# Mountain Vacation with Chester and Eva (Pic heavy!)



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

We just returned from a dog-focused family vacation in the lovely West Virginia mountains in the Monongahela National Forest. I rented a house there with 27 private acres to wander and private river access plus a small creek. Even though my dogs aren't off-leash suitable, it was great to have such a large area with no worries about other dogs and plenty of safe space for long line use.

(Editing in photos, give me a minute...)

(Most pics are sized 9 inch by 6 inch or so, hopefully not too large for most people)


----------



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

And some Eva pics....

Testing the waters so to speak in the calmer creek before trying out the river

















Into the river!

































By the banks of the creek


----------



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

And a bit of the area, sans dogs

































































All of these photos were taken just on the rental property, it had quite the nice variety of terrain.
Oh, and lots of deer. We saw deer every morning and sometimes evening and the dogs sniffed and sniffed until their minds overloaded from the deer scent trails


----------



## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

Looks like a great trip and the dogs enjoyed themselves. Beautiful property.

I'm about to go on my own mountain cabin vacation. Unfortunately Jubel went and injured his foot so it's going to limit the fun activities we can do with him this week that I'd planned. He'll enjoy himself no matter what getting to spend a week with the whole family together. Sadly he will have to wear the cone of shame when I can't supervise.


----------



## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

It looks beautiful and like you all had a wonderful time. Love the pictures of you in the water with the dogs!


----------



## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

awesome pictures !!!!!


----------



## Wet Beards (Jan 25, 2015)

What a perfect place to vacation. It looks calm, serene and fresh. 
Thank you for sharing those stunning pictures.


----------



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Thanks y'all

It was very very serene and quiet, couldn't hear any cars or people around at all. There were a handful of homes nearby but not right up close and certainly it was not a busy area to access the forest either. The road in off the paved road was almost 4 miles of single lane width gravel road curving around the mountain with a steep and long drop to the river... a bit nerve wracking in good weather, I cannot imagine trying to drive it in the rain or snow.

We all relaxed, humans and dogs both. I even went the entire week without checking my work email


----------



## cookieface (Jul 6, 2011)

Looks like everyone had a great time! Lovely pictures.

Do you mind sharing where you stayed? We just returned from vacation, but it's never to early to start thinking about the next one.


----------



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

cookieface said:


> Looks like everyone had a great time! Lovely pictures.
> 
> Do you mind sharing where you stayed? We just returned from vacation, but it's never to early to start thinking about the next one.


http://www.vrbo.com/360447

Year before last we went to a llama farm in far eastern Tennessee which was also a great dog friendly rental but iirc, you're in the northeast so WV would be much easier drive. 

The only thing I wished this rental had would be a fenced backyard, even a small one, for those first thing in the morning and last thing at night potty trips but I know that's getting a bit picky for such a nice acreage.

We didn't go tubing, but there was a place to put in upriver and do a 2 mile or so tubing run or if the water is running high, a kayak or whitwater canoe run with a take-out location right there back at the property.


----------



## cookieface (Jul 6, 2011)

Shell said:


> http://www.vrbo.com/360447
> 
> Year before last we went to a llama farm in far eastern Tennessee which was also a great dog friendly rental but iirc, you're in the northeast so WV would be much easier drive.
> 
> ...


Thanks! The 27 acres would be fabulous, but limited internet could be a deal breaker for us. 

The place we just rented was very nice and the (unfenced) yard and deck were fun for the dogs, but the prominently featured huge field was accessible only down a narrow, surprisingly busy road. I wasn't comfortable walking the dogs along the edge. Heck, I wasn't comfortable walking alone.


----------



## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

Just arrived at our rental less than an hour ago. Very dog friendly house. Two levels of decks with the ability to close gates at most places to keep dogs safely confined to the deck. Decent sized fenced yard, on a hill though, which the dog can access from the lower deck by squeezing between the hot tub and the house. Just under a foot wide gap intended for the dogs to get to the yard... Not so easy for people to follow haha. Could leave the door into the garage open for access to a doggie door but I don't want Jubel out by himself. Gift bag of doggie stuff I haven't looked through, nice metal dog bowls, might find more stuff later.

Not sure what our walking option will be right now. Dense woods around the cabin and a small windy road we got here on I would not walk on. Probably going to be yard time and drive for a mid day walk...maybe.

Jealous of your river access but I doubt Jubel would get in without a lot of coaching and still be resistant if he did.


----------



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

cookieface said:


> Thanks! The 27 acres would be fabulous, but limited internet could be a deal breaker for us.
> 
> The place we just rented was very nice and the (unfenced) yard and deck were fun for the dogs, but the prominently featured huge field was accessible only down a narrow, surprisingly busy road. I wasn't comfortable walking the dogs along the edge. Heck, I wasn't comfortable walking alone.


Ooh, that would be annoying. For vacations, no one wants to traverse busy roads in general, let alone on foot.

