Vacay Hike: Over, Under and Over the Hill

For the last several years, when we go on vacay to North Carrylina, it's during mom and dad's b'day week (and right after mine). So on one of the days, her b'day, mom always picks a long "I ain't old" hike. I think this means she is in denial, but we all somehow get sucked into it.

In fact, mom snuck this one in. It was right after our beautiful Rough Ridge overlook hike and mom was like "So, let's do the Green Knob trail, we've never done it, it doesn't look to hard."

So we were like "We got this!" but I think we do need to be reading mom's hiking guide and looking at the levels, this was Moderate/Difficult and between 2.5-2.7 miles.

There was some really nice forests on the trail, with lots of creek waters. So this isn't too bad!

Then there was lots of ups and downs, which weren't too bad, we even had to make it over (or in my case, under) a tree that did fallen on the trail.

Then we did go under the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Then the landscape did change, it was no more creeks.

The BP made it about 1.5 miles in (on top of the other half mile he had already done! Wow!) when he decided it was time for a Goldfish Cracker Break. We all agreed and nommed on Fishes.

Then when we got regoing, we came out in a big grassy field!! That was unexpected!

There had been cows there recently, because of fresh cow poops. I never saw a cow, but the BP did see the poops and said "EWWWWW! NASTY!" BOL! About this time, the BP had enough and rode in his BP carrier the rest of the way.

Then the trail changed again and we went into a pretty hardwood forest.

Then we came out into a nice wildflower field! It was full of buzzy bees, but no mean guys in Yellow Jackets. :) 

And we ended back at the pond we started at.

It was a great hike, so pretty and different, even if it was long. But, I guess that just proved that mom isn't too over the hill to go up and over all those little hills. :)

Vacay Hike: Where I Wasn't Supposed to Be

I'm almost done wrapping up our hikes from vacay. This hiking day will be a two part post. The first part was on the Rough Ridge trail, which isn't too long, but gives spectacular views! It was trail 1 of mom's b'day hiking.

So anyways, why we loves the Blue Ridge Parkway is they do be very puppy friendly. Which is good. But mom and dad saw something on this trail we'd never seen before...a sign that said "No Dogs on Trail."

What....the....crap. Guess what. We ignored it. We ignored it so good, we don't even have a picture of it. Now, we're not big on breaking the rules, but it said nothing of this dog-discrimination in our trail book, in fact look at this picture:

That dog don't even be on a leash! Of course, this might be a little dated, since the peoples look like they stepped right out of a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode, but oh well. So up we started!

A little after we started, here came two peoples real fast up the trail, and guess who one was? It did be a Park Ranger. Oh snap! So mom put me in a sit and we hoped he would be distracted by the cuteness of the BP and he just said hi and kept going! Whew!

Do you know that BP climbed up that whole trail?  I was impressed, but was getting more impressed as we noticed the leafs were changing colors.

Then we got to the top and WOW!

Mom and I even took a selfie!

We ran into Park Ranger up there and he said Hello again and that I was pretty. So I guess it was my looks that got me by! Whew!

Mom tried to take a picture of Dad, BP and me, but I guess neither me or the BP was in the mood...

On the way out, we did see a sign that we followed, it said "NO BODY COME UP HERE!" so we listened and got ready for trail 2!

Vacay Hike 3: Dad's B'day Lake Day

On this day, it was Dad's gotcha day! I won't say exactly how old he is, but if you do the doggy to human years thing, he's still technically younger than me and WAAAAAY younger than Duncan (but seriously, who isn't?)

We went to Price Lake, one of dad's favorite trails. It's a 3-mile loop. And I like it, cause there's A LOT of big water for me to get in.

There's also some awesome rawks to crawl around on. I got to show BP how to do it. He still needs to work on his photo posing though.

See, I got this majestic, super model posing DOWN!

It's a good fun trail, and you know what? Not only is BP learning stuff like climbing on and posing on rocks, he's learning about how to hike! He was a beast on the trail!

He would even get ahead of mom and dad, but no body gets ahead of me!

Like I said, no one gets ahead of....oh crap!

Pretty fall trees with fall leafs....

Do you know that BP walked 2 Miles of this three mile trail! I is quite impressed! We even got a family shot at the end!

That afternoon we went back to the lake trail in town (Bass Lake) which is part of Moses Cone Park, that white house WAAAAAYYY up there is part of the park. Mom said she'd love to live there and own this land. Come on lottery!

I couldn't swim in this lake though. Boooo! But maybe that's a good thing, all that lake hiking and swimming may have made me a bit sleepy...maybe....

Vacay Adventure: Kitties in Shells and a BP in a Tree

On one day of vacay, it was kinda rainy. So we stayed in and chilled out. Which is good, we MIGHT have been a little tired from all our hiking adventures....

Also, dad had to go into town to take an online test for school (He is going back to college to get a degree in something that brings more treat/nom green papers. I support this fully.)

On the way back, he brought back a friend. Neither the BP or I were very sure about this new "friend"

We both gave it the sniff test...

The BP picked it up and it done went HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS at him! Do what?!?! It was like a kitty in a shell! The BP did not approve!

So, we set him free. We already have two kitties back home, we don't need no kitties in shells!

After they let the shell-kitty go, everybody went to to a nice lake trail in town. I said I needed to stay back and get my rest and protekt the cabin. It's a nice trail that is pretty and stuffs.

Also, there is a tree there that LAST YEAR mom and dad put the BP in. Well guess what, they did it again! Here's a comparison photo. Pretty cool, no?

Tomorrow I'll post about Dad's B'day hike. :)

Hike 2: Linville Falls and George

So, the next day after the Yellow Jacket day, we decided to go to a well traveled trail. The BP even wore yellow to help sway any guys in yellow jackets from heading our way.

 BTW, thank you for the concern about dad's booty. He was okay and able to rejoin us on the trail!

And we're off!

Linville Falls is very cool...it's like some major water!

For this part, both BP and I needed to be contained, a little bit dangerous around all this water and rocks and cliffs of death and stuff. I wasn't too happy about this, but apparently the BP thinks it's kinda awesome being carried around...why doesn't I get carried around?!?!

Next, we had to go up up up to get to see Linville George.

Umm, what is holding up my progress? I want to go see this George fella.

Oh, it's the BP slowing us down! He's free and jumping on and over EVERYTHING!!

We made it!!! HELLLOOOOOOOO!!! GEORGE?!?! GEORGE WHERE IS YOU?!?! IS YOU DOWN THERE?!?!?!

Mom, there is no George....and why does the sign misspell his name as Gorge?

I was still looking for George, but the BP and the parents saw this awesome view of the falls from way up high. Why aren't they worried for George!??!

Oh well, we never found George, but I did find some nice cool waters for my feets and to drink. I hope someone finds George! Maybe he got taken off by the guys in yellow jackets?