We Took the Dog to Chicago

Chicago turned out not to be very accessible for canine tourists, alas.

Luna did seem to enjoy walking the city streets, other than when the noisy "L" was passing overhead. So the big kid got to do a decent amount of sightseeing just by wandering the streets around our hotel and letting Luna sniff all the fascinating urban sniffs:

And although the W Chicago tacked on an absolutely ridiculous $125 pet fee for our two-night stay (which I did figure out in advance of our reservation, but also close enough to it that I'd already reached the "throw money at the problem until it goes away" stage, meaning we decided to just eat the cost rather than rework our entire Chicago itinerary), Luna--and the rest of us!--were super comfy there:

I'm pretty sure this is her first-ever elevator ride!

It's a lousy photo AND I nearly dropped my phone out the window, but look! We could see the Sears Tower from our room!

I know it's not the Sears Tower anymore, but also it is.

It turns out, though, that Chicago's two biggest tourist parks, Millennium Park and Maggie Daley Park, aren't really parks at all, but "parks," and dogs aren't allowed.

Which, before you accuse me of not doing my research beforehand--y'all, I ALWAYS do my research. You shouldn't have to go to a park's FAQ page and dive down to point number five out of seven just to find out whether or not dogs are allowed. 

Anyway, here's us having sneaked Luna over to The Bean regardless of the rules, sitting her down for our family photo:

It was also honestly too hot for dogs there, anyway. Luna only reluctantly drinks water when she's out and about, so we always have to keep an eye on how hot she's getting. Here's her illegally getting a little shade under the Bean!

And don't think that you can just walk across the beautiful pedestrian bridge and go visit Maggie Daley park instead, because dogs aren't allowed there, either! I mean, we definitely did walk Luna across the pedestrian bridge, but we definitely weren't supposed to. We didn't go all the way into Maggie Daley park, though, and somehow we managed to stay out of tourist jail.

I probably would have been very bummed if all the rest of us haven't already been to Chicago several times and seen most of the tourist sites in the area we stayed in. And knowing ahead of time that the "parks" weren't parks actually probably would have been a good enough reason to change our reservation and rebook a hotel in a different, dog-friendlier location.

But ah, well. It's not every dog that can say that they've sniffed the Sears Tower!

Now to leave Luna and her kid back in the hotel while the rest of us go to a concert!

P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, road trips to random little towns, looming mid-life crisis, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!

There's a New Fence in the Yard

 

Ugh, I wish we'd done this a decade ago.

The other night I was texting back and forth with my college kid, telling her about Luna's day in my care (we had a nice walk, then some breakfast, then I turned my electric blanket on high so she could lay on it all day, then Matt and I took her for a hike and she saw some deer, then I let her try out the new lick mat that I bought her, then she curled up on the couch so I tucked her in with her favorite fleece blanket, etc.), and she accused me of taking the opportunity of her absence to spoil her dog.

RUDE!

Also true. I mean, my kid's not here, so other than texting her all day and Zooming her once a week and playing Stardew Valley together once a week and watching a couple of episodes of Schitt's Creek online together once a week and sending her monthly care packages with curated treats and toiletries and little handmade gifts inside what am I SUPPOSED to do with all this obsessive parent energy?!?

Spoil the one other creature in the family who misses my kid as much as I do, of course!

It's telling, ahem, that I have thought for the entire decade+ that we've lived in this house that a front yard fence would be great for the kids--the whole family, really--and I didn't get around to insisting on it hard enough to make it happen until the kids were grown and the main ones who'll benefit from it are me and the dog.

Whatever. It's here now, and I LOVE it!

The fence guys for sure side-eyed my instructions for the fence, but the lead guy said, "I just do what I'm told and don't ask questions," followed in the same breath by "WHY do you want a privacy fence only on one side of the yard?"

Because this beautiful privacy fence side--

--faces the street! My across-the-street neighbor is delightful, generous, and kind in person, but he's got lots and lots of Trump flags facing our house, and he's got two absolutely GIANT lamps at the end of his driveway that he never, ever turns off and whose bulbs never, ever seem to burn out. They just burn, bright as the sun, all through the night directly into all of our bedroom windows.

As a bonus, this is where I hang all of our laundry to dry, seasonally, and now I don't have to worry that someone will drive by, become consumed with jealousy of my beautiful handmade quilts and clothes, and sneak into the yard to steal them:

The other two sides of the fence are your basic chain link--

--because they face other parts of our property and I didn't want to cut that off visually.

THIS side even faces the south!

I *think* I'm going to move all of those raised garden beds to live next to this fence, although lord knows how I'm going to water them because I already own the longest hose that Menards even sells. 

I'm pretty excited about planning new garden elements to fit in with the new fence. This is my Late Winter of Optimism, my favorite gardening time of the year, before I have to come to terms with the fact that the parts of the property that I can garden on just don't get the amount of sunlight needed to make whatever I want to do possible. If anyone wants to throw out any great gardening and landscaping ideas for me, feel free! I've got an east-facing hill with morning full sun and afternoon full shade that I'd like perennial coverage on to the extent that I never have to risk my life mowing it again, and a south-facing yard that I'd be happy to have raised garden or bed plants in that gets morning full sun and afternoon dappled sun through the branches of black walnut and persimmon trees. 

