Mini Vacation - Picture Overload!

I know it is already Thursday and I am just now doing a weekend recap but I have been fighting horrible migraines all week and the last thing I have wanted to do when I get home from work was look at another computer screen. I ended up sleeping from 6:30 pm on Tuesday evening all the way through the night and still woke up with a migraine and throwing up. So yesterday I spent the day trying to sleep away the migraine. 

So last weekend we decided to have a little spontaneous trip to Niagara Falls. We were originally planning on doing this trip for Anthony's birthday but then I quit my job and we put Tank to sleep so we decided to postpone it. I am sure glad we did because it was beautiful up there with all the leaves changing colors for fall. Aside from the on and off rain we couldn't have asked for a better trip.

We ended up taking Tyson with us for his first major road trip and our first road trip with a dog.

He did wonderful and seemed to enjoy riding in the car and exploring with us.

However all the foreigners that were at the falls were not as impressed. The majority of them were obnoxious and at one point one guy was taking a picture of Tyson going to the bathroom.  

We ended up cutting our time at the Falls short because of the overwhelming amount of people. It was also decided that next time we go to the Falls we want to go to the Canada side and hopefully enjoy some more time there. We drove about two hours to Jamestown NY which was right in the middle of the Allegheny State Park. After finding out that all Red Roof Inns allow dogs of any size for no charge we ordered some pizza and relaxed in the hotel room. 

Sunday we woke up super early and spent the morning hiking and exploring the Allegheny State Park. This State Park was absolutely huge and we quickly fell in love with it and are making plans to go back (probably next Fall) and staying for a 3 day weekend or longer in the cabins. 

Yay for the EOS Remote app on my phone for our Canon!!!

Snow on the leaves as we climbed higher in the mountains.

The park offered lots of hiking trails, anything from 2 miles all the way to 18 miles. Our first stop was this area called Thunder Rocks. It was this huge area of massive rocks that were spaced throughout the woods. It was fun to walk around them, take pictures and even climb on.

Our next stop was a hiking trail. Since we were running out of time we chose to do a 2.5 mile hike because we needed to start heading back home.

Tyson was able to be off his leash for the whole hike because there wasn't anyone else on the trail and he listens when we tell him to come back. For the most part he stayed on the actual trail and just ran along ahead of us. He really is a great dog!!

We came up on this wood teepee at the very top of the hill that I had Tyson pose in front of.

On our way home we started spotting these bear signs on the side of the road.

Our last stop on our way home was this scenic overlook in Pennsylvania. It is called Kinzua Bridge Overlook. It used to be a railroad bridge but then it got struck by lightning and was redone and reopened in 2011. Instead of making it go all the way across they left the damaged structure on the ground and made a scenic lookout with it that is 300 ft above the ground.

The jeep was in the parking lot at the lookout and I loved the color. It had come all the way there from Texas! 

All in all it was an amazing weekend spent together. We loved getting out of town and didn't have to worry about how Tyson was doing or who was going to be taking care of him. Now I am in search of somewhere to have the dogs boarded at or watched for Thanksgiving weekend because our family decided that we are spending it at the beach house in Surfside, North Carolina at my Aunt and Uncle's beach house. Unfortunately the dogs cannot go with us on this trip. Anyone have any suggestions?