VISIT THE MOST POPULAR DOG FRIENDLY NATIONAL AND STATE PARKS

As most of you know, we travel a lot with our dogs Icy and Phoebe so we're always on the lookout for the best dog friendly places. I'm delighted to introduce you to Nichole, my Guest Blogger from DogVills . 

Nichole is the Editor In Chief at DogVills, a blog about all things dog, including dog training tips, dog health tips, dog news, dog recipes and more.  Nichole loves to travel with her dogs too and she has graciously offered to share some of the Most Popular dog friendly National and State Parks in the U.S.  So, Take it away Nichole!

NICOLE from DOGVILLS:

"I love taking my dogs on outings with me! I’m always looking for places like hotels, restaurants and stores that allow dogs so that I can bring them with me everywhere I go! While I’m used to the challenge of finding indoor spaces that allow pets, I was shocked to discover how difficult it is to find dog-friendly national and state parks!

Did you know that most parks either have very restrictive pet policies or ban them entirely? In some parks, you can’t even drive through the entrance with a dog in the car! Don’t worry, though, we’ve rounded up the top dog-friendly national and state parks in the United States to make planning a vacation with your pooch a little easier!

DOG FRIENDLY NATIONAL PARKS

There are 60 national parks and over 10,300 state parks in the United States.  Together, they spread out across over 18 million acres! While the vast majority of them don’t allow dogs, there are a few that welcome our canine companions! Just remember that even the most dog-friendly national parks have rules about where you can take your dog. Make sure you learn and follow them, so these parks don’t have a reason to ban dogs entirely.

    Acadia National Park- Acadia National Park, established in 1919, is in the state of Maine, just southwest of Bar Harbor. The park sits on 49,075.26 acres and sees approximately 3,509,271 visitors annually. Arcadia National Park features an array of lakes, mountains, shorelines and woodlands.

   BadlandsNational Park- Badlands National Park, founded in 1978, is found in southwestern South Dakota, near Rapid City. The park sits on 242,755.94 acres and sees approximately 1,054,325 visitors annually. Several movies have been filmed in the Badlands National Park, including the 1990 Dances with Wolves, the 1997 Starship Troopers and the 2007 National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

   Cuyahoga Valley National Park- Cuyahoga Valley National Park, conceived in 2000, is based in northeastern Ohio, along the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland. The park sits on 32,572.35 acres and sees approximately 2,226,879 visitors annually. The national park features more than 125 miles of hiking trails, as well as an array of caves, rolling hills, waterfalls and winding rivers.

   Grand Canyon National Park- Grand Canyon National Park, originated in 1919, is set in northwestern Arizona, in Coconino and Mohave counties. The park sits on 1,201,647.03 acres and sees approximately 6,254,238 visitors annually. The park’s main feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge that was carved out by the Colorado River.

   Great Sand Dunes National Park- Great Sand Dunes National Park, founded in 2004, is in south-central Colorado, in Alamosa and Saguache counties. The park sits on 107,341.87 acres and sees approximately 486,935 visitors annually. The national park is home to North America’s tallest sand dunes, reaching heights of 750 feet.

   Mammoth Cave National Park- Mammoth Cave National Park, formed in 1941, is situated in central Kentucky, in Barren, Edmonson and Hart counties. The park sits on 54,011.91 acres and sees approximately 587,853 visitors annually. The park surrounds parts of the Mammoth Caves, the world’s longest cave system, which measures 405 miles in length.

   North Cascades National Park- North Cascades National Park, created in 1968, is positioned in Washington, in Chelan, Skagit and Whatcom counties. The park sits on 504,780.94 acres and sees approximately 30,326 visitors annually. North Cascades National Park features an expansive glacial system, forested valleys, numerous waterways and rugged mountain peaks.

   Shenandoah National Park- Shenandoah National Park, established in 1935, is situated in Virginia, surrounding part of the state’s Blue Ridge Mountains. The park sits on 199,217.77 acres and sees approximately 1,458,874 visitors annually. Shenandoah National Park features some impressive waterfalls, ranging in height from 28 feet to 93 feet.

