Sandy Hook (Fort Hancock, NJ)

In keeping wif the Howloween theme since today is Howloween, we wented hiking at Sandy Hook coz it is sposed to be haunted! Sandy Hook is a piece of land wot sticks out into the oshun from Noo Jersey. On Sandy Hook is the oldest werking lighthouse builted in 1764 wot I sented postcards of to @loupeb, @schnille and @tweetypie54.


So how comes Sandy Hook is haunted, you mite ask? Well back during the Revolushunary War when the Americans and the British was putting the bitey on each udder, the British capshured this Captain Joshua Huddy and hanged him ded on April 12,1782 for no good reasons. So they say you can see the ghost of a Revolushunary War soldier haunting Sandy Hook and that would be Captain Huddy. Spooky.

So first things first. It was RAINING when we lefted the house. Wot? The wevver.com peeples was rong again? Imagine that. But we decided it woz not that far of a drive so we would go ahead and see if'n mebbe the rains would stop when we gotted there. We had to stop at Dunkin Donuts first so mom could has her coffee. I was skeered she would not come back wif her coffees coz it was haunted in there and the peeples who werked there woz gone. Instead they had ghosts and punkins making the coffees. Spooky. But mom camed back.


We drived over the bridge to Sandy Hook and OMD, I thought we woz going to drive rite into the oshun!


We parked the car in the first lot by the fee plaza (but we did not has to pay coz it is off season) and headed strate for the beach! And yay! The rainings had stopped. Oh and coz it was after Labor Day, dogs was allowed on the beach. Check it out kittehs - a humungus litter box!


There was lots of peeples standing in the water wif sticks and strings in their hands. Is they the ghosts?


The sun was coming thru the clowds and making the sky beeootiful:


We walked by the dunes:


Mom and I was leaving pawpwints in the sands:


Kwite honestly, I was not impressed wif the oshun. It tastes NASTEE!


We seened some spooky gnarly twees:


And some big rawks:


You can see Noo York City from the beach:


Then I metted a schnauzer fwend but I forgotten his name. He lives at the coast guard place wif his dad and gets to go to the beach every day.



OMD! Wot is this?

So is this where the noggty nekkid laydees from Twitter comes from? I dinnot see any tho. Mebbe coz it is off season.

So after we hiked the whole beach we woz at Fort Hancock where the lighthouse is but I showed you that pikshur alreddy. This is where the peeples from Noo York City comes on the ferry to go to the beach.


We then taked the multi-use trail for a while...


And some hiking trails...



There woz even some woods at Sandy Hook:


At one point the hiking trail camed out onto the beach again and we got this beeootiful shot:


So we hiked 16 miles all over Sandy Hook and we never sawed any ghosts. Did you?

Fall Foliage

So apparently foliage is wot they calls all of these leaves wot dies and falls off the twees. They causes us pwoblems coz we has a driveway wot goes to the garage at the back of the yard. When the driveway is covered wif leaves, we cannot tell wot is yard and wot is driveway so we start to pee and poo everywhere and mom can't see the poo to scoop it up for all the leaves everywhere. Then we track it inside... Ewww. Wot a mess! The udder day Your Daily Cute asked how many a gabillion is. Allows me to show you.

One, two tree, fore, five...


One tousand nine hunderd sebenty too, one tousand nine hunderd sebenty tree...


Nine trillion and fore, nine trillion and five, nine trillion and six...


A gabillion leaves in our yard!


So us dawgs supervised while mom was cleaning up leaves. (It takes all fore of us to keeps our eyeballs on her.) Mom uses our pooper scooper to pick up the leaves - who would has thought our pooper scooper could do that?


Dixie says "Nice job, mom!"


So our deck is all clean, the tabul, umbrella and chairs has been put away in the garage for the winter and we can rake up a gabillion leaves again in a day or two.

Getting Reddy for Howloween!

First foster sisfur Buttons needed to go to the beeooty pawlor coz her furs woz getting wild and crazee. Here is the afore and after pikshurs:


Our good groomer fwend AnneMarie at Reigning Cats and Dogs Salon in Westfield, NJ does such a wunnerful job on our reskoo pals. And not only did she make Buttons beeootiful, she gibbed Buttons a Howloweenie kostoom fwom her store!


