DOG FRIENDLY VACATION IN THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS

We fell in love with the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains the first time we went with our dogs! We discovered this great dog friendly vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains by chance, when another vacation plan with the dogs fell through. We needed to quickly find a different dog friendly vacation destination. But I'm so glad we found this North Carolina mountain area - talk about a happy accident! 

This is the second year we took Icy to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Last time we had a wonderful vacation hiking with our dogs along the trails in Boone, NC. That trip was a bit more rugged as Icy was much stronger then, even though it was only one year earlier.  

You can see how strong she was in the below video. We all had a Blast on that trip! It's a treasured memory with my beautiful Husky, and I feel so blessed to have been able to experience it with her. She is a senior dog now, at age 15, so we need to adjust to her capabilities. 

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IMPORTANT: As of September 28, 2024 much of the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains, including Boone and surrounding towns, have been devastated by Hurricane Helene. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the wonderful people of Boone, and others who have been devastated by this monster hurricane. We hope they can all rebuild and move forward as soon as possible. Food and Water are being airlifted to hard to reach areas of the North Carolina mountains. As with most natural disasters, much of the communications have been lost. If you need help locating missing family members in the mountains of North Carolina, the Red Cross has a hotline to help you reconnect with those affected by Helene. Call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767), select Disaster. They will try to help locate missing people. People can also use this line to list themselves as safe. Here's a link to the FEMA Hurricane Helene information web site.

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We will continue to enjoy taking our dog on adventures whether they be long or brief, challenging or easy, for as long as she is able. Senior dogs don't need to be left on the sidelines! They can and should still enjoy the beauty of the outdoors, with all the stimulating smells and sounds. They just need to do it in a slightly different way.

Not every Blue Ridge Mountain outing with dogs has to be a strenuous or challenging hike. There are beautiful walking trails all around the area. Like The Middle Fork Greenway Trail which is a lovely, easier trail with two quaint bridges that cross a pretty flowing stream. We all enjoyed the beauty of this trail. Here's a short video of Icy on this lovely walking trail (video contains music).

Excerpt from the ExploreBoone website: The Middle Fork Greenway project, led by the Blue Ridge Conservancy,  has been in development since 2013. Eventually, the Greenway will be an uninterrupted walking, biking, and hiking path that follows the Middle Fork of the New River all the way from Blowing Rock to Boone's existing Greenway trail.

Another thing we enjoyed doing with our senior dog is simply relaxing at great dog friendly coffee shops. We found 3 great cafes in the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountain area that we visited pretty much every day! My husband and I really enjoyed it and so did Icy. Whether it was after a nice leisurely walk or after a very short mountain hike, Icy loved it. She loves to people watch and get occasional pets from folks passing by!

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I know how much our pet's health means to all of us. Keeping close tabs on their health is essential. My Husky Icy is 15 years old and experiencing some different health concerns. I was having trouble keeping up with all of Icy's vet visits and new medications, so I created a Pet Health Tracker to keep track of her Vet visits, Medications and preventative treatments, Vaccinations (our Vet recently waived several of them), and more. 

Now I can easily organize her healthcare details in one place. I loved my Pet Health Care Tracker so much I decided to offer it for sale in my Etsy shop!

Complete Pet Health Care Tracker

This brief slideshow clearly shows you each page of the Pet Health Tracker:

Both a Printable and Digital format are included in the low price of $3.50  And, for a limited time I'm including a valuable Pet Emergency Preparedness Checklist as a Free Gift with Purchase! 

The Pet Health Tracker is an instant download product, so upon purchase you'll have access to the files. Visit my Etsy Shop and check it out!

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