To me, all dogs are puppies! And my face cannot stop grinning when I see them, especially in mass quantities, wagging tails and sweet faces everywhere! Oh, happy day!

Facebook must be on to us, because an ad for the annual festival celebrating Golden Retrievers popped up in David’s feed. We followed the visual treat and found out that Golden, Colorado (a beautiful little town just up the road from where we live) was hosting the 2022 Goldens in Golden event between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. We didn’t have to think much about it before we jumped in the car, armed with cameras and a few treats.

We started our tour of the canine fest at The Golden Mill, where pups enjoyed the sunshine, snow, and each other’s company, while their humans savored local beer and food fare.

We got a kick out of several pooches really having a blast frolicking in the snow and splashing in the ice cold Clear Creek River.

We stopped to talk with the human of a very stylish pooch waiting patiently in line at the Bone Apétreat! doggie food truck parked by the river.

In Parfet Park, we mingled and meandered, we “aww-ed” and petted soft dog heads and rubbed silky doggie ears. I loved seeing all the beautiful faces—some young and excited, some white with age and wisdom, and the many shades of fur that Retrievers come in: from white, to soft sandy brown, to yellow, to orange. I also loved to see the sweet interaction between these lovely huggable beasts and their human admirers. It just filled my soul with joy!

When the police announced the end of the event, we found our way to one of our favorite eateries in Golden: Woody’s Wood Fired Pizza. While we waited for our table, we checked out some of the shops and marveled at the prices of the houses posted in the window of the real estate office. Once we settled in a booth inside the restaurant, we chose the buffet, which in retrospect was not a good idea: the pizza was good, but we both prefer to have a choice of ingredients (we love the Fig-getaboutit! with fig jam and prosciutto) and we can’t really eat enough to justify it. We still enjoyed our lunch and waddled back to our car watching the (wagging) tail end of a lovely event.