Yukon’s First Swim

Summer weather in Dillingham can usually be described as tepid; temperatures are often in the 50s or low 60s.

On occasion though, we get a day that is truly hot. This past Sunday, with a high of 75°, was one of those days.

We’ve learned that when a hot, sunny day arrives it is imperative to drop any other plans and spend the entire day outside. This is just what Kyle and I did on Sunday. I started by planting seeds in the garden. When that was done, Kyle took care of the lawn. While he was doing this, Will and I played outside. During Will’s nap, I set up my lawn chair and read outside. Later in the afternoon we took Yukon for a walk. By 4 pm we had each spent hours outside.

I still wasn’t done being outside though. “Kyle, I think we should take Yukon for a swim!”

“Aren’t you tired from everything we’ve done already?” he asked.

“Well, a little bit…but I’ve been wanting to take Yukon swimming since last summer and we never got a chance to,” I explained.

Looking at the weather, Kyle saw that the rest of the week was slated to be cloudy and rainy, so he acquiesced.

I changed into gym shorts, we threw eight towels in the back of the Jeep, and we loaded Will and Yukon in. Knowing that Yukon often gets carsick, I put him in the passenger seat so that he could see all around him. It helps me with carsickness, so obviously it would work for the dog, right?

The trip up to Aleknagik was pretty, but uneventful. We drove over the newly completed bridge to the North Shore of Aleknagik. We dropped off an ipad to someone who had purchased one from us. We drove by the city dock and the school. As we were about to cross the bridge back to the South Shore Kyle said, “Do you think we should stop at the parking lot on the other side, I think Yukon needs a break.”

“Nah,” I replied cavalierly, “He’ll be fine until we get over to the boat launch.”

Thirty seconds later Kyle looked at Yukon, “Nooooooo!!!!” as Yukon threw up. On our earlier walk Yukon had eaten multiple dandelions, their bright yellow petals now covered the entire passenger seat.

We did end up pulling into the parking lot on the far side of the bridge after all. Kyle held on to Yukon while I used diapers and baby wipes to clean up the mess (no idea why I didn’t grab the towels from the back…). After my cleaning methods proved ineffective, we decided to simply continue on to the lake and at least get Yukon cleaned off in the lake.

When we finally got to the lake, all my enthusiasm was nearly for naught. I had Yukon on the leash to ease him into the water. When I first dipped my feet in it turned out that I was the one who needed to be eased into the water- it was frigid! Eventually both Yukon and I got in. Yukon was very hesitant about the whole affair until Kyle found a stick. Once Yukon had a stick to chase he gleefully jumped into the water and swam to fetch it. Watching him do this brought a huge smile to my face. Later, as I steam cleaned the Jeep I replayed the mental video and thought to myself, “It was worth it.”