   Yosemite National Park- Yosemite National Park, founded in 1890 is set in California, in Madera, Mariposa and Tuolumne counties. The park sits on 761,747.50 acres and sees approximately 4,336,890 visitors annually. The world-renowned park is famous for its biological diversity, clear streams, granite cliffs and sequoia groves.

   Zion National Park - Zion National Park, conceived in 1919, is found in southwestern Utah, in Iron, Kane and Washington counties. The park sits on 147,237.02 acres and sees approximately 4,504,812 visitors annually. The park features 4 life zones: coniferous forest, desert, riparian and woodland.

DOG FRIENDLY STATE PARKS

Abilene State Park- Abilene State Park is in Taylor County, Texas. The 529.4-acre park features camping areas, hiking trails, picnic areas and a swimming pool.

Hot Springs State Park- Hot Springs State Park is in Hot Springs County, Wyoming. The 1,108.67-acre park features hot springs that constantly flow at a temperature of 135 degrees Fahrenheit.

Huntington Beach State Park- Huntington Beach State Park is in Georgetown County, South Carolina. The 2,500-acre park is popular for its large sandy beach and countless wild birds.

Itasca State Park- Itasca State Park is in Becker, Clearwater and Hubbard counties, within the state of Minnesota. The 32,690-acre park is home to more than 200 species of wild birds.

Lost Dutchman State Park- Lost Dutchman State Park is in Pinal County, Arizona. The 320-acre park is named after the legendary Lost Dutchman Gold Mines.

Oak Mountain State Park- Oak Mountain State Park is in Shelby County, Alabama. The 9,940-acre park is home to the Alabama Wildlife Center and the Oak Mountain BMX Track.

Tuttle Creek State Park- Tuttle Creek State Park is in the state of Kansas. The 1,200-acre park features an artificial beach, camping sites and nature trails.

Remember, the rules vary at each of these dog-friendly national and state parks, so make sure you take the time to learn them! We want to be considerate pet parents so we don’t ruin the fun for anyone else."

Thank You for sharing all this great pet travel information Nichole! It will be so helpful in planning dog friendly vacations to National and State Parks.  I'm glad you included the point of following the individual rules for each of these parks, as they do vary and most have some restricted access for dogs.  One example is that Grand Canyon National Park allows dogs but they don't allow them to hike down the canyon with you, dogs must remain up on the rim.

I hope you enjoyed Nichole's dog travel post as much as I did. You can read more from Nichole on the DogVills blog.  Happy Trails & Happy Tails!!

Icy on one of our many trips to dog friendly Sedona, Arizona

You may also like these Icy and Phoebe approved DOG FRIENDLY TRAVEL DESTINATIONS!

Have you been to any of these parks with your pet?  Tell us about it in the comments, we LOVE hearing from you!!

We Are Honored To Receive The Versatile Blogger Award!

I just had such a nice surprise!  I visited one of my favorite blogs, Barking From The Bayou authored by my friend M.K. Clinton.  As I read, I found out she nominated us for the VERSATILE BLOGGER AWARD!!  I'm so honored to be one of the blogs Melissa included in this peer to peer blogging award nominations.

One of my first blogger friends when I started blogging, Melissa writes about the wonderful and exciting life she shares with her two beautiful and spirited dogs, Bentley the Basset Hound and Pierre the Westie.  She is also the author of the books The Returns and The Returns Showstoppers, available on her site and on Amazon.com. I love these books, they're a pet lovers delight!

Versatile Blogger Award Rules

1. Give thanks to the blog/blogger that gave you the award with a link to their blog. ✅ Done!

2. Select 15 blog/bloggers that you would like to bestow this furbulous award. Only 15?! ✅ Done!

3. Shine a spotlight on the lucky Versatile Blogger Award winners with a link to their site so your readers can discover them.  Here are my picks, although it was SO hard to narrow it down to just 15! 

