We just got back from a week vacay for the Ridlon family in Asheville, NC.  We stayed at Barkwells Pet Friendly Mountain Resort.  The Park family inspired our stay at Barkwells.  We had a fabulous time!!  And, we highly recommend this resort to anyone who is looking for a mountain retreat.  Owners Ellen and Michael, originally from Tampa, FL, bought the property 7 years ago and over the years turned it into a mountain retreat for humans and dogs.  They have done a wonderful job!  There are a very nice family and were just a phone call away if we needed anything.  🙂  We referred to the Book of Wisdom in the cabin quiet a bit during our stay.  This resource was very help.  There are so many things to do in the area and the resort itself offers a relaxing carefree environment.  Perfect setting for the type of vacation we love!!  We have so much to share!  We hope you enjoy reading about our adventures and that we don’t bore you too much.

🙂  I went through the over thousand photos that I took during the week and narrowed everything down to what I feel are the best.  Since I have over 70 photos to share, we will spread this into 4 posts starting with this one (Mek = One in Armenian).  We were welcomed by this sign:

Below is the Libby Cabin and where we called home for our week.  With 5 adults, 2 children and 5 dogs we needed quiet a bit of space to be comfortable for the week.  This cabin offered us lots of room and was beautiful inside and out.

The grounds at Barkwells is also lovely.  The entire 7 acres is fenced so we did not have to worry about our kids if a door was accidentally left open.  Which is an added benefit when you are vacationing with some many other folks.  =)   Below is the pond.  It is the perfect place to fish.  We saw a couple catch a significant sized Trout and also saw two very large Catfish in the water.  I did not bring my poles, so we just enjoyed watching others fish.  Our cabin was just uphill from the pond so every day we got to enjoy this serene view.

The property also had two very lovely Weeping Willow trees.  My absolute favorite tree. 

We had scattered showers throughout the week, but it did not prevent us from having a great time!  The first day we relaxed at the cabin and enjoyed a nice dinner cooked on the charcoal grill.  It did not take long for the pups to find comfort in the cabin.   They loved the King size bed and so did we.  Sleeping in our Queen bed just isn’t the same.

On Monday we took the pups to Chimney Rock State Park for a nice hike to see some waterfalls.  We passed through Batcave, NC on our way to Chimney Rock.  What a cool name for a town!  The town of Chimney Rock is very quaint and is actually where part of the movie Dirty Dancing and The Last of the Mohicans was filmed.  They even have a Dirty Dancing boat tour, which we did not get a chance to do, but would have loved to.  Maybe next time.  🙂

We were not able to hike to the top of Chimney Rock since it was all open back stairs and about 26 flights total.  They have an elevator that will take you to the top, but it was not functioning on the day we went and no pups are allowed on it so we hiked the Hickory Nut Falls trail to the waterfall instead.  It was a beautiful hike and the pups did great.  So worth the walk to get to this view:

Those rocks are amazing!!

The pictures do not do the falls justice!  Nature is so amazing!!!

The pups did wonderfully on the hike!  We were so proud of them!  Maggie was definitely a trooper.  🙂  She is one strong girl.

Below is a pic of Mitch, his sister Carol, and the pups.  Carol flew in from California.  We were so happy she could join us, but sad that his other two sisters could not.  We missed Kathy and Paul and Darcy and Bre, but enjoyed spending time with Carol, Mike (Mitch’s twin brother) and his wife Ramona and their two adorable kids Katie-Beth and Carl.  🙂  Pictures of them to come in a later post.

Lastly for entry number one is a pic of us with the pups at the falls.

We have lots more to share, so we hope you check back again soon.  🙂