the trip to duke forest that wasn't

yesterday morning i decided to take bixby to duke forest.  my dad used to take us there when we were little, it's all these hiking trails with a river going through it, really cool, there's a special place we would always stop to eat our subway.  and oh man, i was excited.  i was like a parent who was going to surprise their kid with a trip to disney world.  not to mention it was the perfect way to let bixby test his new backpack out (dogs wearing backpacks slay me.  look how useful you are!  look how people you are!).  so we loaded up and hit the road and pit stopped at subway because that is a crucial part of duke forest and i found the little gravel road and we parked and i got bix all set up with his adorable backpack and we walked up to the entrance and lo and behold, there were these nasty signs.  the signs said CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY SEP 29 - DEC 19, 2014 FOR THE DEER HERD REDUCTION PROGRAM.  if i said i didn't consider going in anyway i would be lying, but i didn't feel like getting shot at and it just didn't seem wise to bring my little deer-colored munchkin into the woods while a bambi's mom situation was going on.  the only other hiking trails i could think of were the eno, but i didn't feel like driving out to the eno, so i was all "whatever, we'll go to duke gardens" but it just wasn't the same, you know?  manicured shrubbery just doesn't compare to rugged dirt trails when rugged dirt trails are what you're in the mood for.  so when i saw a sign that said CITY PARK i pulled a U-ie (ugliest word ever award) and me and bix went there.

it just so happened to be a city park that included a disc golf course, so we plopped down on a log by hole 9 and i ate my subway and bix ate his kibble and i bugged the people trying to actually play.  then since we still hadn't gotten any kind of walk/hike in, bixby and i walked around the disc golf course in order, which was a lot like the world's lamest scavenger hunt.  it kept getting duskier, and the whole course wound through the woods, and i'm not convinced we ever even found hole 16, so at least it wasn't world's easiest scavenger hunt.  and honestly, even though bixby thought i was kind of nuts for going in the exact opposite of a straight line, we had a great time out there in the wilderness that is the durham city park disc golf course.

and then this morning he puked in the road.

the end.