Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Cabin Fever Haters! Well, most of my dear readers know howl Grandma and I love to get out and explore! We have been house bound due to this winter season. It is just so boring!

So, I just found out that this weekend is a HUGE RV show near Dayton, OH! We really want to go!

It has been my dream goal to buy a mini RV! This is my dream fantasy. When I get stressed sometimes I google mini RVs and just look at them. I think they are called Class C.

This is me back in 2008 dreaming! My Mom, Dad and I took Wendel Flopbottom, a stuffed basset hound that was doing a fundraiser back then. I took him to an RV show with me! hehehe

This is the outside picture of a class C RV!

My dream is to have one similar to this but totally black so I can put my magnets on it. I hate that swirl/line paint job. YUCK

More excited about the dream later…..Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and historic walking tour lovers…..Oh My Dog, we are certainly one of those. This tour is so fantastic and totally dog friendly. We had a blast!

One city over from where we live now, is where my Mom was raised, Covington, KY. Today we were looking for a last day of Indian Summer Walk. We had to get out and enjoy the day with the kids…..

Get this, Covington, KY is about 8 minutes from our home. In 8 minutes we were here!

This is part of a multi faceted walking tour that is right under our noses. We started the tour at the memorial of Mr. John A. Roebling designer of the Suspension Bridge.

This bridge was the prototype Mr. Robeling did for the Brooklyn Bridge. Crazy beautiful isn’t it? The walking tour is 13 blocks long but we made it longer. We headed out to be amazed by the beauty of this civil war settlement.

The beginning of our walk took us right along the Ohio River on the Kentucky side. It was a beautiful fall day reaching 70 degrees. Then, we turned the corner and walked up a side street to view some of the historic home. Howl ever, the Mayor got way laid in some of the historic landscaping….hehehe

Just feast your eyes on this mansion. It is called Mimosa and has 22 rooms. It is now a museum. We did not go in but we will come back and linger around.

It was such a glorious day and then we heard….clip clop, clip clop….

Chaps was totally fascinated…….

The carriage owner was gushing over the hounds. I was gushing over his horse. He told me she was his life. “Her name is Ginger puddin’!” We love Ginger puddin’!

Then we took off all the way down the lane and took a rest here….

These charming row homes are just so sweet and so well cared for. What a wonderful neighborhood. We were charmed! Then get this. After you reach the end of this quaint and charming street you can view this non-quaint structure!

LOL! Really, this building overlooks this riverside quaint neighborhood! Actually I really love it. The color of the windows match the paint on the Roebling bridge. It is really stunning. Rumor also has it that George Clooney has one of the pent houses. Again, only a rumor. At this point you make a right and go back to the river to view some fantastic murals that line the river. Really breath taking.

Time for treat….

We had such a perfect time. We cannot wait to come back. There are several tours yet to explore….

COVINGTON KY, WALKING TOURS

More loving Kentucky later…..Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Indian Summer Day Lovers…..What better way to spend a day like today than near an ancient Indian burial ground surrounded by a 1000 acre park.

Basset Hound Town gives Woodland Mound Park 4 paws up. (That is our highest rating). We decided to spend this 70 degree Indian Summer Day welcoming Grandma home from FL. The kids go wild as Grandma packs up some scraps of rye bread for our adventure! Of course they got an appetizer!

You know me…I had to throw this one in……

All ready and raring to go we set out to explore
Woodland Mound Park in Hamilton County OH!

There are stunning over looks of the OH River. Lazy and easy walking paths surround the entire park. Off of these level 1 paths are level 2, 3, and 4 paths as well. We stuck to the level 1 areas!

Can you believe howl cool this place is? 70 degree weather and curves included!

Some of these overlooks rival the Blue Ridge Parkway. Incredible!

Something else that was fun to look at….SHADOWS!

I adore shadows….

Especially when they are the Mayor’s shadows!

Hey, keep you head up! There is a foot bridge ahead! Grandma, hang on tight to our Princess over the foot bridge!

Careful…….

What a fun park! We will be back!

There was nothing better than spending an Indian Summer Day at an ancient Indian burial ground. They say it is unlikely that you will see the burial ground. The mound is protected by being unmarked and hidden. I would like to think we cast our long, fall shadows over the site with much respect.

