A Labrador's Paradise

It's always a challenge to find a vacation rental or hotel that allows dogs but is still nice enough that I would want to spend the money to stay there. I'm pretty picky about cleanliness and nice linens (high thread-count sheets and soft towels are non-negotiable, in my opinion). Plus, we needed a place that could comfortably hold our family of four, plus my mother-in-law, who flew in from Nashville--and, of course, Cabana.

We were going to San Luis Obispo to visit CalPoly as a future college option for my daughters, and affordable pet-friendly places seemed really hard to find in that area. Seven Oaks Ranch to the rescue!

There is a 3-bedroom house and a 5-bedroom house on this 350-acre property. We actually rented the 3-bedroom house, but since no one had booked the 5-bedroom house, the owners let us have it for the same price as the 3-bedroom. So, for just a little bit more than the cost of a single hotel room (where we would have been cramped and totally on top of each other), we had a HUGE and luxurious house to spread out in. Come on, Cabana will give you a little tour of the house.

This is the living room, with cushy new couches and a large flat-screen TV (not pictured). They actually had 3 flat-screen TVs in the house, plus tons of books and DVDs, games, and a pool table. No one could say they were bored or had nothing to do here!

The dining room had seating for 14 people! It would be a great place for a large family reunion. There was also a library, five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a huge kitchen, and two outdoor decks.

But as nice as the house was, it was what was outside the house that made it such an incredible place to stay. The owners, a wonderful and thoughtful couple, also live on the property, but other than them, we had the place to ourselves--although we did share it with hundreds of tiny frogs, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, snakes, and wild foxes (we saw two little foxes and they were so cute!). We were told there were also bears and cougars sighted on the property--but fortunately, we didn't cross paths with them!

You can be sure that Cabana loved having her own pond to swim in! What more could this water-and-mud loving Labrador want?!

On our first day there, Cabana decided to disguise herself with mud. She reminds me of a border collie with half of her face darkened like this.

The humans also got to enjoy the pond.

And our daughters had a blast taking turns driving this golf cart all over the property. We tried to take Cabana for a ride on it--but she was having none of that. As soon as the motor revved, she was out of there.

And of course, Cabana and I loved our morning hikes, exploring different paths throughout the property each day. There was so much to do that we couldn't do it all. We'll definitely have to go back to Seven Oaks Ranch someday soon!