Carma Poodale
Winter and Sparrow
Fidose of Reality
McSquare Doodles
Budget Earth
Oh My Dog
A Dog Walks Into A Bar
Lola The Rescue Cat
Dash Kitten
The Graffitidog.com
Irresistible Pets
Groovy Goldendoodles

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4. Lastly, tell your nominator and readers 7 interesting things about yourself.  OK, I'm really not that interesting but here it is. ✅ Done!

✦ I was born and raised on Long Island, New York. I went to college and subsequently lived in New York City, which was a real party all through my 20's and into my 30's!

✦ In college I worked part time as a hair color consultant for Clairol.  I helped people who failed to read the directions fix their green, purple, or otherwise ruined hair.  Employees got free product so every month I had a different hair color!

✦ I trained my Siberian Husky Icy to be a therapy dog and together we volunteer in our community.  I love the children's reading program best, it's so fun and rewarding.

✦ I took a job transfer from New York to Phoenix Arizona in 2006 and lived there for over 9 years.  That's where I got both my dogs, Icy and Phoebe. It's the most dog friendly city I've ever been to!  I miss it. 

✦ I became a certified scuba diver when I was young, but these days I do more snorkeling than diving! I'm not quite as fearless now.

✦ I am completely addicted to chocolate.  Whether it's Godiva or Hershey's, I cannot resist!

✦ I love to cook and bake.  I covet 2 family recipes that I keep saying I'm going to share but I don't.  One is for Carrot Souffle and the other is Apricot Walnut Tarts.  Maybe I'll share it one day...... maybe.  LOL!

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A giant Thank You to my friend Melissa of Barking From the Bayou for nominating us!  

Check out her blog, and stop by the other blogs on the list of bloggers I nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award! I hope each of my nominees will accept this nomination display the award badge, and join in!

I'M GONNA WASH THAT ITCH RIGHT OUTTA MY FUR!

A lot of pets suffer from allergies, but my dogs never had any allergy symptoms before. When we lived in Phoenix it was so dry.  There weren't anywhere near as many trees, grasses and flowers as we have here.  But now we live in the Northeast...

There is so much thick foliage, grasses and other flora here in the Northeast, allergies in pets are common.

Recently Phoebe displayed some strange behavior that had me worried.  One day I noticed that she was suddenly walking funny.  She was kind of wobbly and rubbing against walls & furniture as she walked by.  It looked like she might be losing her balance.  I was afraid she could be experiencing some kind of neurological issue.  It scared the heck out of me!

I was trying to figure out what caused her wobbling and rubbing against things.  My dogs never had allergies or health issues, other than occasional stomach upsets.  With the warmer Spring weather the dogs have been spending lots more time outside.  We also recently returned from a long road trip to the BlogPaws conference.  

I wasn't sure if Phoebe was having a serious medical issue or just a bad allergic reaction to something.

I wondered if Phoebe's odd behavior was related to a serious health issue or if she was having some sort of allergic reaction.  Perhaps she had been exposed to toxic pesticides or fertilizers on our walks or on potty breaks during the long road trip?  Or, could it be as simple as seasonal allergies making her skin feel so much discomfort that she was rubbing up against things to relieve itchy skin?

I decided to give her a good bath with a dog shampoo for allergies and itchy skin, and wait 24 hours to see if it made a difference.  If she was having an allergic reaction to something on her skin, a good cleansing would help.  If she continued with the wobbly walking and rubbing up against things, we would get her to the Vet right away.  

I had just received bottles of Zymox Itch Relief Shampoo and Conditioning Rinse for pets, to review on the blog.  The timing couldn't have been more perfect! Zymox Pet Shampoo and Conditioning Rinse relieves pets itchy, allergy prone skin Naturally.  I couldn't wait to try it. I was praying it was all Phoebe would need to stop her weird walking and rubbing against walls and furniture.

