Cohuttas and a Backpack

Hi, everybody. Well, I'm one tired yellow dog, but I've got to tell y'all about our latest adventure while the Food Guy's taking a break from catching up on work and cleaning some gear. He's been tapping away at the keyboard since we got home this afternoon, but now that he's cleaning the stove and our water filter I'll fill you all in on our latest trip. We left Athens on Monday morning and rolled over to the ATL to pick up Lisa (aka the treat lady/the Food Guy's girlfriend) and then we cruised up 75 North to our favorite place: The Conasauga River Trail. We parked at Betty Gap and walked along the Conasauga River for a few hours before we stopped to make camp for the night.

We took a couple of breaks along the way to stop and enjoy the view. It was a great walk, and we crossed the river 50, yes 50!, times. It was so cool!

I was wearing my pack, so I didn't run around the trail very much. I was in working mode, you see. I had to conserve my energy. So, mostly I just walked along with the Food Guy and the Treat Lady. I stayed right with them all day long. Once we got to camp the first night, I ran around smelling things and checking the place out while the people collected firewood and put up our mobile, mobile dog/people house. Then, we ate a little dinner and went to bed. I was pretty worn out. But that was nothing compared to the second night. Ughh!

On Tuesday morning we got up, put our packs on and hiked for a few hours to the trailhead at Panther Creek. Once we got there, we stashed out packs and hiked up to Panther Creek Falls. This place was amazing! There were some people there who had a black lab, who wasn't so smart. He was nice enough, but when he saw me he started running and almost fell off the falls. It was very scary. That's why I always stay with my people. They know how to keep me out of trouble. Check out these views on the Panther Creek Trail.

We looked at the falls for a few minutes, then we hiked back to our packs and had some food. Then, we put our packs back on, and started hiking back up the trail to the really cool campsite that we'd found in the morning. It was so pretty. You could hear the creek all night, and there was lots of cool stuff there. I was SO TIRED though. Hiking with a pack is hard work, even for a dog who goes running every day. I passed out while the the people cooked some dinner and enjoyed the pretty campsite. We were all passed out at 8:30. Yup, that's right 8:30. It wasn't even really dark yet.

We saw so many cool things on our trip. Check out this Rhodie growing on a rock:

The Cohuttas are the coolest place. I'm glad there aren't too far from our house in Boone. I hope we come back here a lot! Well, I'm tired and my paws are worn out from all the adventuring the last 3 days. You can be sure we have lots of adventures coming up. Food Guy defends his dissertation on Tuesday, and then we'll have even more time to go out and see stuff. We are planning to go back to the Cohuttas a few more times before we move to Boone, so stay tuned for more tails (ha ha) from our trips.

City Life and a Completed Dissertation

Hey everybody, the Food Guy and I had a pretty good weekend hanging out in the ATL. Every once in a while, we like to do the city thing, and this was a good weekend for it because the weather outside was kinda rainy. We loaded up in the mobile doghouse and headed for the ATL friday afternoon. After a short stroll around Mid-town, I took a nap while the Food Guy and his girlfriend went to see "Hot Tub Time Machine." Yup, that's right, "Hot Tub Time Machine." How did the Food Guy get his girlfriend to go see that movie you ask? Well, it's 'cause she's the coolest girl around. It was actually her idea. Can't beat that can you? She not only keeps a good supply of dog bones, chicken snacks, and toys around the house for me, she also likes to go see hilarious movies. Saturday was a pretty mellow day by our standards. We went for a nice long walk through Piedmont park while the sun was shining. There are a lot of doggies running around that park, but I feel sorry for most of them because they don't look like they get out as much as I do. On saturday night, Food Guy went up to Marietta to hang out with Reeve, Rin, and the Food Guy's new little niece. Food Guy and Reeve watched Repo Man (a terrible 80's movie) while I hung out with Java and Bella. Then, those two fools went to the Battle n Brew to play some Madden 10 football on XBox 360. Man, that place sounds weird from hearing Food Guy and Reeve talk about it. The people there know more about video games than you can imagine. But, I guess it takes all kinds...

Sunday was another mellow day. I hung out at Lisa's while she and the Food Guy went to the climbing gym. It was a rainy day, so it was a good day to take a long nap on the bed. Then, we loaded back up in the mobile dog house to come back to Athens. The Food Guy had to submit a proposal for a conference in Greece in September and then get back to work on his dissertation. He finished editing that thing this morning while I slept under the desk. He just emailed it to his committee, so now we are about to have a whole lot of free time. He has a couple of articles to work on this week, then we are heading up to the Cohuttas to go backpacking next week. I can't wait.