Now I can wear my big bad wolf kostoom and Buttons can be a little piggie. Buttons even makes snorting piggie sounds so it be very realistic. I is so sorry Dixie and Sydney but Reigning Cats and Dogs did not has piggie kostooms wot would fit you two. Udderwise we could be the three little piggies and the big bad wolf.


So while Buttons was at the beeooty pawlor, the toys all needed grooming too coz Buttons is always nomming on them and if'n even I say they woz getting stinkee, trust me, they woz getting stinkee.


Of course, not being around her beloved toys all day, Buttons was hasing toy withdrawals. Thank goodness the toys were all done wif grooming afore Buttons camed home so she could dive rite in...

Anna's Spectacular Tongue-tacular Contest!

So my fwend Anna, wot is also a shepherd dog like me, is hasing a tongue contest and I is going to enter! You can click on the pikshur below to go to Anna's website for details on the contesty to win kewl pwizes but hurry, coz you has to enter by October 30!



Now at first I did not think I could enter coz my tongue never hangs down low. Anna said you did not need a pikshur to enter but I tolded my mom that we does so has tongue pikshurs of me coz she has not cleaned up her pikshur files on her pooter and I woz sure there woz some in there wot woz rejected coz they woz all tongue. And voila!

My tongue mite not hang down low but I can cover my whole nose wif it! So here is my entry, Anna!

High Point State Park - High Point Monument (Sussex, NJ)

Today we hiked 8 miles in High Point State Park wot has the highest mountain in Noo Jersey wif a kewl war veteran monument on top of it! Also, this park is in the very tippy top of Noo Jersey way up in the corner so we could see three states at one time: Noo Jersey, Noo York and Pencilvania!


So we hiked up, up, up on the Appalachian trail ...


And all of a suddens in the middle of the woods, we sawed this observashun deck:


Now you has to understand that I is deathly skeered of full flites of stairs. I has NEVER in my 8 years been in the upstairs of my very own house. Just not happening. So you think I was going up this observashun deck? I tried and only gotted to the first step.


Here is a seenik overlook wot I did not see coz I was tied to the bottom of the deck and mom and the boy wented up wifout me. How could they?


Hellllooooo.... I is lonely down here...


So they finally commed back down and we headed towards the monument.


So here I is on the platform at the base of the monument. It was up only a cupple steps like our deck at home so I could handle that.


But OMD, woz it windy! We woz at the highest point and the wind whipped us around. I woz skeered mom and I woz going to take off into outer space! The pikshur is crooked coz mom could not hold the camera strate. Listen to how loud the wind woz and see how my leash is flying and my ears would not go up?


The monument was so high that mom could not get the whole thing in the pikshur up close wif me in it.


Then we taked a little break and looked at the seeneries.



Next woz Cedar Swamp which was a very kewl place. It has these Atlantic White Cedar twees wot is not supposed to grow up high in the mountains but the sign sayed hundreds of years ago, afore I was borned, a little seed landed there and condishuns was rite for it to grow and then it maded more twees and then a whole famblee of Atlantic White Cedars.


And then there was a boardwalk over the swamp. It rilly woz not necessary for me coz I could has just gone in the waters.


Then we camed to Lake Marcia wot was named after my mom's fwend Marcia in St. Louis. Or mebbe not. But mom pwomised Marcia she would send her pikshures of the lake wot has her name. There is a Lake Shawnee too. Now that one I knows is named after me. We will has to hike there sometime.



Then we camed back around to where we could see the monument but the skies had cleared up and was blue so we got a better pikshur:


Then we camed back to that observashun deck. Oh noes! Mom lefted me. Hey mom, wate, don't leave me! I want to give it a try. Come halp me!


So mom halped me and I was brave...


Mom sayed "Come on Shawnee, you can do it!" and I made it to the landing! Wot, there is anudder flite of stairs?


Finally, after MUCH encouragement, I maded it all the way to the top and mom and the boy cheered "YAY SHAWNEE!!!!" I was so proud.


So that was our hike and I maded big akomplishments today. See, you can teach an old dog new tricks!