Road trip

Basil presents Dog Friendly destinations — Charlotte, NC

Dog Friendly CharlotteSo many Basil’s Travels fan have asked for this, so here it is… Dog friendly destinations by the city! The first city we are highlighting is the Queen city, Charlotte, North Carolina! For the last 2 years we have checking out this beautiful city and here are our favorite hot spots to enjoy with your pet.

Going forward every #TravelTuesday I’ll post a new dog friendly destination, so make sure to check back. If there is a city you want me to feature please let me know in the comments and I’ll let you know when that will be happening!

Hope this is helpful for your next visit to Charlotte or if you are a local don’t forget about these great places that will welcome your four-legged friend with open arms.

Until next Tuesday! Happy April!

Travel well, nap well, live well!
-Abbey & Basil

Historic South End Craft Beer Crawl

This last Saturday was the Charlotte south end craft beer crawl. 8 breweries and bottle shops hosted craft beer lovers and a boozehound or two for sampling and an all around good time. The crawl started at 11am at The Unknowing Brewing Co. and ending at 9pm at The Common market.

We hoped in at about 1pm and our first stop was The Beer Growler. A great little “growler spot with tasting privileges” (As overheard from one of the employees.) with a food truck outside, gyros! Yum! The place was small but comfortable and the staff for knowledgable and kind. Nate, Basil, and I were a little overwhelmed by the amount of choses and in the end just told the bartender what we liked and she put together a flight for us. We enjoyed out stout flight and made new friends.

Our next stop was Sycamore brewing company where we enjoyed more beer and more good conversation and people watching. Basil got a lot of attention and sat in a lot of new laps!

After that we hit up Lenny Boy, Good Bottle, and Triple C Brewing before calling it a day. We had so much fun. Drank a lot of good North Carolina beer and met a lot of like-minded, craft beer loving people.

Thanks Historic South End Charlotte for putting together this awesome dog friendly event. Also thanks to all the breweries and bottle shops for hosting and supporting North Carolina brews. It was a blast!

Our next trip is coming up fast. In a couple of weeks we will be in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! We have a lot of fun stuff planed but would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Let me know!!

Hope everyone is having a great Saint Paddy’s day! Remember to drink responsibly and if you do drink please don’t drive… your pets need you!

Travel well, nap well, live well!
-Abbey & Basil

Say what?! Finalist for Best Pet Blog Photo!

“You like me, you really like me!” -Sally Fields (Oscars 1984)BST-PETBLOG-PHOTO-n2n2015-FINALISTbadge

I am beyond words to express how excited we are to be a finalist at the Nose-to-Nose awards again this year! I feel like Sally Fields at the 1984 Oscars; crying and spouting gibberish. And if by chance we do win this year I will probably be completely ridiculous!

 This year we are up for Best Pet Blog Photo for Basil discovers the joy of mudI personally love these photos and I’m so happy they were nominated.

Basil discovers mud

I share this category with these 3 other awesome blogs. Make sure to go check them out!

The Nose-to-Nose awards are held every year at the BlogPaws blogging conference. This year the conference is taking place in the country music capital, Nashville, TN. In 84 short days (We are hoping they are short because we really can’t wait!) Nashville will be over taken with dog/cat/ferret/bird/hippo bloggers and their pets. (Hopefully no hippos!) Along with the awards show the weekend will be packed full of classes, lectures, and socials so bloggers from all over the world can meet & mingle.

Last year was our first BlogPaws conference and it was such a blast. In honor of BlogPaws and throwback Thursday here is a photo of us on the red carpet from last years Nose-to-Nose awards. blogPaws 2014

Now I need to amp up my bow tie making game. This year I am thinking maybe matching bow ties for all of us? We’ll have to wait and see!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Thursday. Have any awesome weekend plans?

Travel well, nap well, live well!
-Abbey & Basil

Look out Philly… We are going to lick the Liberty Bell!

“… our forefathers died for the pursuit of happiness! Not the ‘sit-around-and-wait’ of happiness! Now if you want, you can go to the same bar, drink the same beer, talk to the same people every day, or, you can lick the Liberty Bell! You can grab life by the crack and lick the crap out of it!”
– Barney Stinson (HIMYM)

Basil travels to Philadelphia!

Thats right… the next Basil’s Travels road trip is to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! Nate, Basil, and I are heading to the Northeast for a birthday celebration for all three of us. In early April we will be checking off few more states on our list and enjoying dog friendly Philly in start of Spring.

We probably won’t, maybe, defiantly, but not, lick the Liberty Bell but there is still a lot to see and do. If you have any recommendations for us to hit up let me know in the comments. Basil, Nate, and I really can’t wait for this one; its going to be a blast!

Also, we are super excited about the BlogPaws 2015 pet blogging conference in Nashville, Tennessee! We are headed there at the end of May to see old friends, meet new friends, and learn a lot from pet professionals.

