Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and The Biltmore Home in Asheville, NC lovers…

First off, this is Blog 1 of 3.  Please make sure to read all my blogs if you are considering or planning a dog friendly trip to The Biltmore in Asheville, NC.  I would estimate that I spent about 20 hours over 2 years researching our 2 night stay in Asheville, NC. I looked at every dog friendly hotel in the Biltmore area and finally picked…

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Asheville – Biltmore
115 Hendersonville Road, Asheville, NC 28803
T:  1 828-274-1800

This place even has a TGIF restaurant attached.  They don’t even advertise that on their website.  They said it has something to do with being 2 separate businesses.  It really is quite handy but we did not use it.  We had reservations and plans for lunch and dinner at the Biltmore…(remember the 2 years of planning?  It paid off…)

When we arrived at the DoubleTree we were very impressed with the facility.  It was 2 minutes down the road from the Biltmore driveway.

Look what Daisy Lynn got when she entered the room!!! Wow – this place is AMAZING THEY WELCOMED US WITH OPEN PAWS!!!

The DoubleTree met every require I had.  We even had my requested connecting room on the first floor near the door close to the potty area!!!  OMDOG!!!

If you enter that door our rooms were about 3 down on the right side and over looked the main parking lot.  That is where I parked the BHV (Basset Hauling Vehicle).

This potty area is right across from the BHV.  That is a potty bag station with trash can.

Grandma, Daisy Lynn and I planned our arrival from Knoxville to Asheville to be at about 3:00pm.  I had purchased 2 passes called, “After 4 come back for more”…If you enter the park after 4:00pm you can basically come in for free because the estate closes at 5:00pm.  It does not matter because you can go in the next day if you wish.

TRAVELERS TIP – Call this number at the Biltmore 800-411-3812. The gal who answered told me all about After 4 come back for more which was not on the website.  I also found out on my own that AAA advertises a lower ticket price but that is flat out wrong.  Don’t take my word for it – check it out yourself. She made all of our dinner reservations and answered any question I had.  She was amazing.  People still talk on the phone – image that!!!

TRAVELERS TIP – Spring for the Valet Parking your second day.  WOW!!!  You get to park right next to the Biltmore home.  If they are really crazy busy that day they will drive your car off to another lot but you have in and out privileges all day.  It costs 24 dollars not including a tip.  I tipped really good to keep it up front.  We were back and forth a lot!  Water, hats, dropping off purchases and more.

This pic was from day 2 and I will talk more about this in blog 2. I just wanted to show you where our basset hound hauling vehicle was.  Just 3 girls with a dream!!!

So we arrived to pick up our tickets at will call just prior to 5:00.  Make sure you pick up your tickets prior to 5:00pm.  You arrive at the gate and they direct you up to the the ticket office on the left.  I ran in and got out tickets and a few maps.

TRAVELERS TIP – Make sure to get to the Biltmore at about 4:00pm the first day.  Don’t cut it too close to 5:00pm.

Our dinner reservation was not until 7:00pm so it was finally time to soak it all in.  This is just what we love.  The place all to ourselves.  Everyone has basically moved out.  We pulled in the first night and parked in a small lot right here, feet from this picture.  From here you have the most serine walk up to the mansion and it is just breathtaking…Everyone is leaving and you are coming in.

 

I just love this time of day at Biltmore.  Grandma and I have a favorite place we head to.  It is the patio area that is covered in wisteria when it is blooming.  It was not in bloom but who cares…

Grandma’s phone started playing Clair du Lune  just on it’s own as we got to this point. That has never happened.  It was one of Grandpa’s favorite songs.  We knew right away he was with us.  It was so powerful.

I know he was so excited for us.  So touching…

We just love coming at the end of the day and lingering around this area.  It is so dog friendly and Chaps and Emma have been here as well.  Since our dinner reservations were not until 7:00pm we had a few hours to just take it all in…

After 4 and REALLY – so much more…

It was time to head back to the Basset Hauling Vehicle and head over to the Biltmore Village…

A selfie for luck and we are on our way to dinner!!!

