2020 was a year that saw a lot of challenges and a lot of life changes and sacrifices. I think a lot of us got very used to feeling down, feeling stressed, feeling worried and locked into a routine that, for lack of a better word, became mundane. We were all told to stay home, stay away from others, cancel your vacations, etc. All of those things are important, when you are dealing with a global health pandemic and living safely is important, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t have any fun.
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Texas is a state that is vast and beautiful. There are parks, lakes and beautiful drives everywhere. Whether you want to take a weekend trip or just a day, you can find something beautiful to recharge your soul and your appreciation of where we live. In 2021, I am challenging myself to find two new places and new towns per month. My dogs love the adventure and we all need to sometimes remind ourselves that even though the world is stressful right now, we can still enjoy it.
This past weekend, I took my goldendoodle Leo to Lake Whitney in Whitney, TX for a little hiking, swimming and pretend fishing (I say pretend because catching something isn’t the goal, enjoying the lake is). The drive was a perfect distance, 90min from downtown Dallas, not too close and not too far. The park rangers were amazingly nice and told us the best place to go for my dog to really go wild. We walked about 15min around the edge of the lake on the edge of a little field with long grass, which every dog loves to roll in. We found a little island which I walked barefoot to (I do recommend googling the weather, I did not and it was 37 degrees when we got there. Let’s just say that the bare-feet in the cold water will wake you up. Haha). Then we spent the next 3 hrs goofing around on the shore and like I said… Pretend fishing. I didn’t catch anything, but before we left, Leo managed to find a dead fish to cover himself with. The whole trip was awesome and so refreshing to just wander without a plan… It even made the evening bath I had to give my dead fish smelling dog worth it.
