A Shopping "Park"

Maybe I haven't made it clear to all of my followers, but I am a city dog. The lady I rescued and me live in Chicago, one of the largest cities in the U.S. We live on the northwest side of the city though, you almost forget that you do live in the city because it is more suburban where we are at, brick bungalows, yards, street parking, and lots of parks. Oh, parks! Its Park Day!

So where does that lady take me? Downtown! Not only downtown but to Michigan Avenue! You heard her, the Magnificent Mile! Some of the best shopping in the country next to New York's Fifth Avenue! Mom found out from one of her favorite blogs, Sugar, the Golden Retriever, that there is dog friendly shopping in the city at The Shops at North Bridge.  Well, that did it, we were going, but when? She rarely gets to Michigan Avenue, except at Christmas. So when Finn of Finn & Charley Too and Gizmo the Terrier Torrent came up with Park Day we had to do something different, we go to a park all of the time! That did it, she said, we are going to The Shops at North Bridge and go shopping! How many dogs get to do that? I am sure they'll be in parks with great views and scenery but we think the scenery on Michigan Avenue is some of the best. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder right?

You won't find me in this shot!

Yesterday afternoon I got really excited when mom took me for a ride in the car. After we parked we started to go for a walk, I was having such a good time! A new adventure, new smells, where were we going? We stopped for a minute at a very scary spot, mom started to take pictures, then she thought she was going to take pictures of me and I freaked, don't look down! It was a bridge over a river and the bridge moves because it's a drawbridge so the tall sail boats could get down the river to the lake.

We kept walking, I started to get nervous, so much traffic, and people and noise! Wait, where are we going? I did my sit down move, the El train rumbled over our heads, mom had treats! We started walking some more.

We walked into a big building and got in an elevator after mom came to the conclusion that I would not go up an escalator. But mom went in the wrong entrance so we went outside again and walked to another entrance this time there were steps. We had arrived at our destination, we were going shopping!  The Shops at North Bridge, located at 520 N. Michigan Avenue, is a pet friendly place!

We've arrived!

  

Lots of people noticed me, we didn't see any other dogs and everyone said I was cute! They thought I was a dachshund! The first thing we did was find a nice comfortable place to sit down, we were exhausted! By now I won't say I was frantic but I needed to chill out some. It was nice and quiet under mom in the chair. After a nice rest we decided to walk around some. Only the first two floors are dog friendly and since I wouldn't take an escalator we didn't stay long. We were back outside and were now on the famous Magnificent Mile! 

The tulips haven't bloomed yet!

By now I had relaxed some especially because it seemed like we were headed back to where we started. I must say it was good to see our car and hop in and head home! Overall it had been a very exciting adventure. I might not be the city dog mom thinks I am but if we did this more I would probably get used to it. I don't recommend trying something like this for the first time on a hectic weekday. It might be better to do it at less busy time.

A public riverwalk to check out if the weather ever improves!

Mom used her iPhone app WalkMyDog to map our walk and track all sorts of boring statistics. You can check it out here. She would hit pause whenever we stopped so the time is when we were actually moving.

We would like to thank Finn of Finn & Charley Too and Gizmo the Terrier Torrent for motivating us to do this. Park Day is a great idea to get people out with their dogs and go for a good hike. It doesn't have to be a park because us dogs just want to go for a walk!

Love, Dolly

xoxox

Where to take a hike?

Enjoying my park on Sunday morning.

Don't ask the lady that rescued me! If you read my last post Park Day you will realize that she has no idea resulting in her having to do some thinking outside of the box. But she came across some ideas from looking through the June issue of Cesar's Way Magazine. One thing this lady has realized that working for Bobbi Panter Pet Products has some perks like all the great pet industry publications she has access to. There is tons of good information in them, and it isn't alawys in the web version like Cesar's Way.

Where's that smell?

In Take a Hike... mom found a list of some national parks that welcome dogs. Here are some great ones!

• Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor Maine
• Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Brecksville, Ohio
• Shenandoah National Park, Luray, Virginia
• Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
• Cape Breton Highlands National Park Ignonish Beach, Nova Scotia, Canada

For more information before you go be sure and visit www.nationalparks.org/. A good source for Canada can be found at National Parks Tour - Parks Canada.

I've got the ball!

Come back on April 26th for my Park Day blog, an exciting event started by Finn of Finn & Charley Too and Gizmo the Terrier Torrent. No matter where you decide to take your dog for a hike they will enjoy it because they are with you! Happy Park Day!

Love Dolly the Doxie (mix)

xoxox

B&W Sunday: Park Day

On the rock steps, our favorite sunny spot to rest before heading home.

Park Day is coming soon! Its an exciting event started by Finn of Finn & Charley Too and Gizmo the Terrier Torrent. Mom and I are very excited to be a part of it. BUT! I go to the park every day! Most of my pictures on my blog are all taken at my neighborhood park, Portage Park. So what to do? Mom doesn't think my readers will want to read about me going to the park, again. Let's see, I've been to a forest preserve before, there's Horner Park, and Lincoln Park, been there done that. But this should be about a new and exiting HIKE! 

Well mom has a great idea. It is so exciting, but you will have to wait until April 26th to read all about where we are going. Hint: I have never been there before and I am a city dog. Stay tuned!

Love Dolly the Doxie (mix)

xoxox


I'm joining the Black & White Sunday Blog Hop hosted by My Life in Blog Years, Dachshund Nola, and You Did What With Your Wiener.