A Walk Around the Big Block

I love having a destination instead of simply walking in the neighborhood.  We have a little compounding pharmacy about 2.2 miles from our house and they even compound medicines for dogs so they allow dogs inside the store.  I put on a little backpack filled with 2 water bottles and a flat plastic container and took the dog and we started the walk.  This is what the sky looked like overhead at approximately 4:15 in the afternoon - loved the clouds:

Unfortunately on the main road outside of the development, there's no sidewalk, so the dog and I walked down the median until we got to another main road.  I need to teach her not to pull - she doesn't love walking close to me but she loves walking with me.  So we walked and walked and stopped and she had a drink.  They loved her in the store and the best part of all was there was a little girl in theere.  My dog has usually been skittish around children but not this time...I think she's becoming less afraid (maybe after all the road noise and traffic, the quiet, coolness and calm in the store helped).  The little girl put her hand out and Brie licked her's and the little girl's mommy's hand.

When we left the pharmacy, we took the longer route home.  Along the way we found a bird sanctuary area where the egrets were all in the trees at dusk - unfortunately the iPhone camera wasn't able to capture it.  It was amazing though - so many many birds in a little protected wetland.  They were in the trees to the right  and although I deleted the photo because the birds weren't visible, you can almost make out all the white ducks that were on the banks of the water on the left.

We didn't stay too long because it was a little creepy being on that road alone with the dog and we continued on.  I snapped a picture for a friend who loves flowers and I always think of her when walking.  Does anyone know what this is?

Shortly after I took the photo above, I saw two storks on the edge of the water but because it's not permitted to walk on the green of the golf course (especially with a dog) I wasn't able to take their picture.  I really wanted to.  This is taken from google images - but these are the storks we have here.

So we continued and took a long route around the golf course and I was able to discover how to avoid most of the very busy street to get home but still had to hold tight on the dog so she didn't go near the road (again no sidewalks).

So here's the sky above the same trees as the first picture  of this afternoon's walk when we were almost home - clear and welcoming.

It took a long time to walk only 5.1 miles, but it was great.

71.7 to Marco