Grip and Brude and I met Heather and Theo at the Southbury Dog Park today. Words can't do it justice. Neither can pictures because for some reason I didn't get a picture of the entrance area, which is an absolutely ENORMOUS field bordered by a fence (near the parking area, which is on a very small private road), woods, and a river. Closer to the river is an area with agility stuff set up, and some picnic tables under some great old shade trees. Perhaps Heather can get a pic of the field? I *do* have PLENTY of pictures of the river. I can't stress enough how absolutely wonderful this place is, shady well worn trails and the river goes on forever!!! Benches, plenty of poop buckets. In fact, I hope if we choose to hold Labrapalooza there, that we take up a modest collection to send to the Friends of the Southbury Dog Park who obviously put a lot of time and energy into this park. Now for the pictures!!

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid132/pd183d8f209d3d0706d83b3871ffdab62/f793e0c4.jpg
This is where we spent most of our time. Nice big area on shore, with a bench.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid132/p770e85590a2052c54f88463718effd2c/f793e0da.jpg
The Ballaholics wasted no time getting into fetch mode!! That's Grip on the left and Theo on the right.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid132/pae9ab9d289626f71e526e4915923e325/f793e0d6.jpg
JOY!!!! (I think this is Grip)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid132/pda29b85df97efbdf62696070bc550edf/f793e0d0.jpg
If it's good enough for dogs, it's good enough for Brude!

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid132/pd89975c7f50587b1cdffa5a2e17ba110/f793e0cc.jpg
More ballaholic begging

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid132/pb6286154357ea4f9c463ed7f61529812/f793e0c1.jpg
Upstream view

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid132/p7286d0a9441985b4d56bda928dca8314/f793e0c2.jpg
The race is on! That's Theo out in front.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid132/pedcf5339571022ac7b9778259bbfc7c9/f793e0c9.jpg
We hiked over to this other beautiful part of the river. It was very deep, but also very steep!

That should give you a general idea. In a nutshell: PERFECT!

Great pictures - I will be going on Thursday to the park, so I will try to remember my camera and take a couple pictures of the field area. i'm glad you liked it, Lisa, and I hope you'll make it up again!

I was just this minute raving about how WONDERFUL the park was to my dh on the phone. I truly look forward to meeting you there again, Heather. We all had an excellent time. Brude can't wait to go back either. But it'll all depend on Grip's healing powers... his footpads are shredded. All of them :( My poor tenderfoot.

Sounds great! Where is Southbury in comparison to Bluff Pt?

I'm not sure how this'll show up, but Groton is up there near New London on the far right (east) of the map. Southbury is just off I-84, west and a bit north.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid132/pa0d11b3133aa8a77860273b53f8328dd/f7932d57.jpg

Yow! That's far!
I may have to skip this one altogether :(

I just got in the mail today The Boston Dog-lover's Companion Book. Very detailed, cool book. Looking forward to checking out some of the places. Wish you all lived closer to MA :( No one every wants to come here!

:cry2:

No way!!! Please please don't rule it out!

Look at what mapquest says!

Total Est. Time: 2 hours, 19 minutes (I know it's faster than this, but not much!)

Total Est. Distance: 142.38 miles

Trust me, I WANT to come, and I'm not ruling it out completely.

I'm pretty bummed over here. It's been a really tough summer with Mia and her "womanhood." We've had no outdoor fun that hasn't been just our yard. I was so looking forward to beaches and lakes and hiking :( Good thing September and October are still pretty decent. There's always a silver lining :)

Yeah, that's about how far it was for us to Groton. Let's hope prospects improve. Not that Grip's going anywhere anytime soon till these footpads heal :(

Ok I'm going to start a Thread to get an idea as to what date works best for everyone. If ZenCat can drive 2 hours to Labrapalooza, *I* can drive 2 hours to Labrapalooza! I'm in unless the date decided on is too close to Mia's surgury :)

Grip needs some fuzzy slippers on those paws :) Maybe Drum will also lend him his smoking jacket, latest copy of the New Yorker, and the Pottery Barn club chair until he heals :D

Hey all you Western Connecticut-ers!! I grew up in Bethel. There's another great park there to be aware of: Huntington Park. Technically, it is in Redding. There are a series of trails, built for horses and horseback riding, with the largest loop somewhere in the 4.5 mile range. The center of the park are two lakes connected by a small canal. Where the two lakes connect, is a place where dogs can swim. We've been taking our English Springer Spaniel up there for years!

A couple of things to be aware of:
1. There is still quite a bit of horseback riding through the park, so be aware of the horses.
2. Since the trails are pretty wide, this is a great mountain biking place.
3. The lake is not good for people-swimming.
4. this is not a heavily staffed park, and the roads getting to the parking lots are not particularly great or wide.

That said, this place is one of my all time favorite parks. Admittadly, I am a mountain biker, runner, and hiker. The trails can be rough, especially some of the downhills which are more like rock slides than trails. The majority of the time in the park, you will not likely see other people. The weekend we went there was Memorial Day Weekend, and it was beautiful. There were tons and tons of dogs at the spot between the lakes. Our new puppy will visit there when she visits 'Grandmaw and Grandpaw' later this Fall.

I'll let you guys know when we are headed up, perhaps we can meet for some 'mini-labs'.

Mark

Thanks for posting the details of how far and the cool pics. If SarahandMark can go, I'm about 20 min. closer so I can go (see the other thread, please not the 18th of Sept! he he he).

I am SO looking forward to this.

I haven't heard of Huntington Park either! And I'm right next to Redding. Are dogs allowed off leash? There's also a huge place I remember in N. Salem, NY (which is about 5 miles from me) where I used to trail ride (horses) with lakes and miles of trails and fields but I can't remember the name of that place either!

ZenCat,

To be honest, I have never had anyone tell me that Cocoa had to be on a leash. That said, I always had one with me. Mostly to get her through the area with the lakes. She was less interested in going running with me and more interested in swimming.

PM me for directions if you want.

Mark

BUMP

Originally posted by SarahandMark
Look at what mapquest says!

Total Est. Time: 2 hours, 19 minutes (I know it's faster than this, but not much!)

Total Est. Distance: 142.38 miles

Trust me, I WANT to come, and I'm not ruling it out completely.

I'm pretty bummed over here. It's been a really tough summer with Mia and her "womanhood." We've had no outdoor fun that hasn't been just our yard. I was so looking forward to beaches and lakes and hiking :( Good thing September and October are still pretty decent. There's always a silver lining :)

We are planning a get together in Texas. We have people coming from Houston and that is about 200 miles from here. I vote that if it is at all possible you should go and have fun. Make a weekend of it.