Life of Riley: Camping Season is off to a great start!

We're halfway through a short camping season here in New England, and Mom & Dad are totally committed to hitting the road every chance they can. Mom is adamant that we only go to campgrounds that allow us pups and we've had some very interesting adventures so far this season. . .

Keira and I have very few rules, but we are serious about ropes and picnic tables. That being that we can wrap ourselves around a picnic table in the most creative ways possible and find that we are unable to move. It's a plus if we can catch some unwitting person sitting at said picnic table and wrap them up as well!

Jeff and some of his friends came camping with us once. Mom broke out the inflatable mattress as the dinette and couch bed were full. Keira has decided that anyone who sleeps on the floor is fair game to share. . .

Keira and I had a new adventure, this year. We went on a Ferry to Block Island! Mom was seriously concerned about it as we both refuse to do stairs in any form and she had visions of us both balking at the stairways to get to the decks of the ferry and causing a backup of people trying to get on the boat. She was completely astonished when both Keira and I dragged them UP the stairs and then back down! Here we are on the top deck. .

Now, when Mom and Dad take us to camping destinations, they make sure to take us on as many places as they can. Block Island was a great trip (once Mom relaxed about the boat ride) and Mom and Dad had interesting experiences. .

Mom would want to go into stores and Dad would be holding us dawgs - Mom would be both exasperated and amused when she'd come out and find Dad surrounded by women of all ages, yeah we can be quite the chick magnets!!

Dad would go into stores and Mom would stay outside with us? She'd end up with weird old guys or gay guys - she was fine with the gays (they are good people, she says) but she could've lived without the weird old guys. . .

And guess what? While we were at Block Island, we ran into ANOTHER British Cream Golden from Ohio - go figure!!

Left to Right - Ohio dude, me in the center, Keira on the right.

July 4th weekend, we went up to Wells, ME. Whenever we go to a new area, Mom researches pet-friendly locations by using a really good website GoPetFriendly.com . She found what looked to be a really nice walking path along York Harbor, so we went to check it out. We had trouble finding the beginning of the trail (it had GPS coordinates, we didn't have the GPS with us) but we eventually found it as it crosses several roads. Dad pulled into a permit parking only area on the side of the road so we could go down to see the sign that had all the posted rules. Yup, it looked like dogs were allowed but while we were there, we ran into a lady and her 2 kids (who just lost their chocolate lab recently) who knew the trail in its entirety. While her daughters hugged and kissed me and Keira, she clued us in on the trail - it weaved in and out of pet friendly, it was all good intel as far as Mom was concerned. We walked a little ways down the trail to check it out so we could come back, here's what it looked like. .

As we were leaving the path, we ran into a York, ME bicycle cop and we greeted him cordially. Turns out parking, however temporarily, in a Permit only zone is a $50 fine if paid within 7 days, otherwise it doubles to $100. Mom's probably NEVER, EVER going to return to York, ME again!

Mom and Dale (Mom of yellow lab Murphy and black lab Liam) also had the Kennebunk Dog Park as a destination to visit over the weekend and we all went. It was probably the most stellar dog park Mom and Dale have ever seen - it was at the entrance of the Kennebunk dump but clearly the people who designed/built it knew and loved their dogs! It was huge, had a nice run area for tossing tennis balls, a wading pool, a working hose and water bowls EVERYWHERE! There was also a nicely wooded area. . . Here we are, having fun in that Dog Park and we recommend it to everyone!