More loving this wonderful place later (and in 2 more blog posts…) Cat, Grandma, Daisy Lynn (Chaps and Emma ATB listening to Clair De Lune with Grandpa)

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and The Lily Book Tour Lovers.  I have been talking about our tour for 2 years and we finally made it happen this summer.  We left #bassethoundtown on June the 5th after many hours of planning.  By many, I mean MANY!!!

I could hardly believe we were on our way.

The Mayor Daisy Lynn was all packed up along with a large amount of Lily Books and marketing packages.  Part of the planning was scheduling marketing stops along the way.  I guess you could say we were a well oiled machine!!!  (With lots of potty stops;)

It cracks me up howl organized we were heading out.  At certain times during the tour it looked like we were fleeing the scene…

Our first stop of the trip was just an overnight in Knoxville.  We do not like to drive more than about 4 to 5 hours so that is a lot of dog friendly lodging and dining.  All of it will be documented and reviewed on #bassethoundtown.  I will share with TripAdvisor, various facebook pages I run, and some other dog friendly sites on the web.  I did too much #PPP  which stands for proper, prior, planning not to share with others like us who travel with their dog and look for affordable and safe options.  On another note – it seems to me that affordable is a bit overstated.  Wow!!!  The costs of lodging is really getting out of control.

First stop –

Knoxville, TN – we barely knew yee…We got up early, had our breakfast and rolled down the road to Asheville, NC – So pretty we planned on a 2 day stay!

More about our next stop later…Love, Cat, Grandma, Daisy Lynn (Chaps and Emma ATB reading the Lily Book…)

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Howllow Fellow Basset Hound and did ya miss me lovers…

Mayor Daisy Lynn, Grandma and I have been gone for a month on the Lily Book Tour.  Only one of many but albeit the longest tour.

We are now home – #bassethoundtown…

From the hot white beaches to the cold mountain tops we marketed the Lily Book from sand to mountain ridge.

You can see it all in the back of the basset hound hauling vehicle.

You can read it all in the upcoming weeks on this blog…

Join us on our journey please…

Much, much more later…Cat, Daisy Lynn, Grandma, (Chaps and Emma ATB and along with us in spirit the whole time…)  WOW!!!

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Beach towel lovers…Grandma and I have been looking for a beach towel for Daisy Lynn which by the way has been so much fun.  In our quest for the perfect towel to match ours and bring out her own true beauty we stumbled across this set.

They are not beach towels but I was looking for a towel that was not quite as big as a beach towel for Daisy Lynn so I can carry it in my beach bag.

These were such a great deal I bought them for both of our bathrooms…

So cute…Grandma loves hers…

And an additional one for our Mayor…

What do you think?

It’s a little hard to see from this pic but of course there will be many more to come, mostly covered in sand!  hehehe

Do you think the colors will bring out her true beauty???

More loving true beauty later…Cat, Daisy Lynn (Chaps and Emma ATB laying on rainbow beach towels…)

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and picking a palette lovers.  Well, the Lily Book Tour is coming up soon (we may be in a town near you!)…  So, as one does, one picks a palette for the upcoming tour…

OMD – we love these towels!  Who knew a towel could mean so much?  Currently, we are searching for a smaller compatible towel for Daisy Lynn..

We would like to find one with these colors…Teal and Pink…

So much fun…I can’t wait to lay this baby on the beach!!!

#bassetbeachbaby

But first we have to get our stamina up!

Daisy Lynn has miles to go before we hit the tour circuit!

More loving towels and palettes later…Cat, Daisy Lynn (Chaps and Emma ATB laying on the exact same rainbow towels…)

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Madison, Indiana lovers…Grandma, Daisy Lynn and I had such a great time trecking over to this quaint town recently.  There are all kinds of cool little antique shops and lovely walking tours.  Since it was only about an hour an half away it was well worth the adventure.  Grandma had read about this little town in a local magazine and they said that a place called Hinkle Hamburgers was not to be missed.

