I recently visited fruit orchards in central California to photograph their annual spring blooms, and as it turned out, the highlight of my trip had nothing to do with flowers….
The local tourism office encourages visitors to drive the “Blossom Trail” with a provided map and you can pull over for photo ops at various orchards. So I did, paying attention to avoid the places with ‘keep out’ or ‘no trespassing’ signs. I came upon what was most definitely the best blooming orchard I saw that day—peach trees with a heavy cover of deep pink blooms and a scattered bed of fallen petals. Suddenly I heard dogs barking at me and I knew that was my cue to leave. I began walking back to my car, fast, as the pack of barking dogs got closer and closer. In my mind I’m thinking don’t run or they might attack, don’t stop to turn around. The barking grew closer and when I finally turned around I saw the cutest little pack of tiny guard dog puppies!!!!
They chewed on my shoelaces, we cuddled and they tried to get me to chase them. Lucky pups, they sure have a great life out there. It was the best day ever. Long live the puppy patrol.
