This gallery contains 13 photos.
At Barkwells, Jeter and Cappy played many ways. They chased a ball when we threw it with the Chuckit! Ball Launcher like you already saw from many pictures in my previous blog posts. Jeter played with his ‘Flying Squirrel dog … Continue reading
This gallery contains 15 photos.
Since we came back from the vacation, I took my corgis out to run at the trail or around the neighborhood. They still love to run but I couldn’t see the same ultimate happiness or excitement we saw in NC. … Continue reading
When you plan for your vacation with your dog, finding places with a description of ‘dog-friendly’ is not that difficult. But most of the times the term ‘dog-friendly’ means “we accept your dog but you need to pay an extra fee and your dog should stay in the crate when you’re not in the room”. Your dog needs to be on leash all the time and finding places for walking/exercising your dog around can be challenging – you need to find a dog park nearby which doesn’t require you to buy a yearly membership. We took our corgis to a dog-friendly hotel and B&B for a short period of stay before, but didn’t feel all that comfortable leaving them in the room. That’s why we picked “Barkwells” even though we needed to drive 12 plus hours to get there. Calling this place just ‘dog-friendly’ would be an understatement. This place is more like “a resort for dogs where their humans are welcomed.” 🙂 It’s slogan “The dog lovers’ vacation retreat” is so true. I just wish there was a place like that within a 5-6 hour drive from our home. In this blog post, I will tell you about Barkwells and the cabin we stayed in. I don’t have any connection with this place other than we enjoyed our vacation there, twice.
Peppermint Patty’s from outside
At Barkwells, the cabin we stayed in this year was ‘Peppermint Patty’s’. If my memory serves me right, Peppermint Patty was the owner’s second dog. The cabin we stayed in last year was ‘Snicker’s’ and Snicker was the name of their first dog when they started Barkwells.
Peppermint Patty’s (PP) is a bigger cabin than Snicker’s. It has two bedrooms with king beds and a loft with a daybed. Two bathrooms, a living room plus dining room, a fully equipped kitchen, a fireplace, and a bigger porch with rocking chairs and a hot tub. Its yard is big but with a slope – I prefer Snicker’s’ yard. These are some pictures of PP.
From left to right, top to bottom : living room, dining room, first bedroom, second bedroom, ladder to the loft, loft, porch (hot tub, table, and chairs), rocking chairs on the porch, fenced meadow
Jeter and Cappy felt home right away when they went in. They explored here and there.
Jeter is checking out the porch door
Cappy is looking out from the porch
Jeter is testing one of the doggy beds
Cappy likes this bed
After checking everywhere, Jeter and Cappy fell asleep 🙂
Jeter doing peek-a-boo 🙂
There are 6 more cabins at Barkwells. Including PP, six of them are along the 7 acres of fenced meadow and one is separated on the other side of the driveway. Each cabins has its own fenced yard, doggy door to inside of the cabin, and a big covered porch, all for your dogs. Once you checked in, your dog can go everywhere freely 🙂 You don’t need to worry about your dog when you go out to eat or sightseeing. Just cover the sofa and chairs with sheets for the dogs which are provided. Dogs can go out to the fenced yard and play, rest on the sofa or doggy bed -provided- inside, or enjoy the sunlight on the big porch. Everything is for them. Now you start to see why we like this place 🙂
Jeter and Cappy playing in PP’s yard
Jeter sleeping on the chair
Cappy sleeping on the sofa
There are still so many things to tell you but I will stop here for today. In the next blog post, I will show you how happily my corgis ran around the rolling meadow and met their doggy friends. Bye for now!!
– to be continued
This is a blog post about Jeter’s and Cappy’s vacation. It was a very corgi – centered and relaxing vacation and I want to share our memories with you. Hope you enjoy it 🙂
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There are things that change your life a lot and I think getting a dog is one of them. Since we got our corgis, many things in our lives changed including our vacations. In 2009, we already had a great time in Dana Point California before we adopted Jeter. In 2010 there were so many things that happened, we just skipped the vacation. Then in 2011, when we planned our vacation, we didn’t want to leave Jeter and Cappy. So after many internet searches, we decided to go to North Carolina. I read an article about very dog friendly places in NC and an ultimate vacation retreat for dog lovers called “Barkwells.” So last year we went there to celebrate our corgis’ adoption anniversaries and our anniversary. If we didn’t have dogs, we would never think about going to NC for our vacation, especially with more than 12 hours of driving. Yes, dogs surely change your life 🙂
We had a great time at Barkwells last year so we decided to go back again and made a reservation for the end of summer when we hoped it would be cooler weather. After waiting many days, last Sunday, September 2nd, the day we headed to NC finally came. When we were packing our suitcases, Jeter and Cappy sensed something exciting. They came up to the bed and jumped into one of the suitcase 🙂 
Barkwells’ check in time is 3 pm and we needed to drive more than 12 hours from Chicago to get there. So we left our house at 2 am. There were still more cars on the road than I expected because of Labor Day. Last year, Jeter got a little bit anxious during the long drive. To help him to stay calm, we brought his crate this year. For him, his crate is a very comfortable and safe place and he loves to be in it. We secured his crate in the back seat and put him in it. Cappy wore her car vest and we used a tether to connect to a seat belt. It was a long long drive but my corgis did a good job.
