Back at the Ranch

A year ago, we took a trip down the California coast to Santa Margarita, where we stayed at Seven Oaks Ranch, which has three vacation homes nestled on 200+ acres. We got to go there again last week, where this time we stayed in the owners' home while they were away and puppysat for their 3-month old cocker spaniel, Margie (pronounced with the G like "guy", rather than like "gender").

Margie is an adorable, spunky little gal who adored Cabana--and piddled on the floor as soon as she saw her, the first of many piddles to come, unfortunately! But aside from the challenges of potty training, it was fun to see Margie and Cabana interact.

They played a lot of tug with this stuffed snake. Cabana was great with the puppy, very gentle and playful and PATIENT!

Cabana endured quite a bit of ear biting, face nibbling, general pestering, and getting climbed on.

As if they weren't enough for each other, here Cabana and Margie are waiting for a certain male visitor.

Scout belonged to the people who were staying in one of the other vacation homes, and he would come over often for canine companionship. His owners let him roam around the property at will, but I wasn't quite comfortable with that and kept Cabana on leash around the house and the pond. The water level in the pond was extremely low, making it very full of algae and mud--oh no, I was quite aware of where Cabana would end up if I let her roam around off-leash.

But Cabana got plenty of off-leash time on our daily hikes AWAY from the pond.

We climbed some steep ridges.

But the view was so worth it!


Not a building or another person around us for miles. Nothing but beautiful, vast, open expanse--exhilarating!

There are lots of great beaches in that area. Avila Beach has a section that is just for off-leash dogs.

There were tons of friendly dogs to meet and play with.

Cabana gravitated toward a fellow yellow Lab, one that is a TRUE retriever, unlike Cabana.

But that's okay, Cabana found other ways to amuse herself, like levitation.

There wasn't much time for R&R, but Cabana managed to get in some sunbathing on the deck. Still, no matter how great a vacation might be, it's always so nice to get back home and sleep in your own bed. Does that make me sound really old? Then, I guess I must be old!

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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!

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Have You Missed Us?!

I hope the answer is yes! We took Cabana on vacation with us all last week, down the California coast to the San Luis Obispo area and to Los Angeles. It was a great trip, and Cabana was a trooper. She is a wonderful traveler, adapting to all the different places and situations we threw at her--some with a bit of difficulty, but always doing her best to please us.

There's so much to tell that I will break the trip up into several posts, starting tomorrow. For now, here's Cabana on a morning hike in the hills of Santa Margarita, a little town about 20 minutes from San Luis Obispo. We stayed in a beautiful home on 350 acres of open preserve, and Cabana and I enjoyed finding new trails to explore everyday. In this photo, we ventured up a steep incline and found ourselves on what felt like the top of the world--the view was breathtaking!

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