More Indian Summer adventures later…..Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and do you see what I see lovers….

OK, this morning I woke up and could not get those dang skeleton aprons off my mind. I thought it would be cute if I bought 3 more and then Chaps, Emma, Grandma and I could be the 4 bony musketeers next year! hehehe

So, I decided to hop in the BHV and go see if there were any left at Krogers! More about that later….

I looked on a the dash board as I was pulling out and saw a piece of wood/mulch I had picked up from the parking lot of Antler Village which is part of the Biltmore, which by the way is totally dog friendly.

As I was walking to the BHV in the village I glanced down and saw this. It is either a piece of wood or a piece of mulch. When I glanced down I saw a heart shape. It was a fleeting glance and a fleeting thought as I passed by but I turned on my heel and went back for it. I picked it up and felt it was a good luck heart. I saw it as plain as day. Grandma saw it too after I showed it to her.

It does not show up quite as good as it does in real life but I tired to photograph it when I got home for you to view. Do you see what I see?

The picture of Emma in the background is attached to a lanyard I wear a lot. It has both Chaps and Emma’s pictures on it.

Some folks wear them for work, I wear this one for love. I also left it for the airbrush artist to make my tee shirts. It really came in handy that day!

So, can you see the heart? I keep it in my car as a good luck charm. I am so glad I went back and picked it up.

I am also glad I went to check on the glow in the dark skeleton aprons. As I reached the sale table the clerk was marking all the Halloween stuff down again! The aprons were originally 20 dollars marked down to 8.00. Today they were marked down to 5.00! YES!

4 bony musketeers here we come next year! Howl cool will we be? hehehe

More pawsome finds later…Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma

P.S. We wood heart you!

P.P.S. here is the sunset we viewed at Antler Village while eating dinner that night…

This is me eating dinner with the kids outside at Cedrics. Can you even imagine howl beautiful it was? After I jumped up and started photographing the sunset about everyone outside did the same thing. It was amazing. I sharpened the image but did not add any color. This is a Blue Ridge sun set folks!

That heart was meant to be…..

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and kennel question lovers. There is a 6 bank kennel to park your hounds if you want to. I did not take a picture because I am a fool. I forgot. We went down and looked at it.

The set up is all outside. There are self locks and keys. There were about 4 dogs staying there. I was not comfortable leaving Chaps and Emma as you can imagine. It is very primitive. I was very mad. Howl can an estate such as the Biltmore leave dogs to languish like this? I complained to anyone that would listen.

It is a pound type set up with a pad lock. Most of the pad locks did not work. Again, it was very sub par. So, do not bank on this.

Thank Dog the weather was good for us and we could leave Chaps and Emma in the car. It was about 60 degrees and we parked in the shade. The mountain breeze was blowing. Here is where they stayed.

We considered the kennel until we saw it. What really makes me mad is that this is the Biltmore!

They loved dogs in their day!

Picture 6 pens stuck down behind a parking lot. Very sad! GIVE ME A BREAK!

I give the Biltmore an F for this effort!

More grading later…Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Biltmore at the end of the day lovers.

Check it out! The last self tour for the Biltmore was at 3:45pm. We took that last self tour with an audio visit. It costs 10 bucks but it was well worth it. You really must take the audio tour. Just go to the front desk and get your audio package.

But the best part of this last tour is your total access to the property. We went back to the BHV that had Chaps and Emma in it. Of course this is all weather permitting. It was a 60 degree day and the kids were totally find in my BHV. We drove back to the front of the property for sun set.

You can drive right in front of the estate as you drive out. You don’t know this when you pull in and you are directed to the parking lots. But, you can pull right up front if you want to go to the garden store.

It is also your way out but they don’t tell you that.

Anyway, we figured it out! After the last tour we basically had the estate to ourselves!

We had so much fun walking the kids all over!

Look at the Lions. The kids are hooked up to each one!

This picture is the kids hooked up as well. Just check out the enormity!

Then we had the run of the place. Every one was gone.

You are not going to believe this….A fellow and his wife were volunteers from GA basset hound rescue that took this picture. What? Can you believe it? They were so excited to meet us. They saw the BHV in the lot!