It was a very warm November day so I kept the AC running in the BHV (basset hauling vehicle) and we could see my car from the window…

It has been there since the 1800s and the burgers just taste better on a flat top grill…

It was really good and fun…

We decided since it was such a nice day we would also do a photo shoot of Daisy Lynn in a one of kind – snood to be listed in the boutique at some point…

Madison has this really cool old fountain right in the center of town!  Perfect for a photo shoot…

They had just decorated for the Howllowdays…

We had so much fun.  Daisy Lynn got decorates as well and is a great model for sure!

This snood is from the fairyland collection.  It is a stretch velvet adorned with a matching tassel trim. So cute…

From there we went to the public library to drop off a Lily Book.  I just love dropping off Lily Books to town libraries.  It is really very special…

Next stop – the local book store…

Keep your paws crossed for Lily…

We wandered on down main street and made a friend…what a pretty boy!  Daisy Lynn was very impressed with what we call a “lace body…”  hehehe

We did learn that Madison, Indiana is not very dog friendly when it comes to lodging – which prompted us to drive back towards bassethoundtown and pull into a Kentucky Start Resort Park called General Butler.  Kentucky State Parks are the best and General Butler did not let us down…

The Lily Book is also being considered for their gift shop…Really, howl could they go wrong???

It was a great adventure and another stop along the book tour of life.

More loving the back roads and book stores later…Cat, Daisy Lynn, (Chaps and Emma ATB having a rainbow burger on a flat top grill…;)

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and wrapping up this leg of the Lily Book Tour Lovers…After we left the stunning Midway, KY we headed to Frankfort, KY.  We love Frankfort and we have been their before.  We knew it would be perfect for the Lily Book Tour.

Of course, first things first…Happy Hour…

Daisy Lynn did so good on this trip.  She really got the hang of it.

After Happy Hour we went down to the pub in the lobby for dinner.  This is right outside of the pub and we also had breakfast in this exact same spot the next morning.

This seems like a decade ago, but we were anxious to watch the final presidential debate after dinner.  Well, we all know howl it ended.  No comment…

The Capital Plaza is so cool.  We just love it.  The next morning we hopscotched around a few book stores and boutiques to market the Lily Book.  Lily would be a perfect fit for Frankfort, our state capital.

Speaking of which here I am in the KY State Capital Supreme Court Chambers!  LOL – I should have left a Lily Book up on the bench!  Darn it!!!

Here are a few artistic shots for your viewing pleasure…

The place was really dead but it was very cool.  I love our state capital…

Speaking of cool…what is cooler than a winery in horse country?

Equus Run Vineyards…

Just stunning…

We really hit the jackpot finding this place.  It was beautiful and the wine was amazing…

We toasted to Lily…

What a way to wrap up this particular Lily Book Tour.  Just a real success!  As we pulled out of the winery on our way home we saw this…

Just a gateway on the pathway of life…

Bless you Lily…

More loving gateways and book tours later…Cat, Daisy Lynn (Chaps and Emma ATB wandering around the rainbow book tour with Lily…)

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and show on the road lovers…Wow!  I have been really slacking off with my blog and I really cannot figure it out.  I have a ton of stuff to report and lots of fun pictures.  For some reason Grandma, Daisy Lynn and I have been really busy – but that is no excuse to slack off on what I love!

Well, to continue down the road show and book tour of life we left Midway, KY and headed to Frankfort, KY – what a splendid town and state capital…

Howl ever…I am going to do an entire blog on the cess pool of a garage where we stayed.  Did you ever notice howl nasty garages are?

This one was particularly filthy.  This is one of the many reasons everyone with a basset hound or longer eared dog needs to carry a utility snood in their car.

I felt so sorry for Daisy Lynn to have to walk through that grease pit.

At least this thick terry snood protected most of her head area and we tried to keep her face off the filthy floor.

You really notice these things when you have a mostly white hound.