This post is sponsored by Zymox® . I am being compensated to help share information about Zymox Itch Relief Shampoo and Conditioning Rinse for Pets, but we only share information we feel is relevant to our readers.

Zymox Itch Relief Shampoo and Conditioning Rinse for dogs & cats

After bathing her just once with Zymox Itch Relief Shampoo and applying the Conditioning Rinse, Phoebe's wobbly walking and rubbing against things stopped, immediately! 

I can't tell you how relieved I was, and I could see Phoebe was relieved too!  It was scary to see her acting so strange.  I can only assume that she was having an allergic reaction to all the emerging trees, flowers, and pollen that come with Spring in the Northeast, or that she came in contact with a fertilizer or pesticide that irritated her skin.  

When humans have allergic reactions it usually effects the respiratory tract.  In pets, however, allergy symptoms usually present themselves as external reactions on the Skin, Coat, Face, Ears or Paws.   The below Info-Graphic indicates some of the more common symptoms of allergies in Dogs.

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Common Signs of Allergies in Pets

Using their patented LP3 Enzyme System, a Natural anti-inflammatory antibiotic alternative, Zymox Itch Relief Shampoo and Conditioning Rinse provides natural inflammation relief caused by allergic reaction symptoms in dogs and cats. It's a great dog shampoo for itching skin due to allergies.

Zymox Itch Relief Shampoo for Pets Does NOT contain:

✘ Antibiotics
✘ Parabens
✘ Isopropyl Alcohol
✘ Chlorhexidine
✘ Benzalkonium Cloride or other chlorine compounts

Pet Allergies aren't just annoying, they can result in bacterial or fungal infections in the ears, or on the skin and paws.

HOW TO USE ZYMOX ITCH RELIEF SHAMPOO & CONDITIONING RINSE TO SOOTH PETS ITCHY SKIN

Zymox Shampoo and Conditioning Rinse is used a bit differently than most other pet shampoos and conditioners.  Shampoo your dog and leave the Zymox shampoo in for 3 - 5 minutes.  After rinsing the shampoo off, apply the conditioning rinse but DON'T rinse it off, leave the Conditioning Rinse on and just let it dry on your dog's fur.

Just one cleansing with Zymox Shampoo and Conditioning Rinse and no more discomfort for Phoebe.  What a relief!

Zymox itch relief Pet Shampoo and Conditioner Rinse relieved Phoebe's itchy allergy skin!

I'm being a lot more careful on our walks and outings now. I keep them out of thick grasses and wipe the dogs off with pet wipes each time they come back inside.  It's a lot of work but I don't want them to be uncomfortable or start scratching frantically.  Excessive scratching in dogs and other pets can break the skin which could lead to an infection.

Zymox Pet Shampoo and Conditioning Rinse can be used to relieve itchy skin on both dogs and cats. It's gentle enough for use on puppies and kittens too!

Other Zymox  pet care products you may like:

Zymox Oratene Brushless Pet Dental products.  No teeth brushing required!

 Zymox Ear Cleaner to gently clean and sooth dirty ears!

Do your pets suffer from allergies?  Leave us a comment and tell us about it.

Pet Swag And Tail Wags From The BlogPaws conference

The BlogPaws Pet Blogging and Social Media conference in Kansas City was my 5th BlogPaws conference in as many years.  When I think back I can't believe how much I've learned, how many amazing people I've connected with, and how far my blog has come.  I've learned nearly everything I know about blogging and social media from BlogPaws, and the conference sessions are a big part of that.  My blog would never have made it this far if it weren't for BlogPaws.  Honestly, I probably would have quit blogging early on if I hadn't found this amazing community of pet bloggers!

I'd like to share some of our conference highlights with you, in case you weren't able to attend this year.

Phoebe posing at the 2018 BlogPaws Conference!

Seeing my Pet Blogging and Social Media friends in person, as well as many of their pets, is the greatest.  So many hugs, pets and belly rubs, & kisses go around!   

