Exploring New and Reconnecting with Old - Takoda and I (Plus a Smoothie Recipe!)
Today's Adventure
Today we hiked our favorite trail but started on the red trail instead of the blue! We usually do an up and back on the blue trail but decided to do the whole 10.5mi loop today on new trails we haven't explored! Boy was it fun AND exhausting!
Oh, any way Hi! That's me and my dog Takoda to the right! He's a 3.5 year old golden retriever. We decided to name him Takoda, which is Native American for "Friend to Everyone" and boy does he live up to that! His alto ego though is Chief Crazy Horse! You can you use your imagination on that one!
We just love hiking, there is nothing better and freer then being outside with nature and exploring new areas and getting away from the hustle and bustle. Today we did just that! Check out our map!
The hike started out really well! After the first mile, I realized we were in the sun for the better part of it. That didn't change for about he next 2 miles. Poor Takoda, he is not a fan of the sun, he thinks he will melt. We walked in as much shade as we could.
Yes boy, we parked over there, but we have to hike all the way around the reservoir to get back! Takoda looking out on the bridge that goes over the reservoir. Little did we know it was going to take the next 3.5 hours to get back to the car!
See what I meant by in the sun? Luckily it was still early morning at that time and the temperatures were not too bad, but I'm not the one with golden hair every where! It must have been hot for poor Takoda!
But have no fear, Takoda always finds his random dipping spots. He will lay and relax in any bit of water he finds! This dog loves the water! Even in the middle of winter he's been known to lay in water that must be freezing! I guess it feels like a slice from heaven for this guy!
This area reminds me of an old greek proverb, "A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." I imagine this will be a beautiful forest some day! Maybe my son will bring his kids here in 30-40 years to see it!
After traveling the red trail for miles, we hooped on the connector trail to the perk trail and then finally to the blue trail! It was a lot longer then what I expected. I was getting a little worried I didn't bring enough water. Takoda and I had to conserve a little bit until we reach the blue trail. Then I knew we would be able to refill at a spring a few miles into the blue trail if we needed to.
Just loves the water! He couldn't help himself! A nice cool down after about 6 miles of hiking. But we were on a mission to complete the loop so we didn't stay and play long!
This is more like it for Takoda! These are the trails he loves. All shade little sun and watching the critters run around and climb up trees. I really enjoy it as the birds cheer us along! By this time I could tell Takoda was getting tired! He was really slowing up, but he was a trooper and pushed through! Not without more dips in the water of course!
We finally reached the spring and had a well deserved rest! I would have taken a pictures but my phone DIED! At least I knew we were a mile from the car. But we made it! Now, Takoda can barely move! He deserves his rest!
I hope you enjoyed our adventure as much as we did! Thanks for reading!
Of course there is nothing better then an after hike smoothie, so as promised here is the smoothie recipe! Enjoy!
Green Smoothie
Ingedients
- 1 Frozen Banana
- 1cup Almond Milk
- 1 tbsp Ground Flax Seed
- 1 tbsp Peanut Butter
- Splash Vanilla
- Pinch Cinnamon
- Handful of Spinach Greens
Process all ingredients in blender. Serve immediately and enjoy!
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What a great day! The pictures are wonderful and the smoothie sounds delish! Your pup is gorgeous! <3 Thanks for sharing!
Hey! Hey! Thanks for stopping by! The smoothie is delish! My favorite right now! And Takoda yea, he's a handsome dude and I think he knows it! ;)
Of course! Look how his dusty blonde hair sways in the wind! He'd be a fool to think otherwise! ;)
Nothing in the world like a happy pup! This is the first time in my life that I haven't had a dog, both Brian and mine passed before coming here (his was only 4, but mine was 13 and had had an awesome life), and it feels strange still to open my fridge, wrinkle the cheese wrapper, and not have a dog running from somewhere in the house to get some :)
I make a smoothy identical to that, but instead of spinach (which sounds awesome btw), I add an avocado. It makes any smoothie so creamy without altering the flavor much at all and obviously adding all kinds of goodness!
After not having a dog for 12 years I truly appreciate everything about him! They truly are man's best friend. He goes every where with us! I feel bad for him this week. He is still recovering from the hike...he ripped up his paw pads pretty good! He is getting cabin fever though! Wants to jump back on the trails!! But his paws need a little more time before we head back out!
I know what you mean after losing a dog and you never truly feel the same without them... I hope to keep putting smiles on peoples faces like Takoda does to me with updates of our travels!
Great idea of the avocado! I make a variation of this smootie to make it a little sweeter, I'm sure I'd share it in upcoming updates! :)
A great hike with a great dog. It seems like your dog is like mine, love hiking and take a bath when possible :-)
A bath, as in swimming and puddles? Yes! A real bath forget about! I had to drag him to the tub last week! No lie! Thanks for stopping by!
My son and I went to the reservoir today too, he is a water baby too! He ran right down and jumped in!!!
A pretty overcast day but we didn't let that stop us from enjoying some time together!!! I didn't get in as many miles as you and Takoda but I did get a nice walk in!
Awesome! Hiking/walking/sitting near a lake is one of the coolest things! Sounds like you enjoyed your day! My poor Takoda pushed a little too hard. His paws pads got a little ripped up. I had to play vet, and he will be out of commission for a little bit. He'll be back on his paws in no time!
I love the photo with Takoda chilling in the pond. Looks so happy! :)
Great call on the peanut butter in the smoothie! Fricking love it I could put PB on anything lol
He loves chilling in water! I think I may have pushed him to his limit, he's be laying around ever since! But today he's been a little more peppy.
Can't go wrong with PB!
That's great! I just drove to my brothers today and he has a German Shepard and was a blast playing with the bugger! Hope you two have lots of awesome adventures this summer :)
Looks like great fun was had! -smylie2005
Thanks for the resteem! :)
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Awww your dog looks so content with life! More Takoda :D
And nice green smoothie :P
He loves life on the trail! Thanks for stopping by! One of my favorite smoothie!! :)
Looks like a fun adventure and yummy smoothie! Thanks again for helping to get my fathers work out there more. And.. Sorry to interrupt on your page in an unrelated way but I tagged you the other day in an official post on my page in regards to the IFC finals and haven't heard back from you yet so I wanted to try to get in touch with you on your most recent blog post and see if you'll be available to compete in the sweet 16 finals?
If you'll be too busy or something like that you can delegate someone else to play for you and you can share the prize however you want together if they win or whatever, or we can pick the next highest ranked person as well if you don't want to delegate to anyone specifically.
The first challenge in the finals will be this coming Saturday the 23rd.
And it will be a photo scavenger hunt challenge so you'll need access to some kind of camera or a phone with a camera. If this is a problem once you again you can delegate to someone else to have them work with you to complete it together and share the reward, or just bow out and give your spot to someone with no strings attached.
There's more information at this link I'll be including below, like who you will be facing up against and such, so if you could go here and leave a comment letting me know if you can play or not that'd be great, or you can just directly respond to this comment as well. Thanks either way, hope you get a chance to play and congrats for making it into the sweet 16 finals of the IFC! :D
https://steemit.com/contest/@apolymask/the-ifc-sweet-16-finals-announcements-are-here
Just left a reply sorry for the delay. Thanks for reaching out!