Friday, January 6, 2012

Travels With Clancy: A Winter Morning Walk

Clancy and I finished up our 2011 Travels by discovering a new (to us, anyway) treasure in our own backyard.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Clancy and I regularly walk in Embshoff Woods, which is right down the street from our home. There is a trail that goes deeper into the woods that I have always wanted to try, but dogs were not permitted on the trail until recently. I'm not sure why the change was made, but the "no dogs" sign disappeared, so Clancy and I took advantage of some great weather over the Christmas weekend to check out the trail.

I love to walk in the morning, so we left home early and headed off down the road to the woods. We started down the trail just as the sun was peeking out through the trees.


As we continued walking, we saw six deer hanging out together and looking for their breakfast. I so wanted to get a picture of them, but unfortunately by the time I had my camera ready, the deer had disappeared, and all I could see was a blur of six white tails bobbing into the woods.

The deer appeared to be our sole companions though, as the only sound around us was this small creek babbling over the rocks.


I stopped to take Clancy's picture, and he was not the least bit pleased about having his walk interrupted. He didn't even try to hide his irritation.


Finally, after some prodding on my part, he made a feeble and totally insincere attempt to smile.


We had gone up a fairly steep hill at the start of the trail, and came upon this staircase at the end to get us back down to where we had started. I was a little on edge as the stairs were covered with a frosty glaze, but Clancy couldn't wait to head down them.


When we got to the bottom, I turned and looked back up the staircase, and was immediately reminded of the quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. that I wrote about in my New Year post.


Since I had been making my way up the figurative staircase of the writing world throughout 2011, it was somehow fitting that Clancy and I discovered this literal staircase to round out our 2011 travels.

My goal in traveling with Clancy was to discover the beauty in my own little corner of the world and, while I didn't get to as many places as I originally intended last year, I definitely feel I met my goal, as we discovered some absolutely gorgeous parks and trails. This trail alone is a great find for me, as it is so close to home, and I know it will be beautiful when the greenery of spring returns.

We may not have traveled to as many places last year as I originally planned, but we still have lots of time in 2012 to discover those places and more. I know Clancy will be ready to go too, even if he does have to suffer through the frustration of dealing with me and my camera.

Happy Friday to all, and I hope everyone has a great weekend!

19 comments:

  1. You are so lucky to have such a beautiful piece of wilderness right down the street. I love the "literal" staircase.

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  2. What a streak of luck to find the sign missing and your literal staircase awaiting. Clancy has a great smile imitation. :)

    Have a great weekend!
    Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

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  3. You really do have the best walking places around you. Clancy is a lucky, lucky dog. Tell him I said he should smile more. :P

    Happy weekend to you!

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  4. Hmmm, do you suppose Clancy is clever enough to have removed that pesky sign? Looks like a wonderful place to wander. I wouldn't blame him if he did.

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  5. @Kara, I love it too. I can't wait to walk this trail when everything is green again. It's really a gorgeous park.

    @Jules, yeah, I kind of wonder why the sign suddenly disappeared but I won't complain. It never made sense to me that dogs weren't allowed anyway.

    @LG, I tried but he won't listen LOL. He is such a drama queen. Happy weekend to you as well!

    @Susa, LOL, maybe he did! I wouldn't put anything past him.

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  6. What a lovely place to stroll through and a great stairway. Clancy is mega cute, too. Have a great weekend, Julie.

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  7. Julie, I got totally waylaid reading this post! I wanted to find out where you lived, wandered off to look at a map and got lost in the wilderness of downtown Cincinnati! Anyway here I am now saying how beautiful your "little corner" is, though I had to laugh at the your take on what "little" is. x

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  8. Wow what a beautiful place to go for a walk! It's inspirational to say the least :)

    Great post!

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  9. I love it! We have some great man-made green-belt paths, but nothing as breath-taking as your wooded area.

    I dig the staircase. My dog becomes annoyed when I force him to stop too, as he waits so long for us to walk.

    Sandi
    http://www.ahhsome.wordpress.com
    Lake Forest, CA

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  10. I love it! We have some great man-made green-belt paths, but nothing as breath-taking as your wooded area.

    I dig the staircase. My dog becomes annoyed when I force him to stop too, as he waits so long for us to walk.

    Sandi
    http://www.ahhsome.wordpress.com
    Lake Forest, CA

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  11. Hi Julie .. seems like a great place to walk right on your doorstep - just what a dog needs. No wonder Clancy wanted to see where the trail went to and find out what treasure lay ahead .. looks like his mouth is open ready to spout .. if you didn't get on with your walk!

    Great photos .. and lovely walk to take ... enjoy 2012 .. cheers Hilary

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  12. A lovely place to take a walk, the pictures are awesome and reminded me of the days I had a dog.

    Yvonne.

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  13. You and Clancy have some beautiful walking trails to explore. This makes me want to go for a walk right now.

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  14. @Mary, thanks! I hope you had a great weekend there.

    @Carolyn, LOL, downtown Cincy is not exactly a thrilling place, I'm sorry you got lost there! Isn't it amazing how you can see so much on Google maps, it amazes me how it's almost like you are standing on the streets of a city yourself. Thanks so much, I'm glad you liked the post!

    @Samantha, thank you!

    @Sandi, thank you! I feel like anything in California would be better than my area here, but I am learning to appreciate our woods the more Clancy and I walk.

    @Hilary, yeah, Clancy was about to have a stroke if I didn't just put the camera away and get moving. Poor dog, he's so put upon LOL. Thanks so much!

    @Yvonne, aww, I bet your dog was a doll. Thanks!

    @Karen, we were back on this trail this morning and I do feel lucky to have it. I hope you had a nice walk if you decided to go! :)

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  15. You are so blessed to have so my places near you and such great weather to walk in. Love all the pictures and the lessons you share with us about them. Thank you.

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  16. @Lynn Marie, oh, thanks, I'm so glad you like them. That's so nice of you to say, thanks! :)

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  17. I hope the sign is still gone when you return. Looks like a great trail. You and Clancy - smiling or not - will have a great time exploring.

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  18. It looks like a beautiful walk. My dogs would love it.

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  19. @Carol, thanks! I hope so too, if that sign makes a return appearance I'm going to be so disappointed. I've seen more dogs on the trail now so maybe we can all ban together to hide it. :D

    @Brinda, it really is, we've gone back a few times and Clancy loves it more all the time.

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