Visitors!

This is posted after the fact, but my MIL came to visit us two weekends ago.  I have found everyone seems to have a much better time if we make specific definite plans rather than just roaming around asking people what they want to do.

So for this weekend, I found a new dog-friendly place and a new restaurant in town to try.  There is a castle a couple of towns over that said it was dog-friendly, so I was excited to try it.  We packed up the dog and a picnic lunch and set off to see it.  Upon arriving, an ice cream truck was parked in the lot so I thought we were off to a great start (that’s only my 2^nd truck ice cream this summer, the first being on a canoe with some friends!).  As we ate the ice cream, we looked at the map and it became quickly apparent this was a hiking spot, not a castle with some fields.  I was in flip-flops and a cute white top, and immediately regretted my choice.  As we got to the castle, it turns out you can’t actually go in it at all, it’s just to look at.  I was quite disappointed since that’s the reason I came, not to hike. :)  But we found a pretty spot to picnic, then set off to finish the 4 mile hike.  It was quite muddy and Gizmo got a bit gross after her recent bath, but the views and paths and fellow hikers were very pleasant.  Quite some time later, tired and sore and sweaty, we reached the end and headed home to wash up for our nice dinner.

All in all, it was nice to get outside and would have been a wonderful hike had we been prepared and dressed properly and not brought so much stuff to carry.  I do recommend it as it had gorgeous views though!