Mabel's Excellent Adventure Part Two

As soon as we hit the river bottom, within a few feet, it was obvious I had made a very muddy mistake. But an encounter with leash walkers (my favorite curse word) was even lower on my list of things I didn't want to deal with on this gorgeous Sunday, so through the mud we trekked.

Mabel was unfazed and I did O.K. hopping from rock to rock. About 100 feet in, a familiar faces popped over the levee to say hi... Max's mom and Joe's mom were up there. Then Max popped up. As soon as he saw his beloved, he was off and running. I scampered as quick as I could for the end of the levee... Max is a jumper and I knew I would be covered in mud when he got to me.

Luckily, he was so distracted by his girlfriend, I didn't get too much mud on my clothes. But then, I am not the female Max gets all excited over. He and Mabel took off on a good romp.


They ran up the levee.
They ran down the levee.

They picked up a stick...

and teased each other mercilessly with it...

until they both grabbed hold...

and tugged and...

tugged...

and tugged some more.


At this point, three teen-aged girls arrived. They were all wearing flip flops; this is not the place for flip flops. They were all overly dramatic and Max's mom and I were both dumbfounded with both our dogs simply would not leave these girls alone. The girls sat down on a fallen tree, the dogs sat at their feet. The girls stood up, the dogs stood on their feet! (See? What did I just say about flip flops???)


Hoping to distract the pups from the girls, we tried to get the dogs to hike with us... which lasted exactly 30 seconds until Mabel and Max rounded the levee and, now hot and tired from all that tug-of-war, discovered a giant mud puddle! Mabel had to lay down in it while Max skirted the perimeter (making sure his girl was safe!).

They explored, hung out and sniffed a bit, and then...they found a stick!!!
And much more romping ensued!

Part three: Mabel ditches me for more interesting humans while I encounter an old friend on the trail....