Vacation 2011 ~ Jockey's Ridge State Park and Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Our beach adventures were just beginning.  We've been to sand dunes, but these dunes were huge!  Dad liked to tackle them straight on and get them done and over with but Mom preferred a gradual approach and even insulted  me.  I was being a very good girl, what the heck.  She asked Dad why he had Bella as she didn't really think it through when she asked Dad to take Bella so she could take pictures.  You see sometimes Bella likes to pull on the leash a little more than I do and everyone wants to walk with Bella when going up hill.  If you notice in some of the pictures I'm actually walking myself with he leash trailing along behind leaving a snake like path in the sand.  Mom said that's in case we get lost we can follow my trail back.  We had Jockey's Ridge S.P.  all to our selves.  It was absolutely magnificent and wonderful.  So very peaceful and enjoyable and fun.

You do however have to be very watchful for these small plant things growing in the sand because they have very sharp prickly burrs on them.  I got one stuck in my toe.  Mom noticed right away I was walking a bit odd and them limping and she hurried to get it out for me.  She knows exactly how painful they are because she stepped on one barefoot at the rental house inside and so did Bella.  Bella cried like a little baby.  Not me, I was brave and only limped a little.  Once it was out I was totally fine and back to our hike.

Here are some pictures from Jockey's Ridge State Park:

Then it was on to Cape Hatteras National Seashore:

This is where we really got to let loose and romp and play in the waves.  Pea had never been on a vacation before and sure hadn't ever seen the ocean and it was a delight to watch all her many expressions.  I think we all had an expanded range of facial expressions and head tilts.

After our hike at the dunes and our romp in the ocean we were off to the pet store for some shopping.

Here is me shopping at Holistic Pet Shop:

I think this is one of our favorite pet stores.  Too bad it's so very far away from home.  Another favorite of ours you will see in a upcoming post called River Dog in Tennessee.  Here at Holistic Pet Shop is where they had the friendly little kittens that tried to touch my nose with their tiny paws.  If you like food there are a lot of treats to choose to from.  Mom got us some canned Evo venison and it was yummy.  We also got a huge fleece rope toy with a tennis ball attached to it and Plato salmon strips to train Sweet Pea's recall command.  That will be her really special treat she only gets while learning "come".   Mom and Bella's favorite part of our stop here was watching the Rottweiler playing with the huge jolly ball for horses.  She/He was like the energizer bunny running and pushing that big blue ball round, and round, and round the yard.  It looked like wonderful fun.  It looks best played in an area similar to this where you have walls to bounce the ball off of.

The next day was not as jam packed with hikes and romps but it was still very enjoyable.  Our EmmaMobile sprung a leak and had to have its water pump replaced.  While it was away being repaired we spent the day lounging on the deck in the sunshine and Mom got some laundry done and her and Dad just relaxed.  It was nice not racing around trying to squeeze as many things into a day as possible.  We didn't view this unexpected repair as an inconvenience.  We think it was a nice blessing.  It made us slow down and allowed us to enjoy our rental home, the deck, and time with each other just relaxing.

Here we are just chill'n:

We got the EmmaMobile back in time to get in another walk at Jockey's Ridge State Park and today we walked the Nature Trail.

Stay tuned for more adventures.

To Be Continued.............

Emma