Cleo goes to Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland!

This past weekend Cleo and I drove 5 hours each way to hangout at Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland. My Aunt Gail and Uncle Sherman own a vacation property on the lake and they kindly invited about ten of us to come hangout, drink too much and act inappropriately. We all had a fantastic time but I'm pretty sure no enjoyed themselves as much as Cleo did.

Deep Creek Lake is the largest fresh water lake in Maryland. The lake is man made and construction began sometime in 1923 and by 1925 the lake began to fill with water. Today the lake is huge and covers 3,900 acres and has roughly 69 miles of shoreline. This was my first time out to the lake and I have to say that I was impressed by the beauty of the area as well as the shear size of the lake.

Deep Creek Lake is an optimum vacation spot. At any given time there are people swimming, water skiing, fishing, or cruising around on jet skies. It's a pretty neat place to spend a few days. It also has allot to offer four legged spotted high energy dogs. Cleo would wake me up at 6am every morning and we would spend a few hours doing the following until everyone else woke up:

#1: Chasing Ducks and or Geese clear across the lake resulting in a near heart attack for me

#2. Fetching sticks off the dock

#3. Chasing deer through the woods. I don't have pictures of this because it would throw me into panic mode. Mainly because it was so early in the morning and I was hungover and my brain was functioning on such a low level. She'd take off after a deer and all I could think about was getting her back otherwise Jim may never let me come home. Thank god for Tri-tronics when you need it.

Cleo pretty much spent 4 to 5 hours a day swimming in the lake and diving off the dock. The insulated vest with handles I had bought her from Ugly Dog Hunting really came in handy pulling her out of the water back onto the dock. My only complaint is after several hours the vest rubbed her armpits raw. I'm sure it had more to do with how much she was swimming and being lifted out of the water than it did the actual design of the vest. We kinda went form zero to a hundred with it.

Just when I thought she couldn't get any happier with jumping off the dock we took her out on her very first pontoon boat ride. I was nervous at first how she would handle the ride but she did great! My only complaint is she must have thought the pontoon boat buoys were gigantic throwing bumpers. She kept trying to attack them. But we drove across the lake, threw anchor and swam. Cleo was in all her glory.

Dog ears flapping in the wind

Cleo saying, "Mom...stop taking my picture already."

Cleo LOVING the boat ride

Cleo hanging along the side watching the ducks and geese go by

Cleo having jumped off the boat to retrieve a bumper

Me and Cleo racing to get to a bumper first...she always won. 

Cleo chilling with my Dad - Bobby K.

We cruised past a regatta

Cleo also got to go on her first golf cart ride with Uncle Sherman.

So it was a great weekend! It left Cleo and I completely exhausted. By the time the two of us got home on Sunday we were beat and just wanted to sleep. She was very excited to see Jim to say the least. That dog sure loves her daddy. But I was so excited that I got to take her with me. I'm also very grateful to my Aunt Gail and Uncle Sherman for not only inviting me but letting me bring Cleo. It's such a joy for me to see her experiencing new things and she sucks them up like a sponge!