[DebBrown]

When I first joined the forum, I posted a question about travelling with a doodle. You all were most helpful. Now I'm wondering if anyone has good ideas of vacations that would include your dogs. Everytime I have to leave Charlie behind, I worry about him. So maybe its time to change our vacation plans to include him more often.

Where do you take your doodles? Any dog friendly recommendations in the midwest?

Deb

 

[annabelles mom]

Our vacations consist of visiting family so not much help.

how about camping? some campgrounds allow dogs some people will rent cabins/cottages on lakes whee you can have dogs

 

[DebBrown]

Mary, I HATE camping. LOL! We usually do timeshare but most of these don't allow dogs. We're planning on taking Charlie to Hilton Head next summer for some beach time. We'd stay in a rental house. Beyond that I don't have any good ideas. I know there must be some place similar closer to home, maybe Michigan or Wisconsin?

Deb

 

[mtd885]

We go to the Keys a lot to Fly fish. There are many pet friendly places there and for the most part they do speak english :lol: We are looking at Key Colony Beach for the last weekend in May this year.

 

[emilee]

we live in ann arbor, MI, and in the past have rented a house on lake michigan in the saint joseph area. it's about 2.5 hours from where we live, and maybe 3 or 4 from the chicago area. some people who rent out their vacation homes allow dogs, you just have to ask about it in advance.

-em

 

[lmtoth2]

We took Dexter to Outer Banks NC last summer. We rented a dog friendly shore house. We had a great time. I know this is too far from IL, but maybe something similar on a great lake?

 

[rowendoodle]

We used to go to a place called Loch Lyme Lodge in Lyme, NH.. It allowed dogs (I'm pretty sure it still does but you'd want to check just to be sure, as it has switched management). It's on about 100 acres of wood and meadow and it's on Post Pond. They have docks, row boats, kyaks, a float in the water, a small beach, and beach chairs on the water. Across the street is the lodge, and it consists of a bunch of small cabins that you can rent for a week or more and also a white house that you can rent rooms in for a day or more. If you sleep in the white house, they have a little restaurant kind of thing below it that feeds you and of course you can still go there and eat at it if you're staying in a cabin! They also have a little ice cream shop, which is my personal favorite. Along with all that, they have a recreation cabin with a TV and a bunch of good older movies and a ping pong table, swing set, etc. There's also a tennis court and miles of trails through the woods and a meadow with a soccer field, basketball court and baseball field too. And the dogs are allowed to go swimming, but I think it's better if they go swimming in the morning or evening when there aren't as many kids in the water.. or at least swim in a less populated area. Oh! and across the pond is a huge rock we used to call "Alligator Rock" because it's shaped like one and you can canoe out there and have a picnic. The lodge is in walking distance from town where there are flee markets and a cute general store, and along the way there are the prettiest wildflowers and views. There are also great hiking places around the lodge. Sorry to keep babbling on but seriously, this place is fantastic!
here's the website if you're interested:
http://www.lochlymelodge.com/

 

[madcity_mike]

hey deb-
I go in door county.. The whitefish bay dunes allows dogs and its beautiful beach.. i go off season but there are dog areas in the summer too.. miles and miles of beach.. so much fun!!

 

[Guest]

Deb did you do a dogpile search (dogpile is like google but I like it better). I put in dog friendly vacations and got a whole slew of things. Here is one site that looked promising.... http://www.dogfriendly.com/
Also keep in mind that some beaches are not dog friendly during the summer. Here in Wilmington our beaches are dog friendly from Oct through Apr 1. From Apr 1 til Oct 1 only a small part of one beach is dog friendly and the dogs must be on a leash at all time.

 

[DebBrown]

Thanks for the ideas. I have done some searching for dog friendly resorts but there are different degrees of "friendly" and I was looking for personal recommendations.

Sally, Loch Lime Lodge looks wonderful! It's still a bit far though. Pretty much the whole east coast and Florida would be a two day drive for us. We're going to Hilton Head, SC, this next summer but I'm hoping to come up with something closer in the future.

Mike, Door County would be perfect. I did look at it before but I appreciate the recommendation. What is a good off-season time to go? Is March (spring break) still too cold? I'm guessing September/October would be nice.

Em, what did you do in Saint Joseph? We were in the area last summer when my son participated in the triathlon there but we didn't see much else of the area.

Thanks everyone! More ideas are welcome!

Deb

 

[emilee]

well, the house we rented was right on the beach, and had a pool. so we walked on the beach and swam a lot, both in the lake and the pool. we also did some hiking.

-em