I also really enjoy meeting folks from brands I love and have worked with, as well as brands I'd like to work with in the future.  It's a great opportunity to learn more about their pet products, create relationships, and find out about new products they might be launching.

The educational working sessions and Keynote presentations are always so helpful to me in growing my blog and social media presence.  Things change so fast in the online world, it's important to stay on top of the latest trends and best practices!

CONNECTING WITH MY FELLOW BLOGGERS & THEIR PETS

The best part of the conference for me is seeing my blogging and social media friends to catch up in person!  It's extra special when they bring their pets along.  It's such fun when you get to meet in person, some of the pets you've come to know and love online.  They're just waiting for pets, belly rubs, and kisses from everyone!  Icy and Phoebe certainly got their share of blogger love!  They made lots of new doggy friends and a few cat friends too.  I've brought Icy and Phoebe to 3 out of the 5 conferences I have attended.  I love having them right there with me, and everyone loves seeing them, including the brands!

I created two Photo Collages highlighting just a few of the fun times we had with some of our blogging friends and our pets. I hope you enjoy them!

Kristin Avery of The Daily Pip, Susan Nation of Talent Hounds, Denise Yoder-Gruzensky of Denise's Dog Dish, Dawn White of Lola The Rescued Cat, Louie The Frenchie, Yoshi from A Girl and Her Husky, Riley from Spencer the Goldendoodle :

So many awesome blogger friends and pets to connect with at the conference!  

Kristin Avery of The Daily Pip, Susan Nation of Talent Hounds, Maggie Marton and Aimee Beltran from BlogPaws, Alison Reder of Sarcastic Dog, Rochelle BaRoss of The Broke Dog, Bryn Nowell of A Dog Walks Into A Bar, Coco The Couture Cat, Jada from Chestnut Mutts, and my girls Icy & Phoebe taking a dip in the "pool" Frontline set up for everyone!

More friends & pets from the BlogPaws confeence!

JUST A FEW OF MY FAVORITE PET BRANDS

Each year I really enjoy seeing brands whose products I love and with whom I have worked.  I always look for their booth's first!  I try to interact with my favorite brands all year long online but there's nothing like seeing them in person and building relationships. 

It was great seeing the folks from Zymox, including little Seattle, she's so adorable!  Zymox makes Oratene Brushless Pet Dental Care products, which I use for Icy and Phoebe.  Pet oral health impacts pets overall health, but brushing  your cat or dog's teeth can be so difficult - it is for me, anyway!  Oratene's brushless products make it a lot easier.

Nancy, Helen & Seattle from Zymox

I've written several reviews on my blog for Zymox during Pet Dental Health month (February) for the last few years, and I have also written about some of their other products like their Itch Relief Pet Shampoo and Rinse and their Wound Care products for pets. I love the entire Zymox product line!

It's always a good time seeing our friends from Bayer Animal Health, makers of Seresto, K9 Advantix and other pet health products.

It's always great seeing Bayer at the conference!  Thanks to our friends from Bayer Animal Health I had the opportunity to visit the K9's for Warriors facility in Jacksonville, Florida last year.  K9's for Warriors rescues shelter dogs and trains them as service dogs for military Veterans suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disability).  With support from Bayer, they are doing amazing work!

I always look for the wonderful folks from VitaBone at the conference!  My dogs love VitaBone's Artisan Inspired dog biscuits like Artisan Turkey, Stuffing & Cranberry flavor and the BBQ Chicken & Sweet Potato flavor biscuits - YUM!  I was too busy chatting with them (they don't call me Chatty Cathy for nothing, you know, LOL!) so I didn't get a photo, but here's a cute photo of Phoebe at their booth last year, sniffing out a box of their goodies!

Phoebe always looks forward to samples of VitaBone goodies at the conference!