We didn't seem to have much issue with the internet. I mean, no Netflix or other streaming videos and no big file downloads but it was serviceable for things like email, mapping, checking what words are allowed in Scrabble etc. My father has his own business and was still able to do most of his work from the internet. Cell service was crap though.



dagwall said:


> Just arrived at our rental less than an hour ago. Very dog friendly house. Two levels of decks with the ability to close gates at most places to keep dogs safely confined to the deck. Decent sized fenced yard, on a hill though, which the dog can access from the lower deck by squeezing between the hot tub and the house. Just under a foot wide gap intended for the dogs to get to the yard... Not so easy for people to follow haha. Could leave the door into the garage open for access to a doggie door but I don't want Jubel out by himself. Gift bag of doggie stuff I haven't looked through, nice metal dog bowls, might find more stuff later.
> 
> Not sure what our walking option will be right now. Dense woods around the cabin and a small windy road we got here on I would not walk on. Probably going to be yard time and drive for a mid day walk...maybe.
> 
> Jealous of your river access but I doubt Jubel would get in without a lot of coaching and still be resistant if he did.


Doggie gift bag is nice, the place we stayed at in Tennessee had a few toys and bowls for dogs. Not fun to have to drive for a walk though.

Chester isn't a big fan of water but surprisingly I think that if it wasn't a rocky shore and river bottom, he would have been okay going into it with me. It was just plain hard for him to walk on the wobbly rocks and it increased his stress. So we stopped taking him to the river and my father walked him on long line in the fields instead so Chester could sniff to his hearts content while my mother, Eva and myself swam. The life jackets helped for sure for Eva to swim but she was most interested in chasing floating leaves


----------



## cookieface (Jul 6, 2011)

We should start a list of dog-friendly vacation rentals and reviews from a dog-owner perspective.


----------



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

cookieface said:


> We should start a list of dog-friendly vacation rentals and reviews from a dog-owner perspective.


Sticky? The hard part would be keeping it to reviews by people who actually stayed someplace and not spammers or property owners.

There are a few website with supposedly dog friendly locations listed, but there is no real information other than the most basic of "dogs allowed" which if you dig deeper can mean anything from "one dog under 25 lbs with a large pet fee" to " huge fenced yard and up to five dogs of any size or breed(important to me!) and no crates required indoors" (the second half of that was what the llama farm offered and we enjoyed)


----------



## cookieface (Jul 6, 2011)

Shell said:


> Sticky?
> 
> There are a few website it supposedly dog friendly locations listed, but there is no real information other than the most basic of "dogs allowed" which if you dig deeper can mean anything from "one dog under 25 lbs with a large pet fee" to " huge fenced yard and up to five dogs of any size or breed(important to me!) and no crates required indoors" (the second half of that was what the llama farm offered and we enjoyed)


The first "dog friendly" place we rented didn't permit dogs on furniture or upstairs - not very friendly if you ask me. One of the places we rejected this year was because of high pet fees and extra cleaning fees; again, not very dog friendly.

A sticky would be nice, maybe something organized by general region and country. Although, I've been told that no one reads stickies so they're pointless.


----------



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

cookieface said:


> The first "dog friendly" place we rented didn't permit dogs on furniture or upstairs - not very friendly if you ask me. One of the places we rejected this year was because of high pet fees and extra cleaning fees; again, not very dog friendly.
> 
> A sticky would be nice, maybe something organized by general region and country. Although, I've been told that no one reads stickies so they're pointless.


Afaik, stickies show up in Google searches so there is that, but I think they are mainly useful for linking on frequently asked questions.

Both of the vrbo places I have stayed with the dogs requested that you put sheets over the furniture which is pretty reasonable. Pet fees of $25-50 seem okay for a midranged priced rental but i totally avoid per day pet fees. I mean, its not really harder to vaccum after 6 days than after 3, even for a shedding dog.


----------



## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

Never stayed at a place with rules for the dog once you're there. Simply a clause that if there was damage you could be charged an extra fee. I don't make any special efforts other than keeping Jubel in the bedroom I'm staying in when we leave the house so he can't go rummaging. Never had an issue.

Pet fees where we've stayed range from $60-100 but my parents like to stay at somewhat high end places so not that big in relation to the rental fee itself. Usually a smaller add on fee for an additional dog. No restrictions on size/breed where I've stayed either.


----------



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Sounds like you have some good options Dagwell. I think some areas are more dog friendly than others of course. My main requirements are-- no crates required, dogs allowed on furniture if covered with sheets or just allowed overall, and not in a shared area or campground where other dogs might be (for example, a fair number of rentals around Gatlinburg allow dogs but are on shared lots so any number of other dogs might be right there by you). 

A few more pics--

They loved the sun porch with floor to ceiling windows, it was nice for humans too since all the upper windows opened for fresh air. Much squirrel watching was done here









Sleepy pups after a long day of sniffing and running









And an outake photo fromwhen I tried to get them to pose by the river


----------



## FaithFurMom09 (Oct 24, 2009)

Looks like fun!!!!


----------



## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

Oh Jubel would have LOVED that room with all the windows. So far I've only rented places in the Outer Banks and right now in Asheville with Jubel.


----------



## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

So beautiful and peaceful. Love this pic.



Shell said:


>


I don't see any dogs in this picture. They match the wall! Haha


Shell said:


> Sleepy pups after a long day of sniffing and running


----------



## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

Looks like a lot of fun! I love Chester and Eva  They are such an adorable duo!


----------

