had a bat in the house when she was a little girl, but hasn’t seen one since. I guess you could walk that nice trail as we did not see any bats 🙂
I would of done the same thing as your Mom if I saw a snake! No thank you!
Oh good, then she is not as odd as Katie and I thought 🙂
That looks like a way cool place to walk….minus the snakes. A winter walk would be great.
I think that is now officially a winter walking only place.
Sorry the snakes were scaring your mom. We all have phobias about something. I for one am terrified of hornets and wasps. 🙁
Correct, everyone has their fear, some may seem silly but they are real fears.
See I learned something from you Emma. I did not know thar snakes only come out in the summer. You are a good teacher.
Nothing lives in MN in the winter! Maybe there are winter snakes but not here.
You sure go to some fun places but the snakes would creep us out too!
They are weird creatures but we are kind of scared too since Mom screams and jumps all around.
You mom is like Indiana Jones, hates snakes! Looks well worth the effort though.
Never saw movie because she heard about the snake scene!
I love the picture of you watching the river go by. But maybe best of all is resting on the bench at the end! Any hike that ends that way is good for me. Have a great weekend!
Thanks, it was fun going somewhere new.
Eeeks! Snakes! Other than that, it looks like a lovely walk! Have a great weekend!
Diane and Rocco
Exactly…EEEKS!!! We will go back in the winter.
Looks like a beautiful place, except for the snakes! We hate to see snakes here – especially since they are often rattlers here. We saw a rattler once while hiking here! The hubs and the beagle were out in front and saw it first. The hubs screamed like a little girl, and the beagle jumped about a foot in the air! We turned around and headed right home!
You are my kind of people and Beagle! They are sinister, rotten, scary creatures! I think we will enjoy it there in the winter – no fear walking 🙂
What a gorgeous walk! I think Maya and Pierson would find a snake particularly interesting too. 🙂
We aren’t allowed to investigate. Mom has said she would abandon us if we ever had a snake in our mouths. She would do anything in the world for us but I do take this threat seriously!
3.5 miles is a good distance to walk before seeing a snake and turning back. Good thing your Mom didn’t see any on the way back. She might have turned around again and you would have been stuck in an eternal yo-yo of walking. Of course, since you liked it there you probably wouldn’t have minded 🙂
LOL! Believe me, her eyes were glued to the path the rest of the way back to the car! Darn thing ruined the fun but we will go back in the winter.
Looks like a nice day! Your mom wouldn’t like it at our house. We see reptiles pretty frequently. I’m kind of like your mom tho. I don’t like them and they make me go the other way!
No reptiles for her, no way! She doesn’t like being in Florida much when she goes there for vacation because she is afraid of all the creepy reptiles!
Snakes – yikes! Kayo and I have seen a couple where we hike but have heard they’re not poisonous in that area. We once saw one peeking at us from in the bushes; that freaked me out! You’re better than me though – I can’t deal with rats, mice or spiders. Yuck! But it’s too hard to avoid all of them so we just gotta deal with it – but I haven’t had any particularly bad experiences with any so I’m sure that makes it extra unique!
Our snakes aren’t poisonous either, but Mom doesn’t care. She is terrified one might touch her and I think she would die from that! Furry critters, no problem, bugs/spiders, don’t love them but no fears. Happy Friday!
What a great adventure. Our hoomans have been woodland walking a little recently and they said it’s really refreshing!
Nutty, Nacho, Buddy & Basil
xxxx
We love to explore new places!
Oh no….I saw your comments on another blog about how your Mom felt about snakes, so I knew as soon as you saw that one, it would be all over! Well, it looks like a nice place to walk, and that you still got a good walk in before it had to end. Winter will be nice there!
I think winter will be awesome there, just not as green!
Great looking park. The fourth picture is my favorite. Have a great weekend and more fun outside.
The weather has gotten better so I am sure we will.
Too bad about the snakes. We’ve seen some before on hiking trails and do our best to avoid them. We actually gave away a snake toy because we were afraid that Mr. N would think that it was fun to play with snakes.
Oh heavens, we could never have a snake toy in the house. Glad you don’t have one anymore! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
It’s a cool place, I would like to sit with you on this bench. But Snakes? Uh Oh my mom would run like a lightning LOL
That is pretty much what happened except my sister can’t run that much anymore so it was a fast walk out of there!
Hi’ya! It’s nice meeting you guys (I found your blog on PBU). That area seems like a nice spot to visit- I don’t mind snakes too much (as long as they’re not venomous, of course), but I can’t stand spiders!!
Thank you for stopping by! Everyone has something they can’t handle, for my mom, it is snakes.
Emma, that looks like such a beautiful park to walk/hike around. I am so sorry that mom saw a snake and ended your adventure early. I sure hope you get to go back when those icky creatures are in hiding!
Have a terrierific weekend!
Oz
We will go back in the winter for sure!
Hi Emma….It’s so nice to meet you! My brudder Max (DaOdderWeenie) thinks you’s pretty cute!
🙂
Hi, thanks for stopping by! I am blushing under my facial fur a bit because of your brother 😉 Have a pawsome day!
Cool. Another new friend in Minnesota! I am a cat and I was born here. Nothing as exciting as you and your world travels! But Minnesota is very very nice, and the Twin Cities are very chill.
Thanks for stopping by. I have two cats from the Golden Valley Humane Society. Sometimes they are on my blog too, especially my cat bro Bert as he behaves more like a dog and likes to hang out with me. Nice to meet you!
What a beautiful area, Emma! And so nice to see Katie in the pics with you. You two are both such gorgeous ladies.
Tell your mom that it’s okay about the snakes. We all have our “thing”. For example, we don’t ever go to woodsy places because I have a severe phobia of ticks. It’s too bad, because there’s lot of neat exploring that the wieners miss out on because of that. All other bugs, meh… whatever. But I can’t even be in the same room/area with a tick.
Oh dear, then MN would be troublesome for you too. After June there aren’t as many but the beginning of summer they are all over.
Looks like a great walk! And mom agrees on the snake thing, can’t even look at pictures! Love Dolly
No, no photos, they burn into her mind and it is all she sees…awful things!
I’d love to see the Mississippi. It looks really wide in those photos. I love the one of you and Katie taking it easy on the bench.
The Mississippi is pretty wide in places. Mom has been to where it starts in Northern Minnesota and it is pretty small and shallow she tells me.
It is one of the benefits of winter walking….no snakes. I would scream too, but not too loudly but I don’t think I am as afraid as mom is. Poor thing, I can imagine if I’d seen what she saw I would feel the same way.
Yes, it is definitely bad with her and those creatures! Boy does she have a set of screaming lungs too!