Tuesday, May 17, 2016

My Montana Walk


This is Tucker, he's obviously a pug. He's the
first pug that I had known, although my mother
now has one as well. They have no face and
no neck but they are nice dogs.
After a few days in Kansas with my mother, the two of us flew out to Montana for my niece's graduation from pharmacy school at the University of Montana. After a flight from hell (thanks to United Airlines), we arrived a day later than planned but still in time for the planned events. My sister lives in Helena and we had the chance to get away for a walk up Mount Helena with her two dogs, Tucker and Timber.
This is Timber, a golden retriever. He and Tucker are the same
age, nine years old. 

Once we were up on the trails the dogs could go off leash.
Timber stuck very close but I feel like I've got nothing to do
unless I'm holding a leash so mostly I kept him on leash
although I did drop it occasionally to let him just drag it around.


It's spring and there were a lot of
wildflowers in bloom. I won't attempt to
name them because I can't, but they are part
of Montana's beauty this time of year.








It wasn't hot out, but my sister carried water
for the dogs.
Being a pug, Tucker has short little
legs, but he kept up very well. We
didn't set any speed records anyway.






























From this view, Mount Helena sort of looks like a smaller version of Half Dome.  It is essentially
an urban park, accessible from neighborhoods and full of trails.
Our hike this day was about 3.5 miles; we did not walk all the way to the top.
Montana is so beautiful -- the mountains, the air, and even the people. The hiking opportunities are endless and the scenery never gets boring. I would have loved to spend more time there but work and responsibilities on the home front only allowed for a quick trip this time. I'm back home now dealing with my usual post-vacation depression. That's partly just coming down from a vacation high back to the reality of daily life. Everyone in my family is so successful that I feel like an under-achiever in comparison, feeling that my life's potential isn't being realized fully, while imagining that everyone else's is. It takes a while to get back into the routine before things return to normal.


3 comments:

Julie Garrou said...

You are incredibly successful, doing the work of angels. So many wonderful dogs would be homeless or worse if it weren't for you. Like a wise person once told me, "Don't compare your insides to other peoples' outsides." I try to remember it often. Especially on Facebook, where everyone is a damn Vice President of something. LOL.

Anonymous said...

I like what the poster above said. You do amazing things for all these dogs you give second chances to. You should never feel unsuccessful. You save these dogs and give them new lives. That is a pretty incredible achievement in my eyes.

hammer1924 said...

Ditto to the comments above. I know so much what you mean, Brent. Post vacation depression gets me every time. Worse as I have gotten older. So many beautiful dogs would have suffered without your expertise, good judgement, patience, care . . . Victoria