Travelling corgis : Jeter in his crate and Cappy in the back seat
Driving all night was not an easy thing. I don’t know how many times we asked each other “Are we there yet?” 🙂 We drank cup after cup of coffee. The weather for our drive this year was rainy and foggy, but still better than last year when it rained heavily as we drove through Indiana. One thing different from last year was we didn’t need to stop so often to get gas 🙂 Our Prius V did a great job. Even though it struggled a bit when we drove uphill in the mountains, overall it was a smoother and more comfortable drive. We listened to so many different kinds of songs using Pandora. We stopped several times not for gas but to stretch our legs and the corgis’ legs. Night changed to day and flat scenery changed to hills. After crossing 4 states borders – IN, KY, TN, NC – we finally arrived at our destination around 3:30 pm on Monday, September 3rd. It was about 680 miles from our home.
After this sign, we still needed to drive more than 100 miles to get to our destination
As soon as we finished the check in, the first thing we did was put our corgis in the fenced yard of our cabin. They loved to run around after the long drive 🙂 Then we started to move suitcases and many things to the cabin. The cabin we stayed in this year was ‘Peppermint Patty’s’. It is a bigger cabin than the one we stayed (Snicker’s) in last year. Jeter and Cappy explored the yard, inside of cabin – room by room – and the porch. They looked so comfortable 🙂 After we put things away, we took them to the 7 acres of fenced meadow. Jeter and Cappy ran like the wind. They looked so happy. That’s why we came here. Our happy corgi vacation just started.
Jeter and Cappy running on the meadow. The cabin behind is the one we stayed in – Peppermint Patty’s.
– to be continued
I’m sorry for not posting for this long. I wasn’t feeling well for a few weeks and then at last I started to feel better again, and we went on our planned vacation.
We took our precious corgis with us and had a great time. We stayed 7 nights at a place called ‘Barkwells’ in North Carolina. I’m going to write about our very corgi-centered vacation and of course these blog posts will have many pictures 🙂
Thank you for not forgetting my blog and see you soon!
What do you think how much damage a half gallon of milk can cause? To me, A LOT. Just thinking about what happened yesterday makes me frown 😦
Yesterday morning, I needed to go get some milk. Since the milk store we buy the milk opens at 10 am, I killed some time at the grocery store buying sweet potatoes and olive oil. Because of the cashier’s fault, I got the sweet potatoes for free 🙂 Then I went to Oberweis and got two half gallons of fat free milk and a 2% chocolate milk – my post run treat – and headed back home. It was a dark and damp morning and the rain was on and off. Not ideal weather to ride a bicycle recklessly near a busy intersection. I saw one guy on a bike crossing the road despite the red light. The car in front of me stopped and I put the brakes on too. That was when I heard the crashing sound from behind. No, it wasn’t a car accident. It was the sound that one of the milk bottles – fat free milk – broke. I still don’t know how that happened. When I put the brakes on, the milk bottle carrier must have slid forward, but how one bottle out of three got broken into pieces like that, I really don’t know. Especially since the milk bottles are in the carrier which hugs the bottles and provides some barrier between them.
I moved the car to the nearby restaurant parking lot quickly and used paper towels to clean the trunk. It was a disaster. Broken glass and milk everywhere. I tried to absorb as much of the milk as fast as possible. It was a cool morning but I was sweating so much. If I was driving the other car, I would only worry about the milk smell. But it was our new hybrid car. The Prius V has the hybrid battery pack under the trunk and the manual warns the owner not to spill liquids. I was worried sick. What if the hybrid battery were damaged? That will cost us a couple of thousand dollars. I called my husband and told him about what happened. He worried about me and tried to calm me down. Maybe I sounded like a crazy woman.
He came back home early and we went to the Toyota dealer to check the car. It was supposed to be my rest day but I spent the morning cleaning the spilled milk in the car like crazy and spent the afternoon at the car dealer shop. After waiting about an hour and a half anxiously, we got the good news that the hybrid battery wasn’t damaged. We needed to wait another hour or so. They sucked out the milk from the mats and carpet as much as they can and shampooed them. We paid about 100 dollars. But the stress I got the whole day was immeasurable. It was raining on our way back home. We couldn’t open the windows and the smell of the shampoo was pretty strong. I was exhausted physically and mentally. I thought I will not drink milk for awhile because of this.