Emma was watching from a far!

Then the sun went down.

There was no one at the estate but us. We parked down by the gates right off of the parking lots. It is the way you go to the garden shop. It passed right pass the estate. We had the best experience.

It was so cool!

More all to our selves later…Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and tee shirt art lovers. I have come to the conclusion that air brush art is kind of like tattooing for really good artists. This guy is really good! As promised here are the pictures of his art work!

This is the tee I bought Grandma…..

Grandma actually took this picture of Emma and we call it the glamour shot.

I picked the Chaps photo for my shirt. I am going to order an Emma shirt soon.

I am just awe struck with this air brush artist. Can you believe it?

More loving my fantastic finds later……Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and blogging in a dog friendly hotel in Gatlinburg lovers…..

Back when I was making reservations for our trip I was getting desperate for lodging in Gatlinburg. I finally found lodging that would take dogs over 30 pounds. Whew….

It is called the Midtown Lodge. When we pulled out today I made the comment, “well I guess the Midtown Lodge served it’s purpose allowing dogs over 30 pounds but not much more.”

I would call it a dump. The owners were rude and snobby. Howl can anyone be snobby to the Mayor?

Even the cabins in Asheville had internet access. This place only had access in the lobby. Since I was close to the lobby I was able to dip into the lobby’s hot spot via this location in my room but no where else…

I am sure there must be more places in Gatlinburg that take real dogs, dogs that have some meat on their bones! hehehe

I will never stay here again. Here is an ariel shot of the hell hole. I took it from the sky lift ride. It is the brown one in the front.

Grandma and I took a sky lift to the top of one of the Smokey Mountains.

It was scary fun! See the chair behind me?

Anyway, back to the bug infested, smoke alarm going off hell hole.

Here are the kids after I tucked them in. Sorry for the bad photos. It is almost like night vision….

I had them all covered up because the AC did not work and the air was pretty stale. I had the windows open and the mountain air was getting pretty cool. It just felt and smelled so good, plus I could hear the bluegrass band playing across the street. Ahhhhhhh mountain music! Just like Chaps and Emma howling;)

The kids slept really good the entire trip.

I was just glad to check out. I cannot tell you howl much I am looking forward to buying my mini RV.

More almost home later….Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and the number one thing you must do while in Gatlinburg lovers…..

Can you guess?

Maybe eat a foot long corn dog?
Maybe eat a hot funnel cake?
Maybe get a photo of yourself in a petticoat holding a shotgun while eating salt water taffy?

Nope none of those……..

The number one thing to do while in Gatlinburg is to research air brushed tee shirt designers!

I picked mine!

Stay tuned for more of his art work that I will pick up tomorrow.

More loving the one thing that is a must do in Gatlinburg later….Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Log Cabin Motor Court Lovers……Some of you may have remembered a blog I did about finding this place! Grandma, the kids and I loved it! Look howl cute! This place is right outside of Asheville, NC. It is about 30 minutes from the Biltmore Estate and 10 minutes from downtown Asheville.

Grandma and I each had our own cabins. They are very rustic with a modern touch. I had wireless internet access! YEAH! The kids and I had the Snuggle Inn and Snuggle we did!

Chaps was totally hangin’ with his Grandma!

Then I took off to walk Emma and the Mayor was concerned……..

Emma and I are coming back from the dog walk area. This place is pawsome. There are poop bags and deposit cans along the way. Woot, Woot!

This is us checking out today! I had just got back from Granny’s Kitchen, right down the road. I bought 2 cups of coffee and crispy bacon and cheese sandwiches. Delicious! “Granny” waited on me. The place was about the size of my small living room. Everyone was laughing and it was 7:30am. Lovely, even though the fog was as thick as the gravy Granny was making behind the counter!

I wanted to show you where we had dinner last night. This is the restaurant for the cabins! An authentic German dining experience! It was soooooooooooo delicious! The potato pancakes were to die for!

Bye, Bye Beautiful, Blue Ridge Log Cabin Motor Court! We will always think of you fondly!

More heading to Gatlinburg, TN later lovers…..Cat, Chaps and Emma

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