As you might have guessed from yesterday's Wordless Wednesday post, we visited
Colonial Williamsburg this past weekend for their
Grand Illumination event . This is a very popular holiday event and the weather was gorgeous for a day outdoors. As a result, there were TONS of people walking around. Another nice thing about Williamsburg is that it is VERY dog friendly. You can bring your dogs into the historic section (not the buildings themselves, of course). There is a shopping section adjacent to the historic area that is also very dog friendly and my guys were welcome in most of the stops where they weren't likely to be a bull in a china shop. Bowls of water and dog biscuits were everywhere.
As is often the case when walking Cardigans in public, people will approach to ask what kind of dogs they are, or tell you that when they were growing up Aunt Tooty had a dog that looked kinda, sorta looked like that but with no tail. Maybe one or two know right off that they are Cardigans. Well, this went to the extreme this past Saturday. With no hyperbole at all, I would say easily 50, yes 50!, different groups of people stopped us to ask if they could pet Jimmy and Wilson. We heard stories of how they missed their dog at home, many had Pems, some showed us pictures of their dogs on their phones. But odder still, many asked if they could take pictures of my guys. We had actual papparazzi (or is that
pupparazzi?) following us around, snapping pictures of us.
Wilson is usually very wary of being touched by people he doesn't know. He was on such stimulation overload, he got to the point where he didn't even flinch. He just accepted all the petting graciously. Jimmy, who adores being the center of attention was, at first, in his glory, but as time and much touching went by, he began to ignore people. At one point, we had 3 groups of people queued up wanting to see our dogs! We could have set up a booth and charged $1 a pat, and $2 for a photo! My next door neighbors had driven down just for the day and met up with us. She and her daughter were talking with us, and someone actually shoved them aside so they could ask what kind of dogs we had! I had an in depth discussion with one woman about shedding as she had researched the breed but didn't like fur. Another man discussed DM as his old GSD was suffering from it. It was all very surreal and also quite time consuming! Each encounter was a couple of minutes of pleasantries and that adds up when, apparently,
Jimmy and Wilson are the rock stars of the dog world!
I didn't think to capture this adoration on camera, but here are a few shots from our day.....
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Such good posers! |
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What happens to Jimmy when he is a bad boy. |
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Posing in the Merchant's Square |
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A very handsome Santa |
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I love odd signs. The shadow made this one even better!
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Another interesting sign |
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Part of the Grand Illumination celebration |
Fort Steele, British Columbia is a historic site with a lot of late 19th century buildings. Dogs are allowed everwhere except where food is served. I had Radar and Dixie on either side of me in theatre seats at one point. Costumed performers cooed over "the queen's dogs." Pretty sure Queen Victoria didn't have cardis, but it was good fun.
ReplyDeleteFort Steele is off the beaten path, so we were not stopped fifty times. It is well worth a full day visit.
What a fun post, Taryn. The photos are wonderful. Hard to claim a favorite, but I think it would have to be Jimmy in stocks. I have photos of various members of my family, including me, in those very stocks. The Santa photo is really nice, as are the signs, and the -- they are all really nice!
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