It was also great meeting the folks from Chewy.com , since BlogPaws and Chewy are now one big pet loving organization!  Icy and Phoebe posed in front of this backdrop, which Chewy put up in the Exhibit Hall to hint at where next year's conference is going to be.  After seeing this backdrop I had a feeling it would be in Florida, especially since Chewy's headquarters is in Dania Beach, Florida.  It was revealed on the last day that the 2019 conference will in fact be held somewhere in Florida.  We're excited because we love Florida, and we hope to be there for the conference!

We took Icy and Phoebe to Florida to visit family and have some fun in the sun.  Check out our Florida adventure posts Dog Friendly Juno & Jupiter Beaches and Dog Friendly West Palm Beach!  Friends, it's no surprise that we ended up moving there!

I really enjoyed chatting up Only Natural Pet, all natural pet products.  I'm very interested in supplements for Icy and Phoebe so I asked them lots of questions about that.   I appreciated all the information and the wonderful product samples they gave us!

Icy and Phoebe were so curious about all the samples Only Natural Pet had out!

Icy and Phoebe were very curious about all the products Only Natural Pet had out, especially the Bone Broth, Rabbit Treats for cats, and Salmon Oil!

DISCOVERING NEW PET BRANDS

It's always nice to meet new brands and learn about their products.  We met  DOOG Dog Owners Outdoor Gear, ECOS earth friendly products for pets and people, and WAHL, makers of quality grooming products for pets and people.  My husband loves Wahl and uses several of their grooming products - the ones for humans of course!

We were impressed by ECOS eco-friendly products, derived from replenishable resources.

Icy checking out some of the cool outdoor gear from DOOG.

There were so many other great sponsors at the conference, far too many to mention here!  I always leave the conference wishing I had more time to spend with friends and talk with brands reps! 

HELPFUL TIPS FROM WORKSHOPS & KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

The educational sessions at the BlogPaws Conference are so valuable!  As a Blogger and Influencer I never want to stop learning and improving, and the BlogPaws conference sessions help me do that.  Here are just a couple of useful tips from this year's conference sessions:

Jenny Guy from MediaVine spoke to us about building the relationships you want with brands.  One of her many tips that resonated with me was to Add links to a few of our Most Popular Posts to our blog's Home page or About page.  Why didn't I already have that?!  It was the first thing I did when I got home, I added links to 4 of my most popular posts to my About Me page.  Depending on what platform you use it might easy to add them to your Home page as well.

Jenny also mentioned how important it is to send the brand all your links, including social media shares, following publication of sponsored posts you've done for them.  She stressed the importance of maintaining overall communication with the brand throughout the campaign process as well.

BlogPaws Executive Team member Felissa Elfenbein talked about creating engaging content that gets seen, and the importance of working to build up your community.  She advised us to create authentic content people can relate to and share that content at the right times when our followers are online.  She also pointed out that we should share all our content as diligently as we share our sponsored posts.

SEO expert Jill Caren, who owns both 2 Dogs Media and Charity Paws, had great suggestions.  One of the first things she talked about was hosting your blog on a quality site.  Just because a site hosting company seems popular it doesn't mean their quality is better, so do some research and choose a host for your site carefully.

Jill advised that we'll never know what Google is looking for when we rank in search so don't try to figure it out!  We are better off thinking like the end user (reader), what they'll be looking for and the purpose of our content.  She cautioned us against over optimizing keywords, saying you don't need to put the same keywords into one post 15 times.  That was interesting, I always thought I should try to add keywords many times throughout my entire post - the more the better.  Obviously not!  I'm glad to hear that, I never want my posts to sound robotic or inauthentic.  The flow of our content should be natural.

Authenticity and Engagement was a common theme among pretty much all the keynote speakers and working session presenters.  It's hard not to focus on "the numbers" in your blog stats, but an authentic voice and natural engagement seem to be the thing brands value most when they look for bloggers to work with. I know, it's hard to believe the numbers don't rule brands' decisions in choosing bloggers to work with, but that was a key message we heard from speakers.  The numbers can't be ignored for sure, but we shouldn't get so hung up on growing our blog and social media stats that we lose site of our passion and why we started blogging in the first place.

