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August 30, 2017 by Terran 1 Comment

Skye Valley Ranch: Pet-Friendly Camping Under the Stars

I only went camping once as a child — a Girl Scout overnight. I didn’t have many friends and ended up in a tent with three other girls I didn’t know. The only way for me to sleep was at their feet and there was a very uncomfortable tree root that cut across my back. In the morning, I found I had been pushed out of the tent and rolled halfway down a hillside. After that? Camping? Yeah, no thank you.

It wasn’t until we happened upon some perfect camping spots at Skye Valley that my outlook changed. I had been wanting to stay in a small spot on Skyline for a while so we waited for a good night, set up the tent, went about our day, and came back when the sky grew dark. And this is what we saw! Oh, beautiful Milky Way! How I love you! 

We gazed at the stars for what seemed like hours. Roxy stayed close and as our eyes grew heavy, we climbed into our sleeping bags and had the most peaceful night of sleep imaginable. We heard some crunching outside in the wee hours of the morning but it was too dark to see anything. We guessed it was a deer so we said hello and went back to sleep.

We woke up with the dawn and Roxy went out to explore. I captured this shot of her from inside our tent.

We stepped outside and watched as the rising sun lit the mountaintops in the most glorious golden light.

Soon, the sun reached our little slice of the world. I love Roxy’s face in the shot below — oh my goodness, it’s beautiful!, she must be thinking!

Greg and Roxy sat on the lookout (you can see them if you look closely in the photo below) and had some quality time together.

As the sun rose higher in the sky, we packed up our tent and took a final look at our morning view.

We headed back down to the ranch house to spend the morning with family, friends, and good food! We had eggs over-easy from home-raised hens, bacon, sausage, and pancakes with homemade maple syrup from a friend’s backyard in New York (sooooo good)!

There’s never a shortage of food when we all gather at The Ranch and the dogs know it. This is Sage waiting patiently for her pancake breakfast.

After breakfast, we did some off-roading and enjoyed some hammock-time down at one of our lakes. Skye Valley is such a special place for humans and animals and I am just so grateful we can call it ours.


Do you want to VISIT Skye Valley?

I offer the Skye Valley Ranch Experience, an all-inclusive overnight pet portrait adventure
 
— or —
 
We are currently accepting applications for adventurers looking to get away for the weekend with their dogs who want to play in the lakes, go off-roading, hike, explore, and camp on our 800+ acre property. (This would not include any professional photography.)

 

Are you ready for an adventure?


Want more pet-friendly adventuring? Join the Wild, Wild Westway!
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Filed Under: all pet portraits, field notes, skye valley ranch

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Maria says

    September 12, 2017 at 1:50 pm

    I just had a wonderful adventure with you, Roxy & Greg – it gave me a wonderful feeling of closeness between the three of you and I can only imagine how glorious your camping adventure was. All your photos are favorites but the one with Sage looking out the corner of his eye at those pancakes made me LOL. Thanks for sharing . . . I’m your biggest fan.

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Home » Skye Valley Ranch: Pet-Friendly Camping Under the Stars