So much fun stuff is happening and a lot more is coming soon. What are you doing this spring?

Travel well, nap well, live well!
-Abbey & Basil

The Happiest Dog in the World in the Great State of Texas!

Happy Wednesday all! I thought I would post just a few pictures from our current trip for your “wordless Wednesday” enjoyment. We have been having a ton of fun hanging out with family, enjoying the weather, and just letting Basil go nuts. A lot is happening so I’ll be taking a lot of photos and posting them here soon!
Have you ever seen a happier dog?! Basil pretty much thinks this is the best trip ever!
ps. The Petco Pupcrew boots you see him wearing are amazing! They are protecting Basil soft paws from all the rough terrain here in Texas hill country. 

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-Abbey & Basil

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Basil loves Santa!

Santa Photo 2014The 2nd year of getting to see Santa Max at the Carolina Place mall and Basil did great! I even love the silly side eye he seems to be giving everyone in this photo!

Hope everyone is having a great holiday season! Around here we are getting ready for our next adventure. Tomorrow we leave for the great state of Texas! I’ll be posting from the road with lots of photos and even more fun!

Make sure to be following us on Instagram for even more photos I don’t post on the blog.

Travel well, nap well, live well!
-Abbey & Basil

It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas!

Well, thanksgiving is done and over and Christmas is now everywhere. We got our tree a couple of weeks ago but it’s just now that the harvest decor is coming down and it’s really starting to feel like Christmas.
Since getting our tree all of our local friends have been asking us where we got it and I’m happy to share.
Our beautiful 8 foot tall Fraser fir came from a little family farm in the Smoky Mountains called Little Switzerland Fraser Firs. About an hour and a half from our home outside Charlotte, high in the mountains sits a dog friendly, family friendly slice of Christmas tree utopia.
Little Switzerland Fraser Firs has hundreds of beautiful Fraser fir Christmas trees to chose from. From tall to small you really can’t go wrong. This is our 2nd year cutting down a tree from there and as long as we are in North Carolina, it is the only place we’ll go.

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As you can see we really had a great time. Basil even made two new friends, a horse and another Boston terrier!
If you are in the area and still in the need of a Christmas tree make sure to check out Little Switzerland Fraser Firs.

What does your Christmas tree look like? Send us photos and I’ll post them here! Hope everyone is surviving the week and the weather!

Travel well, nap well, live well!
Abbey & Basil

PS… As I’m posting this I had to stop Willow (our 20 lb. cat!) from drinking our of the Christmas tree stand, TWICE! 

Happiness is a rainy summer day in Asheville!

Its been a little stormy around these parts the last couple of days. We woke up Saturday morning and decided to embrace the cooler temperatures and “light” rain and head up into the smokey mountains for the day. We really didn’t have a plan but found ourselves in our favorite North Carolina city, Asheville. What we thought was just going to be a short stop for lunch and to pop are heads (and paws) into The Three Dog Bakery turned into a full day of shopping, eating, drinking, and socializing. Basil, like aways, had a lot of fun and made more than a few new friends.
Special thanks to Posana Cafe, The Southern, and Wicked Weed for giving us shelter from the rain and being beyond welcoming of Basil and his ever so slight wet dog smell!

Rainy dog days of summer! Rainy dog days of summer!Rainy dog days of summer! Rainy dog days of summer! Rainy dog days of summer!
Hope you are enjoying your Monday! Stay dry!
Travel well, nap well, live well!
-Abbey & Basil

Reading with Abbey & Basil — Wine Dogs USA 3

HappyMonday! Today’s Reading with Abbey & Basil is a book about my two favorite things; wine & dogs!Wine Dogs USA 3

I picked up Wine Dogs USA 3 while in Texas over Christmas. We were taken to the world famous Salt Lick restaurant and winery just 15 minutes outside of Austin, TX for a family dinner. After enjoying some truly tasty BBQ and good conversation, Nate & I wandered over to the Salt Lick Cellars, right next door. Inside their tasting room/gift store I found Wine Dogs.

Wine Dogs USA 3 is the newest edition in the Wine Dogs book family. This gem of a book features over 190 wineries from North America and the dogs that call these wineries home. Each page highlights a winery dogs personality with a full color photo and a little information about what makes that dogs tail wag. Throughout the book you will also find winery dog stores written by wine and dog experts from all over North America.

Basil and I highly recommend picking up a copy of Wine Dogs USA 3. You can find it on Amazon, winedogs.com, and in 100’s of wineries from Napa to Rhode Island, Washington, to Texas and every where in-between.

Maybe someday we’ll hang up our traveling shoes, move to Napa and run a winery. Then maybe they will feature Basil in Wine Dogs 15! Until then we will just keep on dreaming!Basil-winedogs

Only 10 days until BlogPaws 2014 conference in Las Vegas!

Travel well, nap well, live well!

-Abbey & Basil

 

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