a vacation and a Dog Beach

Took Jordan with us to Florida for a family reunion. It was great to get away from cold upstate NY and Florida is one of the few states Jordan has never been to. For the most part is was hot and muggy but we did get away from the family on Saturday morning and managed to find the hip dog beach thanks in large to the internet.

It was amazing. It looked like nothing from the road, a dirt pull off on the side of the road with a small brown sign that said Dog Beach on it (right next to the No Parking at Any Time sign). No one was paying attention to the No Parking sign but we hoped they were paying attention to the other one.

We got suited up and took Jordan out to see the beach. She used to love to swim, but since losing most of her eyesight she hasn't had many opportunities that were safe and controlled enough to make it happen. Anyways, there were tons of dogs coming and going from the entrance so we carried Jordan - which ended up being necessary since the tide was high and the "path" to the beach was completely under water.

So there we were wading our way out to a beach, being greeted by several enthusiastic pups along the way.

Once we turned the corner we were shocked by the sight. White sand, clear blue water, dogs of all sizes and shapes - it was heaven! There were dogs and people and boats everywhere. Apparently driving to this beach really isn't the norm, there must have been 30+ boats anchored right in the shallow water with dogs jumping on and off them.

Much like the path to the beach the beach it self was mostly under water, just a small sandbar that popped out in the middle making the population of humans all gather close.

For Jordan's sake we took the path less traveled and opted for a grassy non-beach spot on the far side of the little bay we were in. A few dogs came over to see us, but none bothered Jordan and Jordan didn't bother them so it worked great. TT and I took turns wading over ot the sandbar to see all the action. There were so many different dogs, it was awesome.
Dogs playing fetch, dogs playing with dogs, dogs swimming with their people. I wish there was someplace like that closer to us.

Jordan seemed completely content being held at the beach. She did do a little bit of swimming, but wasn't really into it. We stayed just long enough to give TT a sunburn and then headed back to the hotel.