It was not surprising I didn’t feel good this morning. My throat was very sore and swollen and even my tongue was sore. I woke up early to go to the trail but I changed my mind and rested more. After resting two hours, I started to feel better. The weather was too nice to stay at home. So I went to the trail with Cappy. The temperature was not bad but the sun was strong. I brought Jeter’s cooling vest and put it on Cappy. She was running okay for awhile but as the temperature went up, her pace started to slow down. It felt hot for me too. So I ended our run at 2 miles and came back.
“It’s hotter than we thought!”
Cappy enjoyed the car ride and cool air in the front seat – usually my dogs sit in the back seat for their safety just like human kids but today I drove the 3 door hatchback car. That’s the only time my corgis sit in the front seat. After we came back home, I went out alone and ran 1.2 miles more. Even though she ran just 2 miles, the strong sun made Cappy tired – later in the afternoon when I took my corgis out, it felt much cooler than the morning. But running made her happy. She looked like she was smiling while she was taking her nap 🙂
“How could you do this to me!”
However, unlike Cappy, Jeter was grumpy. When I came back home, he gave me a pouting look. He wasn’t happy about me taking only Cappy. Sorry little buddy, but you will have quality time with me tomorrow -) Taking one corgi at a time is easier for me and good for them since their running style is different. And they can rest and not overdo it.
Overall, it was a much better day than yesterday. No milk disaster and I ran with my corgi. Oh, and I drank milk – the chocolate milk after the run – without being haunted by yesterday’s memory 😉
As every corgi owners know so well, tiring a corgi out is a really hard thing to achieve. And even if you somehow succeed doing that, these little buggers recover from fatigue so quickly and start zoomies around the house or bring the ball to you to throw for them. But we, corgi owners, can’t give up. Because tired pups are happy pups and you know how cute the corgis are when they get tired out 🙂
After running 4.6 miles at the Forest Preserve Trail yesterday, Jeter and Cappy looked tired. But they were back to their usual ‘Energizer Bunny’ mode soon after taking some rest. So I took them to the trail again today. My husband stayed at home because of a knee problem. It was another cool morning. The temperature was 63 degrees when we started at 7 am. But it wasn’t sunny like yesterday and felt more humid. Without the bright sunshine, the grass stayed wet with the morning dew. I think that added more humidity to the air. And the wetness to my corgis’ bellies and their 8 legs 🙂
We started our running. My corgis’ pace was definitely slower than yesterday. Even my little ‘Speed Demon’ Cappy didn’t try to run like a sprinter this morning. It was good for me because I didn’t want to run hard two days in a row. It felt great but I can’t take a risk of getting injured. I don’t forget that I just got back to running from weeks of non-running. Running with my corgis at a comfortable pace made me feel so happy but it didn’t last long. After 1 mile, Jeter started to slow down and so did Cappy about a half mile later. So I let them walk for awhile then ran slowly again. Today’s mileage at the trail was 3.6 miles. I wanted to run more but I didn’t want to drag my corgis. Jeter looked tired but Cappy still seemed to have some energy left. So when we came back home, I took Cappy out and ran 0.6 miles more at a faster pace. Then she looked tired too. Running 8+ miles in two days can tire your pups out 🙂
Jeter and Cappy rested almost all day. They fell asleep at one spot for a few minutes and moved to other spots and slept there for an hour or so. Jeter even went under the doggy bed a few times. I don’t know why he did that but it was quite funny to watch 🙂
“Don’t wake me up please….”
They will start to act like not-that-tired-corgis sooner rather than later. But I will give them(and me) a rest day tomorrow.
You don’t expect to have a nice sunny Saturday morning with the temperature around the low 60’s that often in August. So if you have that kind of weather, you should go out and enjoy it. That’s what we did this morning. It was the perfect day to run with my corgis 🙂
My husband and I went to the Forest Preserve Bike Trail with our corgis this morning. It was 61 degrees at the trail when we started. Jeter and Cappy were full of energy. They didn’t get a chance to run with me since last Sunday. They loved the cooler air. From the start, Cappy was like an Olympics sprint runner. She must have been inspired by Usain Bolt 🙂 Usually I manage to make her walk some as the warm up before we start to run, but today it was impossible for me to stop her from running. So I shortened the warm up walk and ran with her. Even though I’m more of a penguin runner, I was able to run with a faster pace today and Cappy looked so happy. She looked as if every hair on her body was trembling with the great joy of running. I don’t remember when was the last time I ran this hard. It would be a lie if I said I didn’t worry about myself while I was running this morning but I should admit that it actually felt great.
