AWLA's Walk for the Animals.

Our local shelter, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, had their annual Walk for the Animals fundraiser this weekend.  I love this event.  It's held at a the great Bluemont Park and there's a three-mile loop or a one-mile stroll.  They bring over some of the dogs currently at the shelter and call them the Walk VIPs.

The weather report for the walk was ominous-- the graphic iGoogle was using was a thunder cloud with a question mark on it.  Not really the most detailed description, but it makes the point that it's not looking good.  The view outside didn't help much, either-- on the short drive over, it looked like the sky was about to explode in a violent storm, and we got a couple sprinkles along the way.  But wouldn't you know it, about fifteen minutes before the walk the clouds broke and we had a beautiful, cloudless blue sky the rest of the day.  God must be a big fan of animals.


At the start/finish area, they have booths set up and local vets, dog stores, and other vendors set up exhibits.

Our area has a crazy fantastic parks department, and we have roughly a gajillion miles of beautiful biking/running/walking paths.  The Walk utilizes a couple of the path systems.  What's cool is that it's a short distance on roads between two path parts and the County actually shuts off a lane of a very busy street to give the walkers a bit more space.  I feel awful for the people who have to drive on the road, but hopefully the sight of hundreds of dogs trotting along makes up for the traffic frustration.

Alice, as always, was a little trouper.  She played with a couple of dogs before the walk, and then walked what we were calling 21 dog miles with a grin on her face.  We told her at the end that she won.  I think she liked that.