We walked from Baxter to Brainerd on the Paul Bunyan State Trail last weekend when we were up north. Our intention was to go for a long walk, and since we didn’t know which way we should go, we ended up walking to Brainerd. The total round trip was about seven miles and just under two hours walking, and stopping along the way for photos. The leaves are past peak up there, but it was still very pretty.
After a couple of hours in the car driving up north, Olivia and I were ready for some exercise. Olivia wouldn’t even turn around for a photo when we first started walking! The first part of our walk is the same place we walked with our friends back in July when we were up north. It’s fun to see how the trees and look of the trail has changed.
This is the bench we took photos on in the summer. Now it is in a mess of leaves. The afternoon was warm, in the upper seventies so our tongues were hanging out a lot.
Here is the point where we decided to go into downtown Brainerd. Mom hasn’t been there since she was a kid and thought it would be fun to see it again. In a car, you miss so much, but on foot/paws, you see much more.
Right as we entered the city limits we came upon the police station and this nice officer was standing out in front of it. I think Olivia was amazed at how still the guy could stand!
We walked along, heading for the downtown area and found a giant turtle on the sidewalk, of all things! It was not a snapping turtle and it was happy to pose for a photo with us. Oh heavens! What is that photo bombing us from behind the wall? Yikes!
Oh, I guess it is just a dinosaur, and a small one at that. It too was super friendly and happy to pose with a couple of tourist hounds. What a crazy town having these wild creatures hanging out on a corner!
The water tower was where Mom really wanted to get to, and we made it. This thing is like a hundred years old and she remembers seeing it as a little girl.
It is actually a historic place, so I guess it is really special.
After roaming the streets for a bit, we were ready to head back out of town. It was a bit odd as there weren’t many people in the city, and we sure didn’t see any other dogs.
On the edge of town, we came upon the fire department and thought another photo would be nice. This dude was almost more stiff than the police officer we saw earlier.
Shortly after this photo, Olivia went off road and ended up with sand burrs all over three paws, legs, and in her ears and beard. She couldn’t walk because they hurt so bad. Mom stopped and picked over fifty off of her. It took a long time, and Mom still has some of them embedded in her fingers. The rest of the walk, we had to be on short leashes! If you never had a sand burr you are lucky as they are like sharp little knives.
We see this bridge in photos a lot, so we took a shot of it for ourselves.
Next we actually crossed over it and stopped for one more photo. At this point, we were all ready to just be back at our car I think!
Aside from the sand burr fiasco, thank you, Olivia, it was a super fun walk! Hopefully we will be up in the area again next year for some trials and we can try going the other direction and see where we end up! Exploring new places is always a ton of fun!
My GBGV Life is joining Living Laughing and Barking in Our Backyard for their Nature Friday blog hop.
Great Post! Those burrs- ouch!!
Mom still has a piece of one in a finger and can’t get it out. It was more painful for her than for me I think because she had to use her bare hands to pull each one out.
Hey we were able to post this morning! Mom is using her iPad. Maybe that makes a difference? About your post — I’m is so impressed you did 7 miles in two hours. I’m so slow I would probably take a hundred hours. My brother could probably keep up with you girls! Have a great day. Your friend Lilly
We don’t know what is causing this comment mess, but it is very frustrating for you all and for us. We have seen a couple comments from people who said they couldn’t comment, so maybe it is getting better? Try clearing the cache in your browser where you normally comment, that is a tip our tech person gave us. We are fast walkers and Mom doesn’t let us stop and dilly dally around, so we are moving except for photos. It was a fun walk and we all crashed early in our hotel room. Happy Friday!
That is some walk. Burr are bad for human and dogs.
Especially this kind. They are quite painful.
That place has a lot if interesting statues! We haven’t experienced sand burrs, but we have experienced goat’s head burrs – super ouch.
We never heard of goat head burrs. All burrs are bad, but they love our furs.
There sure is a lot of interesting things to see there, except for those nasty burrs!
Those burrs were really bad. Mom was not thrilled at all.
OUCH! we ALL hate sand burs!! but at least you got a turtle, dinosaurs, ancient buildings, and statues in; as well as bridges and benches. Tell your mom to watch that bur site. It can get infected really quickly and require medical help. that is what happened to our mom many years ago, but she still remembers.
Chablis
It was bad the first couple days, but has since relaxed a bit. Burrs are nasty!
What a great walk. Gail and I are so happy that you enjoy exploring new places, we do too, and if we can’t go there ourselves, we love tagging along via cyberspace with you guys.
Too bad about those horrid burrs. But that’s what moms with opposable thumbs are for, right?
Toodle pip!
Bertie.
Yep, sometimes not having thumbs is a good thing! Hope you all are having a nice fall!
What a superFun walk and the leaves are just beautiful in that first photo! These sand burrs sound NASTY!
Don’t ever get sand burrs, that is all I can say. They are really bad!
Beautiful fall colors. Beautiful pups too. Sand burrs are not fun at all.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. Scritches to the pups. ♥
They are so painful it is crazy! The walk was still nice overall!
What a beautiful hike, and such cool new friends you got top meet!!
We have to be careful for foxtails in the sandy soil up here…
Hopefully Olivia will stay away from those sand burs from now on!!
We’ve heard foxtails are really bad and dangerous. I don’t think we have any of those around here.
So sorry about the sand burrs, i am glad you had a mostly fun time.
Lucky for Olivia, Mom ended up with most of the pain from the sand burrs, but they didn’t ruin our adventure.