Trail Hike at Orion Oaks Park

Hello! I said I wasn’t going to pop in this afternoon, and here we are. I am just full of surprises, ya’ll. Either that, or I am just postponing any real work I need to get done around here. Eh, it’s fine.

You see, I took a ton of photos over the weekend and have a bit of a photo dump to do in order to make more space on my phone before my trip. A lot of them were too cute not to share, so I am going to back up to Friday and Saturday and post them here. #throwbackweekendrecap ?

I spent most of Friday getting our house ready for a video shoot that night. That’s right, a video shoot. It involved HOOPER, Meatloaf (the singer not the food), and opposing sports teams. It took a lot longer than we planned, but I am excited and slightly embarrassed to see how it turns out.

Also, Roadie got to make a few cameos! Surprisingly, a big furry horse mascot didn’t really phase him like I expected it to. He did great with him and the whole situation and scenarios were hilarious to me.

Just call us the Cleavers!

Saturday was full of events with HOOPER. I saw a lot of him this weekend. We’ll just skip over those photos, although the majority of them were also entertaining. I always take a bunch during our events for his social media channels, but never know if I should include them here on the blog. There’s only so many times you can see the crazy horse appear, right?

Do you you guys enjoy seeing when I post pictures of our appearances? I often feel like I’m beating a dead horse (<- ignore my need for a cheesy pun) saying “hey… look, we were at another event today!”, so I usually keep the HOOPER pictures to a minimum. But it’s your call.

Fast forward to Sunday after church, brunch at The Meeting House, and the Rockin’ Rods Car Show in Rochester, we spent a little down time at home and then were on our way to the dog park with our friend, Adam.

Adam is staying with us until he moves into his condo next week and has treated Roadie as one of his own! He takes him to the dog park more than we do, and I know Roadie is absolutely loving it.

The only one we have been to up here is a huge park, trail, and dog park called Orion Oaks. It’s located just under thirty minutes from us, but is worth the drive when we get to take Roadie off of his leash and watch him play with his bark park buddies.

This time, I wanted to check out the trail that loops around the entire outs and ins of the park and we ended up making a four mile loop. The property looked so desolate! Only trees, gravel, and flowers in sight for what seemed like miles.

We studied the map and figured out the best way to get to an overlook. Okay fine, the guys studied the map. I’m terrible at them so I didn’t even put in an effort to take a look.

I didn’t care how we got anywhere, as I was just excited to be enjoying a nice summer and sunny day outside in Michigan!

After a buggy patch, we found a small dock that seemed to be placed there for no reason. I guess it was a true overlook, because that’s all you could really do with it. Regardless, the views were great!

The group of us just sat and watched floating lily pads and the occasional animal fly or swim by. It was so peaceful.

We knew Roadie had to be thirsty, so we led him over to a patch of rocks that went into the lake. I was nervous that the water was too mucky for him to drink, but it didn’t seem to bother Scott. We told him to go get a drink and he ended up going right in!

Up to his chest is about how far he will go in though. We also walked over to the dog dock about a mile from there and he did the exact same thing. Maybe one day we will get him to try and go in for a swim!

Although we completed a hiking trail, I still want to find one that is a little more challenging to get through. Maybe one with hills and rocks to navigate through? I’m sure there are plenty surrounding us. I think I just need to do some research and go explore!

How about you… do you like taking hikes through the woods or trails?

If you are anywhere close to the Auburn Hills, Orion, or Rochester areas, I would love a suggestion of where to go hiking.

Okay, time to finish packing. I’ll see you in the morning with WIAW followed by *spoiler alert* an exciting giveaway!