my trip to asheville, north carolina

i just got home from a mini vacation with the human and the grandhumans in asheville, north carolina! 

i'm not very good at geography and i'd never heard of asheville before, but i'm not the type of pup to turn down a road trip. 

oh boy oh boy oh boy! i love riding in the car! i don't even care where we go! let's go let's go let's gooooo!

when we arrived in asheville, we checked into a dog-friendly hotel called aloft asheville downtown. this was my first time staying in a hotel, and i was really excited.

do i even get to sleep in own queen-sized bed?!

after we checked into the hotel, we went outside to explore. right away i found a warm patch of grass to roll around in...because, obviously, no day is complete without a good wiggle in the grass.

ahhhhh, nothing better than a warm patch of grass to roll around and get dirty in :)

it was almost dinner time, so we decided to take a walk downtown to find a restaurant with a patio where we could eat outside. 

on our way there, i smelled all sorts of new smells and saw a lot of things i'd never seen before...

i'm not sure what that is, and i'm not sure what those humans are doing, but if they have bacon, i'd like to hop on!

after a long, long time discussing where to eat, the human and the grandhumans finally picked a restaurant. we sat down on the patio, and i even got my own chair at the table.

dog-friendly restaurants that hand out treats to pups are the best!

since we had such a long day, we decided to go to bed early. which was fine by me; i needed my energy to get up and go to a big fancy house in the morning! 

...i didn't know why we were going to a big fancy house, but as long as there were smells to smell, people to meet, and squirrels to chase, i knew i would have fun.

the next day, we woke up early and drove to the big fancy house, which the humans called the biltmore. 

before we got out of the car, i made sure to put on my nature's recipe petcam so i could take pictures of all the cool things i see.

i'm more excited about rolling around in all this grass than i am about seeing some big fancy house. but do you blame me?

since the mansion is really old, they don't let pups inside, so i walked around outside with my human while the grandhumans went on a tour.

how many times are you going to ask me to sit and smile for the camera? i've got things to do!

...and by "walked around," i mean the human took a lot of silly pictures of me sitting in front of the mansion. 

it was really warm out, and i started getting thirsty. luckily, the human brought my collapsible barkbox bowl so i could have a drink.

i don't think the humans at barkbox have ever been to the biltmore before, so i took this pic for them :) it's the least i could do, since they send me a surprise box of delicious toys and treats every month!

sometimes when i have to sit for pictures, i ponder the meaning of life. and think about bacon treats. 

yep, pretty sure that bacon is the one thing that makes the world go 'round.

finally the human said, "let's go!" and we went for a walk on the grounds of the mansion.

sun on my face, wind blowing through my fluff...ahhh yes, today is a good day!

there were a lot of dogs and humans walking around outside. i made a lot of new friends, but i really liked a pup named louis. he was half my size and had a lot of energy. we had fun chasing each other around until we couldn't chase anymore.

smaller and faster than me? i think i've finally met my match!

after saying "woof" ( or "goodbye" in english) to my new friend, the human and i decided to explore the gardens. i was tired from chasing after louis, so i found a nice patch of grass to take a nap on.

me? sleeping? no, i'm just, uh, resting my eyes. yep.

but i didn't rest for long - there were too many interesting smelling smells to sniff out and dirt patches to roll in!

you think i'm posing for the camera, but i'm actually scoping out my next move.

i decided right then and there that i would like to move into the mansion so i could spend time in the gardens every day.

how could they say no to a face like this?

after we walked through the garden, we went back to wait for the grandhumans. 

seriously, how many benches are you going to make me sit on so you can take my picture?

while they were finishing the tour, i imagined that i was a king and the mansion was my a palace. 

my kingdom would be called doglandia, and i would eat bacon for every meal. all the dogs in doglandia would get a free barkbox subscription, and all the pups in shelters would find homes with kind humans.

yep, i think i would be a really great king. where do i sign up?

once the grandhumans came out of the mansion, we decided to go find a good spot to have a picnic.

on our way, i stopped to make a new friend. even though he didn't say much, he was a great listener. 

i'm not sure what this is, but i think i like it! or him. or her. whatever it is.

all in all, it was a great day. who knew a pup could have so much fun visiting an old mansion in the mountains?

so...when can i move in?

- rambo