Lily at the Creek

The weather here in Maryland has been pretty unbearable lately, as it often is in the summer. The temperatures have been in the 90s, and the extreme humidity makes the heat feel so much worse. Usually in this kind of weather we wait to walk Lily until the evening, when the sun starts to go down and the air outside gets at least somewhat cooler. However, this past weekend Peter suggested that we take advantage of the fact that we were both off work (yay long holiday weekend!) and go for a daytime walk to the creek near our house.

Full disclosure: we have lived in our house for a little over two years now, and this is the first time that I had been to this creek. I didn't actually even know it existed. We are lucky enough to have lots of trails and public parks around where we live, and I have yet to explore all of them. Lily tends to get annoyed if we walk on a path and then simply turn around to take the same path home (like, "Mom, I already sniffed this stuff, this is boring!"), so I try to walk her on paths that go in a circuit to avoid her planting her feet and protesting when I try to get her to turn around. Therefore, I hadn't yet wandered down the path along which this creek lies. Peter knew about it, though, because he bikes regularly and had used this path for that.

Though I hadn't, Lily had actually been to this creek before with Peter. However, he said that on the few previous occasions when they had come, she had been curious about the water but not interested in getting in. Lily is typically not a fan of water, as I mentioned here. Based on anecdotal experience with other beagles, this seems to be a common beagle trait.

The walk from our house to the creek isn't long, only about five minutes. Still, by the time we arrived Lily was panting. When we reached the creek and detoured off the path over to it, Lily followed along willingly. She stopped at the water's edge to take a drink and then, to my surprise, she waded right in!

taking a drink

wading right in

We walked/waded up and down the creek bed a bit. The water was the perfect temperature, refreshingly cool but not freezing. Even at its deepest points the creek is only around six inches deep, so Lily didn't have to swim at all, though she did get her tummy wet. She's a shorty ;)

meandering along the creek bed

confounded by the water bugs on the surface of the water

"But Mom, I just want to say hi to the bunnies up there! Honest!"

queen of all she surveys

Now that I know the creek is there (it only took me two years!), it will definitely get added into our regular summer walk repertoire.