Tell me daily that berry bushes will not live in either of these spots. I need to hear it every single day or I'll plant them and be sad.

The Newest Bark Ranger of Indiana Dunes National Park: Day 4

 

On this day, we had time for one final adventure before heading back home. Instead of visiting another beach, Will wanted to hike the Great Marsh Trail, so off we went!

We picked the perfect time for our final hike--you can see in the photos how that mostly clear blue sky became overcast in just the hour that we wandered around, spying on egrets and monarchs and frogs:

After finishing our hike just as the skies finally opened up, all that remained was to pop back by the Visitor Center so that the newest Junior Ranger and Bark Ranger of Indiana Dunes National Park could take their oaths, and then we were ready for my teen with a learner's permit to terrify us both during her very first long drive on an interstate highway!

One day, I think she'll even be brave enough to pass another vehicle!

The Newest Bark Ranger of Indiana Dunes National Park: Day 3

 

We had some business to accomplish on this morning! Our prospective Bark Ranger had finished pretty much all of her required activities, but this prospective Junior Ranger still had some work to do, so we went on a hike:

It was a misty, overcast morning on the Bailly Homestead, but we had the place to ourselves as we wandered around:

Look how lush and green the trail was!

After a short hike through a forest full of sugar maples, we reached the working Chellberg Farm:

Luna had a BIG adventure here!

I am very unsure of Luna around farm animals. She embarrassed me by barking at draft horses at Kentucky Horse Park, and I still hold over her head the one time, years ago, that she lost her mind and mortally wounded a chicken and I had to behead it.

Honestly, I might still be in low-key hysterics from that one...

So even though these sweeties looked as content and happy as... well, this--

--I was extremely reluctant for Luna to do this--

--and then this--

--and then this!

The pig didn't seem particularly fazed by our slightly overexcited dog, but pigs have a lot of teeth and I didn't relish the idea of carrying a dog with her face half bitten off the long hike back to the car, so I made Will pull her away and we all hiked back, faces unbitten, through a woods that was now looking a lot more like this:

It started raining before we were quite finished, but don't you find that weather that's unpleasant to humans is often the best for spotting wild critters? Look at my new friend, the gray ratsnake!

Back, then, to our Airbnb for snacks, a glass of wine for the grown-up, and a lovely interlude watching Luca courtesy of our Airbnb's Disney+ subscription.

I REALLY liked our Airbnb!

Luca was perfectly timed, because by the time the credits rolled, the sky was blue again. 

Back we went to the beach!

I could have really liked Central Avenue Beach--it was much quieter than West Beach, and had a much easier walk to get to with a fun scramble down a dune at the end--

--but the whole time we were there, we were absolutely mobbed by some sort of horrible, stinging fly. I didn't bring any anti-stinging fly repellant, and anyway, they were also clearly biting Luna, as well.

We, at least, could escape entirely into the water--

--but Luna is still scared to go out beyond her knees.

Will had the brilliant idea that Luna would be less susceptible to horrible fly stings if she was covered in sand:

It was obviously the best of many good decisions made during this trip:

As I was taking four thousand photos of our adorable dog with sand on her snoot, I happened to notice that the beach we were on was clearly adjacent to the beach that Matt and I had walked on our own trip to Indiana Dunes the month before:

And that's how I came full circle on this trip, happily achieving my dream on almost the very same spot where I first dreamed it.

The Newest Bark Ranger of Indiana Dunes National Park: Day 2

 

On our first full day at Indiana Dunes National Park (here's Day 1), our main plan was to spend the day at the beach with Luna.

We took the long way round:

This Dune Succession Trail happily led us to the part of the beach adjacent to West Beach that dogs are allowed at! In the middle of all the other well-behaved dogs playing gently in the water, Luna had an absolutely ridiculous time barking her fool head off at the waves, running Will back and forth while barking and snapping at the water, stopping dead to bark her food head off some more, etc. I was both delighted at how happy she was, and secondhand-embarrassed at how much of a scene she was making.

Luna is wearing her new Ruffwear Float Coat, because I am apparently a doggy smother mother.

It's not the first time it's occurred to me that dogs and toddlers are quite similar.

Here's another way that they're similar: when Luna had finally worn herself out enough that she was willing to come away from the waves to our nice beach umbrella and towels all laid out comfily on the sand, she immediately proceeded to gleefully dig herself the largest hole of her entire life:

And then she promptly laid down in it and fell asleep in the shade:

Notice that nose facing the water, just in case it makes any sudden moves and she needs to go bark at it some more:

With Luna nice and tuckered out, I babysat for a while so Will could get wet past her knees:

Even though this dog kicked sand ALL OVER my beach towel, I love her so much I can't even stand it:

We spent most of the day here at the dog-end of West Beach. Luna chilled out enough to enjoy the water without barking hysterically at it--

--and we got plenty of time, as well, to just lounge in the shade of our umbrella and read and eat snacks. Not gonna lie--Matt filled my thermos with margaritas before I left home, and I quite enjoyed them here, along with the little snoozle to follow.

Obviously, we had to take some puppy portraits to commemorate Luna's first full day at a real beach!

Then we trekked the LONG trek back to our car with our tired dog who kept wanting to lie down, and happily spent the evening sitting on the couch of our AirBnb, eating delightful snacks and binging Schitt's Creek:

I'd say that was a pretty good last first day of high school for Will!