We took Riley and Lacie to New Hope this afternoon. Our initial intent was to just take them swimming at a local park, but once we were in the car, it just seemed logical to head to New Hope. We did eventually get them to the lake, but not after a full tour of the crowded village streets.

The sidewalks in New Hope were never designed for the voluminous crowds that show up every weekend during the summer months. Packed shoulder to shoulder, dodging strollers, parking meters, trees and fence posts, the flowing stream of tourists can be more than a bit difficult to navigate alone. Strap a pair of dogs to your wrist and that task becomes far more difficult.

Straight out of the car, the dogs were full of energy, excited by the sensory overload of a new place. I choked up on their leashes and began weaving them among the crowd of foreign tourists and New Yorkers wandering the streets. A few minutes down the street and Lacie commits the ultimate dog-walking error.

Attempting to circumvent a particularly slow moving clump of overweight walkers, I stepped out to the far edge of the sidewalk and walked to the right of a parking meter. Riley fell right in step behind me, as expected. Lacie, however, continued her path straight to the left of the meter, wrapping her leash around the metal pole. She quickly spun around and began pulling feverishly to untangle herself, her collar tightening around her neck. Unable to figure out how to walk back around the pole herself, I reached down and pulled her free so we could continue.

Perhaps the most predictable part of walking dogs through a crowd is the reactions of the people. Nearly everyone has some reaction to dogs when they walk past. Either they shrink away, slinking along the far edge of the walkway, or they whine pleasantly, "Oh look at the doggie!" and reach down to touch them as they pass.

If we stand still for too long, it never fails for someone to approach the dogs and strike up a conversation. Generally these folks fall into two main categories: those who recently purchased a puppy (or have a relative who did), and those who recently put their old dog to sleep.

After a long walk through town and past the canal, we made our way back to the truck and finally took the dogs swimming. As usual, Lacie ran along the edge of the water, afraid to get her feet wet while Riley swam pleasant circles several yards from shore. But after the walk through New Hope, the best part about swimming at the lake was the quiet seclusion.