Follow our wild, wild Westway adventures as we travel the U.S. in our Airstream

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Based in San Diego, CA
Traveling the U.S. in 2022
(858) 848-9378
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I want you to close your eyes for a moment. Well, I want you to close your eyes for a moment. Well, maybe don't close them because then you'll stop reading. So, let's just *imagine.* OK, here we go... Imagine you're at the beach with your four-legged best friend just as the sun is coming up over the horizon. A warm summer breeze carries the scent of the salty ocean through the air, the sand is soft between your toes, and things couldn't be more perfect. And then your dog poops. 💩 I mean, that's always a good thing but when you're in this moment, a beach stroll with a bag of poo in your hands isn't exactly the dream. Thankfully, the dooloop exists so you can keep your hands free and keep the moment perfect. ​​​​​​​​
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I've been a fan of @dooloopdogs for years now and am so thrilled to have them as one of our trip sponsors! If you don't have one, you seriously need one. Seriously!
Want to know more about how we are traveling, wher Want to know more about how we are traveling, where we're going, or what it's like living in a small space with your significant other and pup? Where do we stay? Do we have hot showers? What are some of our best memories so far? If you're curious, ask below and your question may be featured in an upcoming post!
SWOOOOON! This gorgeous Florida evening with Jaspe SWOOOOON! This gorgeous Florida evening with Jasper and his mom was absolute magic!!! The sunlight sparkled over the grassy sand dunes alongside the warm Atlantic Ocean as it slowly sunk down into the western sky. Jasper was happy as a little clam as he was rewarded with treats, snuggles, and playtime for being the goodest boy!​​​​​​​​
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A big, huge thank you to @wellnesspetfood for joining us as a trip sponsor of our Great American Road Trip!
Welcome to the wild, wild Westway family, Sibbie!​​​​​​​​
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Named for the American Revolutionary War heroine, Sybil Ludington, we felt like the Airstream who was going to take us on our Great American Road Trip needed to have a very American name. Sybil Ludington and her horse, Star (can you guess the truck's name?), completed a midnight ride farther than Paul Revere's to announce to her father's fellow militia men that the British were coming. She was even thanked by George Washington!​​​​​​​​
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Sibbie is a 30-foot Airstream. She has a full size sofa, dinette with two bench seats, a surprisingly large shower and bathroom, and a great kitchen with a propane stove, oven, and three-in-one microwave + oven + air fryer. She also has an insane number of windows and skylights that make the entire space feel light and bright! 😍 Greg, Roxy, and I fit very well and feel like it's just the right amount of space for the three of us!​​​​​​​​
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Who else out there has an Airstream? Do you love yours? We certainly love ours!​​​​​​​​
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St. Augustine, FL​​​​​​​​
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@airstream_inc #westwaypets #westwaystudio #roadtrip #greatamericanroadtrip #wildwildwestway #airstream #airstreamadventure #airstreamliving #airstreamlife #airstreamlifestyle #nomadphotographer #travelphotographer #travelingdogphotographer
A big, huge, monstrous THANK YOU to my very first A big, huge, monstrous THANK YOU to my very first models of our trip: Julie, Louie, Bella, and Brooklyn! These four totally rocked their photo shoot for our three trip sponsors: @wellnesspetfood, @dooloopdogs, and @petplaysf! ​​​​​​
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Julie and Louie are both incredible photographers so it was extra fun to work with them! I know them from San Diego but when I found out they were in Fort Myers — just 2.5 short hours south of where we were picking up the Airstream — I knew we had to go see them and do a photo shoot!​​​​​​​​
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Isabella and Brooklyn are two of the cutest dogs you'll ever meet. I was warned that Brooklyn would take a minute to warm up, which she did, but once she realized we were there to shower her with attention, we became BFFs.​​​​​​​​
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Thank you, again, Julie & Louie! You guys rock and we had a blast with you!
We are nearly one month in to our big adventure! I We are nearly one month in to our big adventure! It's hard to even believe it! We have seen new places, visited old friends, and photographed a bunch of puppers already! ​​​​​​​​
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The journey began in San Diego, CA and took us to Tampa, FL for about a week. We headed down to Fort Myers and then up to St. Augustine before leaving the sunshine state. After that, we spent a night on a beautiful pecan farm just outside Savannah, GA before making our way to Charleston, Wilmington, and Charlotte (where we spent a few glorious hours floating in Lake Norman). Today, we are headed to a friend's place just outside Asheville!​​​​​​​​
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I promise to introduce you to our new Airstream in some upcoming posts. I will just say here that she is beautiful and everything we hoped she would be!​​​​​​​​
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We'll be in the northeast in a few short weeks & I absolutely can't wait!!!
Nothing says Airstream + Florida quite as much as Nothing says Airstream + Florida quite as much as a pink flamingo... so it's only fitting that we photograph the @petplaysf pink flamingo float toy as we kick off our big six-month road trip adventure in the Sunshine State! Am I right or am I right???​​​​​​​​
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We couldn't be more thrilled that P.L.A.Y. has decided to join us on our journey as a trip sponsor. We are going to have soooo much fun playing with and photographing their amazing products all around the US this year! Thank you, P.L.A.Y.!​​​​​​​​
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Who else's dogs love P.L.A.Y. toys??? 🙋‍♀️
Do you ever find a product that makes you question Do you ever find a product that makes you question how you ever lived without it? For me, that was @dooloopdogs! It's a brilliantly simple leash accessory that holds your pooch's poo bag so you don't have to. We've been using them for years and they're truly something special!​​​​​​​​
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When we began to plan our big road trip, I knew I'd be taking a few dooloops along with me (different leashes call for different dooloops, duh!) and I dreamed of having the company come along as an official trip sponsor. Well, it happened!!! We'll be sharing the dooloop love all around the US, photographing dogs with dooloops, and showing others how a simple tool can improve their daily walks with their pups! Thank you, dooloop! We're so excited to have you along for the journey!
I have some incredibly special clients, let me tel I have some incredibly special clients, let me tell you. They're clients I love working with and who consistently put their trust in me to create photos for their advertising & marketing campaigns around the globe. When I told Wellness Pet about our big adventure, the response was swift and definitive: "count us in!" I'm so, so, so thrilled to have them as a trip sponsor for our journey and to create images for them all along the way. We have used their products for years — Sojos, WHIMZEES, and their WellBites treats — so this partnership couldn't feel more perfect and authentic! Thank you, Wellness!
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