Month: November 2013

Basil’s Favorite Things – Hotel Max & Hotel Lucia

This Friday we want to talk about our favorite pet friendly hotel. Hotel Max in Seattle, WA and Hotel Lucia in Portland, OR are part of the same boutique hotel chain in and around the pacific northwest. Both are not only our favorite pet friendly hotel but our favorite all time US hotels. Beautifully decorated and in the heart of both cities you really couldn’t ask for more. Once you walk up to the front desk you and your furry friend are completely taken care of. The rooms are decked out with a heavenly bed, amazing art and everything you need to relax. For your pet they pull out all the stops; a dog bed, food bowls, a toy and treats. 

We have stayed at Hotel Max a few times, Nate & I even got ready there for our 2012 wedding. Each time we stayed, with Basil or alone, the customer service was perfect. They did everything they could to make our stay enjoyable. As for Hotel Lucia we first got to stay there after winning a pet photo contest on Facebook back in 2011. I stumbled across this contest when one of my friends commented on all the cute pet photos that were all over Hotel Lucia’s Facebook, so I thought I would throw my (or Nolan’s) hat into the ring. A few days later while out at dinner I casually checked my iPhone and found out some awesome news. We won! I was rather excited and loud (oops!) but luckily we were at one of our regular haunts and knew the staff so they just helped us celebrate! Below is the photo that brought home the win.

A few months later we traveled down to Portland and enjoyed a lovely May weekend in the city. Nolan couldn’t have had a better time! See example A!

I couldn’t say enough about how much we love both of these hotels and highly recommend you consider them or any of the Provenance Hotels. We will for sure be back, maybe we’ll see you there!

Travel well, Nap well, Live well!

-Abbey & Basil

Throwback Thursday – San Juan Island, Washington State

Enjoy a few photos from a weekend on “the island”, San Juan Island, back from Thanksgiving 2011 when Basil got to visit with his Great Grandma. Every time we visit Basil becomes island dog and never wants to leave!

You can’t see but the rock Basil is standing on is much larger than it appears, and he became a mountain goat and climbed up all by himself! 

View from the ferry!
Basil’s island friends, Lily & Lola!

View from the family home!Travel well, Nap well, Live well!

-Abbey & Basil

 

FidoFest 2013 – Historic Southend Charlotte

This last Saturday we woke Basil up “super” early, like at 8am, for a great cause. We headed down to the Historic Southend Charlotte neighborhood in some seriously heavy fog to walk in the 3K 2X4 FidoFest! The Southend neighborhood is an area of Charlotte that we haven’t spent a lot of time in but once I learned that 80% of Southend residents are dog owners we knew we needed to spend some more time there. 

This walk, where the proceeds go to CMPD Animal Care & Control, took us down the light rail line and let us really enjoy this little gem of a neighborhood. Great, clean walking paths passing by luxury apartment buildings and condos. A lot of chic shops and restaurants sprinkled in between. 

On our walk we meet a lot of new friends, like a giant 7 month old great dane that kept trying to make his poor mom “win” this 3K walk! Along the way there were stop off spots for water and goodies. Basil picked up his fair share of dog treats and poopy bags while we got a lot of information about living in this area. One of the spots that was handing out swag was Club Fetch. They are a soon to be opening doggy daycare and play center. We loved their logo and then got to meet the face behind it, Jackson. Basil loves meeting fellow adorable Boston terriers and for the short time they got to sniff each other they totally hit it off. Once they open we will for sure be checking this place out and we recommend if you are in the Charlotte area you do too! 

Once we finished up the little under 2 mile walk it was party time! FidoFest had set up booth after booth of sponsors offering their wares and giving out even more swag. There were also food trucks and a dog house contest. The one dog house that stood out above them all was the one made by Balfour Beatty Construction. This incredible handmade dog house is up for sale currently on eBay and the proceeds will go to Coalition to Unchain Dogs. Head over to eBay to check it out!

We had some serious fun and couldn’t have had a better time. A big thank you goes to FidoFest for really introducing us to this little spot and putting on this event. I made sure to start following them on twitter so I can keep up with the goings-on of the Historic Southend. Can’t wait for the next event!

Travel well, Nap well, Live well!

-Abbey & Basil

 

 

 

What’s in your toy bin?!

The first What’s in your toy bin?! is devoted to Basil’s personal toy bin. All of these are well loved and played with everyday. Please feel free to send me (abbey@basilstravels.com) a photo of your pets toy bin as well as your pets name, age and favorite toy and it may be featured in next weeks What’s in your toy bin?!

Basil “Crazy Pants” Myers

Age: 3 years 9 months 

Favorite Toy: Mighty Dog Jr. Wooly Mammoth 

1) Hartz Tiny Dog Heads ‘N Tails Toy -$2.99

2)Spot Skinneez Plush Duck Dog Toy – $9.99

3) Starmark Treat Dispensing Pickle Pocket Dog Toy – $15

4) Penn Championship Extra-Duty High Altitude Tennis Ball- $3.00 for set of 3

5) Robe Frisbee Dog Toy – $4.99

6) Boots & Barkley Raccoon Dog Toy – $4.99

7) Basic Rope Toy – $0.99

8) Mighty Dog Jr. Plush Toys T rex/ Stegosaurus/ Wooly Mammoth/ Black Pegasus – $11.99

Travel well, Nap well, Live well!

-Abbey & Basil

Basil’s Favorite Things – Cats!

Today Basil’s favorite thing is not something you can just order online and get delivered to your door in 2 days. It requires a little more of a commitment than a new collar and leash set and could be pretty costly. If Basil loves one thing more than anything, it’s his cats!

Basil is the proud “big” brother of two cats, Willow & Sebastian. Willow, our 11 year old 17 pounder, is the dominant force in this household. Basil and Willow have an understanding. He understands that she doesn’t want him in her face all the time and she understands that he understands this!

Our “kitten” is 3 year old Sebastian. Sebastian is one half of the crazy duo we like to call The Black & Whites. He loves Basil and doesn’t mind snuggling or being jumped from behind at the drop of the hat. I usually have to stop them from playing too rough almost every night.

Not only does Basil love his cats, he wants to play with every cat we come across on our daily walks. I have to remind him that these cats are not his and they don’t know that he isn’t going to hurt them. If we were to bring another cat home Basil would be overjoyed. Our cats, not so much!

Both Willow and Sebastian were adopted. Willow from the Tacoma Humane Society and Sebastian from a friend whose cat had a litter of unwanted kittens. We are big supporters of Humane Societies and encourage everyone to visit and consider adopting a pet from one of these places. If adopting a new pet isn’t something you can do right now please think about donating your time or money to your local humane society or animal control. You can also find more information about what you can do by visiting the ASPCA website.

Travel well, Nap well, Live well!

-Abbey & Basil

 

Boston Turtle on Howl-o-ween 2013!

Happy Howl-o-ween from us at Basil’s Travels! Here are a few photos and a video of our night being the Boston Turtle. Enjoy!

Boston Terrier loves halloween
Look at the smiling happy dog!
Knock, Knock! Trick or Treat!
“Even my mom and dad dressed up!” – Basil

Travel well, Nap well, Live well!

-Abbey & Basil

 

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