It is so ironic: when people think of the best examples of Nature, they think of national parks. They would be more accurate if they thought of the city park.
I was in a city park the other day, in a small Oregon city. I was told of a nice dog park there and wanted to give Q.t.𝞹 her first workout at one. She is a bit of a squealer, so I was nervous about this.
There were no 'customers' at the dog park, so we just went for a walk to kill time. I couldn't believe the variety of trees -- with leaves! -- to be gushed over. And there was green grass to walk on, instead of stumbling and bumbling over desert rubble. A few feet away, noisy boisterous water gushed through the Grande Ronde arroyo.
Just think how monotonous national forests or BLM sagebrush flats are. But the city park was vastly wealthy in a variety of real trees.
There were few people at the city park. Well, maybe the locals didn't appreciate the park but I did -- so we went into the fenced dog park and let Q.t.𝞹 chase a squeaky ball around. It turns out we were just early.
It is a rare pleasure for a solo traveler to get a chance to chat-up the locals. The conversations can be informative and natural -- they didn't treat me like a tourist.
And to think that people can actually walk to the city park, and visit the city park any time they feel like it. That deserves to be appreciated.
I went away from the city park feeling good the whole day. It helped that Q.t.𝞹 did well with dogs much bigger than her. She only squealed a little, and then switched to a big-dog bark. What a frisky folk dance these dog parks can be!
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| Meanwhile, back in camp in a national forest, the little one sees snow in mid-June, and at only 5300 feet. Her first time? Looking fit and confident, isn't she? |
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