As for our housing situation in Boone, the deal on the house went south. So, we are back to the drawing board. Food Guy has a lead on a house to rent up there that is dog friendly, so hopefully that'll work out. Well, Food Guy and I are gonna go for a walk before he goes to his afternoon meeting, so I gotta go. But, stay tuned for our next adventure.

A new Doghouse

What's up, y'all? The Food Guy and I just rolled back into Athens from a fun-filled weekend. I spent a lot of time chillin' in the back of my mobile dog house this weekend. First, we cruised out of Athens Thursday night to head up to Boone so the Food Guy could look for a new dog house for me. This was our third trip up there since he got his new job, and finally we found a place. Check it out:

It's a pretty sweet place close to town. The Blue Ridge Parkway is just down the street, and I heard there are some good trails to run not too far away. When we went to look at this place, I noticed that almost every house in the hood had a dog. They all seemed pretty chill and one big ol' golden came over to say hi to me while I was walking around sniffin' the yard. The yard is pretty sweet by the way. There's even a little pond:

We looked at lots of places over the last month or so, and this place is the best by far.

It has lots of room in the yard for me to run around, and lots of room inside for me to play with my toys inside too. There's a pretty sweet deck outside the kitchen for me to chill on while the Food Guy is at the University making my dog food money. He made the deal on the house official today, so now he just has to get the bank to approve the house and the loan. He also has to get it inspected, and the VA has to give the approval on the house too. So, there's still a lot of hurdles to jump before this place is ours, but hopefully everything will work out. There's lots of room for our friends to come stay with us when they come up to run, ride bikes, climb, paddle, and ski. All the floors are tile and hardwood, so the Food Guy won't have to worry about me coming in and getting carpets dirty if my paws are muddy. Keep your paws crossed for us that everything works out for us.

We stayed with our friends Gregg and Karen out in Vilas and I got to play with their dogs on Friday and Saturday. They have a sweet place out by the Watuaga river, and their dogs are fun to run around with, which is good 'cause the Food Guy will be heading out there to paddle the Watauga a bunch once we move up there.

We left Boone, saturday morning and drove over to Bryson City, so Food Guy could go for a run in the Smokies. Those stupid park rangers won't let dogs on the trails in the park. I had to stay in the truck while the Food Guy ran with Reeve and Preston at Nolan Creek. They looked pretty tired when they got back to the truck, so I didn't really mind missing that run. Sometimes, it's better to sleep than to run 11 or 12 miles. Food Guy let me play by the river at NOC when they finished running, so I still got to have some fun.

Today, I slept in the truck some more while the Food Guy paddled the river before we drove back to Athens. It was a pretty good weekend. I'm pretty tired from all the traveling and the Food Guy needs to do a little work now. He is meeting Bob tomorrow to get his feedback on his dissertation. It goes to the full committee at the end of the week. He's almost done with that thing. I can't wait! This is gonna be a good spring!

Relaxing while the Food Guy Finishes Some Editing

Hey, y'all. It's been a pretty quiet week around here. The Food Guy is just about finished with his dissertation. He finished putting all the chapters together in one document the other day, and he does seem pretty happy with himself for getting this thing written. You should have seen the smile on his face when he printed the full draft of that thing out. I'm pretty happy too. Now that he's done we can spend more time outside. He's been sitting at this desk pretty much non-stop for a while. Well, I say non-stop, but we've been getting up early and running every morning and he still takes me for 3 or 4 walks during the day. But, we haven't had any real adventures to speak of this week. Mostly I've just been laying around watching him work and playing with my toys.

We have some good adventures coming up though. The Food Guy has to send the full draft of his dissertation to Bob at the end of the week, and then he will have a whole week before he gets it back from him. Since we don't have anything we have to do here in Athens, we are going back up to Boone to look at some more houses. We found a really sweet looking place about 30 minutes from campus that has four acres right near the Watauga River. It looks pretty good on-line. Hopefully it'll look good when we go check it out. I'd love to have some real woods right outside. I'm pretty tired of having to walk around all the cars and trifling city dogs here in Athens. I'll let y'all know if it looks like a good place for a dog to live. As long as it has room for my bed and a comfy couch, you know I'm going to like it. I'm pretty easy to please. Well, y'all have a good rest of the week. I'm gonna get back to napping. I'm a little tired from my run this morning, and I gotta rest up for tomorrow.