ALL THAT SWAG!

It's amazing to come home with what looks like a truckload of Swag from all the generous conference sponsors!  It's a great way to discover and try new products from brands we love and from new brands whose products we're not yet familiar with.  

What do you mean I have to share some of my conference treasures?!

We got so many great products to try in our swag bags and at sponsors' booths, this isn't even all of it!  Icy and Phoebe want to keep everything for themselves!  I hate to be a buzz kill for them, but I always share some of our swag with their dog friends, and our local animal shelter.

The conference always goes by so fast!  We look forward to it all year and in what feels like the blink of an eye it's over.  We hope to be able to attend next year's conference in Florida!


Have you attended a pet industry?  If you did, leave a comment & tell us what your favorite thing is about being at pet industry conferences!

DOG FRIENDLY RIVER WALK IN PENNSYLVANIA

On the way to and from the BlogPaws conference in Kansas City, we stopped off in the quiet, historic town of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.  It's a very dog friendly little town with a beautiful river running through it.  The town is also home to Lock Haven University, a college with just under 4,000 students.

The William Clinger Riverwalk is a beautiful paved walkway that runs along the river for 2.25 miles.  The river is actually a levee that protects Lock Haven from the West Branch Susquehanna River. 

The Riverwalk is a nice long path that is very dog friendly and great for long walks.  We love visiting Lock Haven because the riverwalk offers a great way for both us and the dogs to get good exercise and take time to enjoy ourselves when we stop off during long road trips.  I would actually visit this dog friendly town for this beautiful riverwalk alone!

It's the end of Winter in these photos, but it's even more beautiful in Summer when all the trees have leafed out and bloomed.  I hope to visit in the Fall next time when the blazing colors of the Northeastern Fall foliage are in full swing.  I know that will be spectacular here!

The riverwalk is a great place for Icy and Phoebe to go exploring together.

Here's a short video of our evening stroll along the riverwalk:

HISTORIC TOWN, BEAUTIFUL ARCHITECTURE

Lock Haven isn't exactly a bustling town.  There are a few little shops and restaurants, but it's a very quiet little college town.   That's what we love about it.  It's peaceful and quiet, you can enjoy the riverwalk and lovely architecture without worrying about crowds or finding a place to park.

Beautiful architecture on this historic building in Lock Haven, PA

Some parts of the town seem kind of run-down, but there is still a lot of beauty to enjoy - especially that wonderful riverwalk!

Phoebe in front of the Clinton County Courthouse, built in 1869

There is some lovely architecture in Lock Haven, PA.  Some of the buildings serve as student housing for Lock Haven University

WONDERFUL DOG FRIENDLY HOTEL IN LOCK HAVEN

During one of our cross country trips from Phoenix to New York we searched for a dog friendly hotel that was not too far from Interstate 80.  I was so fortunate to find a pet friendly Best Western hotel in the town of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.  Finding this town and hotel were one of those happy accidents while planning a cross country road trip with two dogs! 

We've stayed at this Best Western hotel 4 times in the past couple of years and we love it.  The staff is so friendly and accommodating, and they definitely welcome their pet guests!

Phoebe made herself right at home in our comfortable hotel room!

The rooms are updated, clean and very comfortable.  They offer free breakfast too.  The best thing about this hotel is that it's only a short walk from the hotel to the riverwalk.  We've enjoyed all our stays at this Best Western hotel, and will definitely return soon!  When I find a great hotel that really welcomes dogs I try to go back to it again and again on our many road trips with the dogs.

In Summer, Lock Haven has a lot of events that take place along the riverwalk, such as the free Summer concert series that takes place on a floating stage right on the river! 

We love visiting Lock Haven Pennsylvania, it truly is a haven, and a nice break from surrounding big cities like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia!

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Have you found other dog friendly riverwalks?  Tell us about it in the comments!