“Daddy, give us some treats!!!”
Cappy wanted to keep running and she wanted to run fast. Usually, when the temperature was higher than today, she would start to slow down after 2-3 miles of run/walk repeats, but today wasn’t that case. Jeter wanted to run too. So for awhile I took his leash too and ran with two corgis. But our sweet Jeter went back to my husband and walked with him later. He didn’t want his beloved Daddy to walk alone 🙂 Cappy checked on my husband too. Every time she couldn’t see my husband and Jeter because of the curved trail, she wanted go back. So we actually ran back and forth several times 🙂 My total mileage for today was 4.6 miles. Cappy ran pretty well even at the end of the run. My legs felt great and breathing was good. It was the best run for me in weeks and I felt like being a runner again!
“Cappy and I had a great time today!! “
When they came back home, they enjoyed the homemade frozen treat and rested on their clean doggy beds. I had a big doggy related laundry day yesterday. Washing and drying 5 dog beds, 3 crate pads, 3 blankets, and some more doggy related things was not a piece of cake. But the more labor intensive part was getting rid of all of their hairs which were embedded in their beds/blankets/pads and refused to be removed. I needed to vacuum the floor first very thoroughly before I tackled the dog hair removal task – and vacuumed again after. Then I used the Dyson, a lint roller and my hands to pick up dog hairs as much as I could before I put them into the washer. It took so much time, effort and patience. Human laundry is much easier! 🙂 Of course I washed my corgis’ beds and blankets many times before, but never washed everything on the same day. I don’t know what I was thinking yesterday. Once those agonizing pre-wash tasks were done, I did 3 loads of laundry. Jeter and Cappy looked lost while all of their beds were gone 🙂 After I put the beds together I put them on the floor, my corgis jumped on them right away before I could put them where they usually placed. I think they missed their beds 🙂
“Don’t take away our beds again!!!!”
We turned off the air conditioner again today and opened the windows. It felt good to enjoy the fresh air. ( the only downside to this are the loud neighbors.) Hope this kind of nice weather stays a few more days. ( But wish the neighbors would quiet down!)
Yesterday I went back to the radiology office to take a chest X-ray. It was crowded in the waiting room. No wonder, their machine went down all day yesterday. I prepared myself for waiting there quite a long time but to my surprise, they worked pretty fast. Actually I waited a little bit, took two X-rays, and came out in less than 20 minutes! I wondered why they didn’t work like that before. Anyway, spending less time at the radiology office was good 🙂
This morning after I came back from the gym, I got a phone call from my doctor. He said he got the X-ray result and everything looked cleared. I was glad to hear that. And my blood test results came out good too. Yay!! No more effin’ pneumonia!!!!
It was drizzling on and off all day. Even though it didn’t rain as much as many people want, the temperature was so comfortable. My corgis love this cooler weather. They seemed to enjoy the afternoon walk more today. If there was no thunderstorm forecast, I would take them to the trail. The weathermen said the weather will be very beautiful this weekend and Jeter and Cappy will have some good times at the trail with us. Anyway, these days Jeter and Cappy spend lots of time on the window bench. Sometimes together, sometimes they take turns. But the other day, I saw them falling asleep on the bench together for the first time. They looked just so adorable. You can see Jeter’s nose was in the sheer curtain 🙂
I took the sheer curtain away from Jeter’s face and they still didn’t move and kept sleeping.
“This is a very good napping spot…Don’t wake us up… Zzzzzzz”
Today, I walked/ran 3.2 miles on a treadmill at the gym. I ran more and faster but still in a careful way. It felt good and I sweated a lot. Little by little, I’m going to get my fitness back.
After running two days in a row, I had a rest day from running. But I felt more tired than a running day because every time I go to the doctor’s office, I got exhausted mentally. Even though our family doctor is very kind and nice, I still get nervous. I think the bad experience I had with the previous one – I’d rather call him a quack – has something to do with this. Anyway, today I had a doctor’s appointment and it went pretty well. Dr.C was happy about my progress. Well…I definitely looked better today than the last time he saw me which was when I had pneumonia. Even though I still have a sore throat, he said that I don’t need to worry about it too much. He was glad I started to run again. He prescribed Albuterol to relax and open the air passage to the lungs when I run outside on a very humid day – use it 15 minutes before the exercise. It would prevent my lungs from working too hard and getting sick again. Let’s see how much it will help my running.
Dr.C wanted me to take another chest X-ray to make sure everything was cleared. But when I got to the radiology office, they said their X-ray machine went down. I need to go back there tomorrow. Inconvenience? yes. But I understand things happen. I just have one more thing to do tomorrow 🙂
runningcorgi 