A hike in the snow

Hey everybody. I've got an epic weekend to tell y'all about. The Food Guy and I had enough of working this week, so we loaded up the mobile dog house and headed to NC for the Food Guy's annual winter hike (sufferfest) with Nate and Brian. This year the Food Guy talked his buddy Steven into coming along. It was an epic trip for sure. We rolled up to The Ridge (Aubin's Taj ma Garage) late Friday night, packed our backpacks-yes I have one too see:

and we stepped out onto the trail Saturday Morning. We started walking through some snow heading South on the AT. It was pretty cold out, but that's what you have to expect in february. Food Guy packed some extra food for me, and I needed every bite to keep warm. It was sunny for a couple of hours, but then the snow started back up. I didn't mind because I like snow. My feet were a little cold. I hate to say it, but the Food Guy better buy me some boots before our next backpacking trip in the snow. Check this trail out:

We walked along the amazingly pretty trail in the snow for most of the day. The ridgeline provided some great views:

After we'd walked all we wanted to, we set up camp at a pretty sweet spot. Once we made camp-- Ok, I ate while FG made camp-- the boys built a giant fire to warm up while they cooked their dinner and had a few cocktails.

It was a cold, cold night. I slept in the bag with Food Guy and we even had to put his down coat over us. We still shivered most of the night. That's what you have to expect at 5100 feet in February, though. Check out the little tent where we slept:

The snow was so deep that Food Guy couldn't use stakes to anchor the tent. He had to put sticks in the loops of the tie downs and bury them in the snow. It took him an hour to dig them out in the morning. He was FREEZING by the time he got done. I was chillin out, running around, and playing while he did all the work. It's good to be a dog! Then, we shouldered our packs and started walking back to the truck. There were a couple of cars at the trailhead where people were out for a day hike. They don't know what they were missing. They should have spent the night out on the trail. I can't wait till next year.

Dog House Hunting

The Food Guy and I decided to take a little break from dissertation writing (him) and sleeping under the desk (me) to head up to Boone this weekend to look for my new doghouse. We found a couple of cool places that might work out, but we're in so rush since we don't have to actually find a place to live until summer. So, we made sure we found some time to go enjoy some of the cool hikes up near Boone. We've never been to Linville Gorge, so we figured that should be the first place on our list. It snowed and snowed the whole way up there, but I was nice and cozy on the drive in my mobile doghouse. It was pretty cold once we got to the trailhead and started hiking around. The scenery there was pretty sweet. Check it out:

It was pretty fun day, and we definitely need to go back up there to explore the Gorge some more. We pretty much just hiked around one area of the rim this time. It was late in the day by the time we got up there, so we didn't get to go as far as we wanted to go. But, that's OK, we will have lots of time to explore the area since we'll be living there soon!

Well, Food Guy has to get back to writing. Chapter 5 is almost drafted, and he wants to finish it this week so he can start revising the whole dissertation thing. And, I'm a little tired out from our run this morning. Check back soon for more updates on our adventures.

Unlimited Dog Bone Supply

I've got some big news for y'all. The food guy found got a job! Exciting stuff, don't ya think?! I do. Starting in August the food guy will be teaching in the department of Curriculum & Instruction at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. You know what that means? I'll tell ya: unlimited dog bones for me. Ah, the joys of having a food guy with a real job. Good stuff, indeed. He ended up having to choose between working at Western Carolina or ASU. I think it was a tough choice for him because he has some good friends that teach at Western, but in the end he decided that he liked ASU better. On his trip up there, there was an ice storm. Check out the ice hanging off the boat on top of my mobile dog house.

Crazy, huh?! He didn't end up paddling on the way home from the interview at ASU- only partly because of the ice. The real reason was that he needed to high-tail it back to Athens to get some help from his advisor about which job to take. I'm glad we're heading to Boone. It's cold up there in the winter, so it'll snow a lot. I love playing in the snow. There's also a lot of good hikes and runs that we can go on, so I'm excited about that. I've even started carrying my own food and water when we head out into the woods to hike. Check out my pack:

Pretty sweet. It hasn't been all working and job searching for us. We've gone on some good hikes lately. Check out this picture from Horse Trough Falls. Pretty sweet spot:

That's about the end of the playing in the woods for the next month or so. Since food guy actually has a job, he needs to get his dissertation wrapped up. He got some good feedback on the first 3 chapters from his advisor this week, and he has a good start on chapter 4. This next 6 weeks we will be in lockdown mode getting this thing wrapped up. He has to have all 5 chapters to his advisor on March 15th, and the final defense is April 13th. So wish him luck. I'll have to settle for morning runs and a couple of walks during the day for a while. I'm not worried though- we will have lots of new adventures soon.