I think there are three reasons we loved it so much. 1) It is absolutely beautiful. 2) It's the home of Ben & Jerry's. Mike loved the tour and we all loved the ice cream he brought back to the RV for us! 3) It's where Dog Mountain is located.
Dog Mountain is the most incredible place we've ever visited. If you are a dog lover, your life isn't complete until you've visited Dog Mountain. We discovered the place truly by accident. When we checked in to our RV park in August they gave us a flyer about Dog Mountain and said it was right across the road. Talk about good luck! There are so many special things about Dog Mountain, I'm not sure where to begin.
Dog Mountain is 400 acres of beauty and the best tribute to dogs anywhere. It was dreamed up and brought to reality by artist Stephen Haneck and his wife, Gwen. Stephen started out as a wood carver and eventually wrote children's books and created many other pieces of art as well.
When you first approach Dog Mountain, you notice many dogs carved out of wood. The gate has a couple dog carvings to welcome you to this piece of paradise.
All around the property are "dogs" watching over the property.
Everyone is encouraged to bring their dogs with them when they come to visit. On the property are miles of trails for hiking, a pond for swimming, an agility ring, a cute store where you can purchase a variety of items, and most notably, the Dog Chapel.
In this photo, you can see the store and chapel in the background. You can also see the pond (to the left) and agility area.
Below is a photo of Boogie swimming in the pond and a view of surrounding area.
Stephen and Gwen have two black labs (they have other dogs as well that don't participate) that help greet anyone who comes to Dog Mountain. Boogie and Wazzu both enjoyed the company of the labs. Boogie enjoyed playing a game of chase....(Boogie is the small brown dot in the lead)
....a little wrestling.....
....and some swimming.....(one lab swimming right next to Boogie while the other one watches)
Such good friends!
Wazzu, on the other hand, decided she much preferred to be the shop greeter. While Boogie and Mike were out playing, Wazzu wondered down to the store and made herself right at home. She would lie in the shop and wait for people to come. When someone would enter the store, Wazzu would get up and run right over to greet them. She then would follow them all around the store, helping them to pick out all the wonderful items that any dog would love! She would help them until she heard another person come in....then she would run over to greet them and help them shop. We couldn't get her to leave! She decided this is the perfect job for her. When the labs came in, the three dogs would lie down together like they had been a threesome for years. The labs, however, didn't get up to do any greeting.....they left that up to Wazzu!
After all the playing and shopping it was time to visit the Chapel. Here you can see the front of the Chapel. The person and dogs are all carved from wood. You can't see it in this picture but the Chapel not only has a regular door for people to enter through, it also has a doggie door so the dogs can enter/leave when they want.
As you enter the Chapel, you immediately know you are someplace very special. Beautiful music is playing and there there are candles burning on an entry table. The pews have ends all carved of different dogs. There are numerous stained glass windows (all show a dog doing some fun activity with their human...such as eating ice cream, playing with a Frisbee, cuddling on the couch, etc.)- There are eight windows in total. The other thing that hits you right away are the walls. As you can see, there are sticky notes and pictures posted on the walls from floor to ceiling!
At the back of the Chapel (or is that the front?) there are more wood carvings of dogs. Hmmm....I don't think ALL of them are carved! Can you find the imposter?
As you enter you can't help but see the walls covered with post it notes and pictures. On the entry table are stacks of post it notes, pens, and push pins. It's obvious that people have planned in advance as there are many pictures posted on the walls as well.
There are memorials and tributes to dogs that are still with us. There is a ladder there so you can put the pictures all the way up to the ceiling. We wrote a tribute to our German Shepherds and another one for our current "kids". But we had a lot of trouble finding a place to put them without covering up someone else's post.
While in the Chapel there was such a feeling of love. It is a very special place...a place all dog lovers should visit if they get the chance.
Debbie
Pictures all compliments of Mike
PS Exactly one month ago today, January 7, 2010, was a devistating and tragic day as Stephen Huneck passed away at the young age of 60.
No comments:
Post a Comment