Toy Dog Show in Olive Branch MS

Well vacation's over and the old Blog has gone back to the Dogs.

We traveled to Olive Branch MS for a one day toy dog show Sunday Nov. 1st.

Cruiser snagged his usual Reserve Winners Dog.

Mimi won her class and also won Winners Bitch, and Best of Opposite over two specials. She has won points in her last two consecutive shows.

Mimi also won best of breed papillon in the puppy sweeps and got to go into the group ring where she won a Group 3 placement.

Vacation Is OVER :(

The view from our Mountain home away from home.

We got rained on most of Friday. Saturday we had to pack up and be out of the room by 10:00.

We traveled from North Carolina back to Tennessee and stayed Saturday night in Pigeon Forge and spent Saturday night in downtown Gatlinburg. After one night in Gatlinburg, I remembered why I like the NC side of the mountains 1000 percent better than the TN side.

Now this is what I call a House Dog

Now this is what I call a House Dog....

I made Laura turn around so I could see what I thought I saw and to get her as a witness.

Linville Falls

Linville Falls .. We hiked one side of the gorge and decended down steep rocky/root laden trails down to the river level to view the falls from the bottom. We then hiked back up and out and then hiked the other side of the gorge. Did I mention gorges are deep and hard tough hiking ???

Linville Gorge Hike

Thursday Oct. 22

Today we hiked to six different spots in the Linville Gorge area. All are different sides of the river and different views of Linville Falls. Gorge hikes usually mean steep rocky hikes and this one is no exception. In our neck of the woods back home we only have hollows, bluffs, and gullies. We have no concept of a gorge. This thing was a baby CANYON and very deep. It was a tough day of hiking.

NOTE TO SELF .......

NOTE TO SELF........When the rangers put up a sign it means what it says.

Wednesday's Hike

Today we hiked at Grandfather Mountain. We parked at the lower parking lot and hiked the trail to the summit. We tooled around for a while at the summit, then hiked back down to the car. Then we hiked the 2 mile Black Rock trail. We saw lots of wildlife. The Black Rock trail was not all that long or but it was almost totally covered with large rock and roots that you had to negotiate. It was a foot, knee, and leg killer. We then hiked a little over 1.5 miles on the Woods Trail to finish up the day. Let me tell you these mountain miles are killer.

We had a nice dinner of Fresh Mountain Trout to cap off the day.

Banner Elk Oct 21 2009

Well today we hiked up to a very nice overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is called Rough Ridge. We also went to see Blowing Rock. Then hiked 2.3 miles around Price Lake. We've been walking after work everyday for over a month getting ready for the mountains, but these mountain inclines are already taking their toll on our legs.

View from the Blue Ridge Parkway

Laura taking a break....

It's Monday and we cruised up to a nice little town called Blowing Rock. We hiked a trail there called the Glen Burney trail. It was a little less than a 4 mile round trip hike but the whole thing was down hill, which means the return trip is all UPHILL. Any way we finished up our hike by walking through down town. That's the neat thing about North Carolina mountain towns, people still come downtown on the weekends and just walk around and hang out.

We Made It !!! And before the SNOW....

Laura and her brother John.

Me and Laura

Back porch snow pile up.

Well we made it up to Sugar Mountain in North Carolina Saturday afternoon. None too soon too because it snowed Saturday night. We went from shorts and t's to long pants, thick shirts, and long johns.