So, when we got to our room I took some of the towels and wiped her under carriage and paws.  Here head was perfectly clean.

I have some of this particular snood for sale but not in my boutique.  I will add one soon.  Right now this particular snood is in my facebook boutique.

Facebook Page Called Bassethoundtown Boutique and Rescue

I even put a little video on the listing…

So, there you have it…

More loving clean ears in a dirty world later…Cat, Daisy Lynn, (Chaps and Emma ATB both glad there are no parking lots on the rainbow…)

PS – I was even more glad for the snood when I was laying my head next to hers that night in bed;)

 

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and moving along lovers…After our bassetabulous picnic at Cumberland Falls we rolled along down the road to Slade, KY to Natural Bridge State Resort Park.  Much to our dismay you cannot see Natural Bridge from anywhere except a long hike up a steep mountain!!!  Hummmm…No!  That’s OK, we were actually there to drop off a Lily Book at the State Resort Park so mission accomplished.

We had great rooms that were connecting and Daisy Lynn just loved going back and forth!!!

We would probably not return to this particular State Park because it was not very dog friendly.  All the trails and walkways were off limits even if we did want to hike up to the Natural Bridge.  We did enjoy our time there and had fun seeing all of the hikers heading off.

We decided to leave the next morning and head to Midway, KY for lunch…If you look behind me you can see all kinds of cute shops that would be perfect for The Lily Book;)

I had it all mapped out including down to the table we wanted to sit at and the place I wanted to park!!!  We got them both.  This place is known for it’s home made apple cobbler so we had to try it after a KY hot brown!

Darlin’ Genes Apple Cobber Cafe!

This little town is Midway between Lexington, KY and Frankfort, KY.  The train runs right through the middle of town!

We love this place and will be back, hopefully delivering more Lily Books…

Next stop, Frankfort, KY –

More loving a KY sales trip later…Cat, Daisy Lynn, (Chaps and Emma ATB eating rainbow cobbler…)

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Cumberland Falls Lovers…

I have already posted the money shot from Cumberland Falls but I have a few more.  This is just the most beautiful State Park ever…

Look, you cannot disagree with me or the Mayor!!!

(Can you see the smokey mountains?)

Most folks come for the falls or the moon bow that happens when there is a full moon.  The condition make a rainbow over the falls when the full moon rises.  It was a full moon when we were there but Daisy Lynn and I were in our PJs getting to bed early so we could view this!

Sooooooooooo captivating and awe inspiring…after the sun came up we ventured over to the gift shops and dropped off the Lily Books and greeting cards.  It was so much fun spreading the joy that basset hounds bring where ever they go.

People just go wild for Daisy Lynn and her sweet nature.  I really did feel that she was bigger than the Moon Bow!!!

As we walked up to view the falls about 7 people knew her name from the day before!  It was so cute!  I felt like I was with a celebrity!  Well, I guess we were.  I just hope her power translates into sales for the Lily Book.  That would be totally pawsome!

The beauty of this park is breathtaking – but it was under construction.  They are making the viewing areas even more stunning.  It didn’t matter at all…we find joy everywhere with this place…

After we hit both of the gift shops and dropped off the Lily Books and Cards we went looking for a place to picnic.  OMDog look what we found…

This is right down from the main attraction (The Falls).  You have to drive to the end of the parking lot to find it.  I think most people might just pull out and miss it but look…there is a picnic table right by this totally pawsome bridge…

We were able to pull right up to it in the basset hauling vehicle – note, the basset we are hauling was passed out after her hike up to the falls…

The picnic was delicious and it was time to push on…

Off to continue on the Lily Book Tour…the inspiration still fresh as the sunrise…

Thank you Lily Pad Serina Vonfirstenburg child.  I think of you and Chloesterama Young Drama Hound everyday.  You both are my never ending moon bow…

More loving sunrises and late hounds later…Cat, Daisy Lynn (Chaps and Emma ATB showing off their moon bows..;)

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