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This summer our family vacation took us to the very small community of Idlewild, in the wilderness of northern New Mexico, about forty five minutes from Taos (when the pass is not under construction). My husband’s family has a cabin in these mountains where his mom and her family used to go to beat the Texas heat back in the day and where Andrew and his cousins spent summers running around in the forest being kids. It’s a magical place.
For the Fourth of July, as many cousins that could, gathered on the mountain, enjoyed the small town parade, a delicious bbq dinner, lots of laughs, hugs and catching up.
If you know me, you know I love a good road trip. I also love my dogs, for this trip Andrew and I decided to take our time and drive to the cabin, which allowed us to bring Roadie & Loki (our 7 year old and 1 year old Australian Shepherds) it also gave Andrew a reason to deck out his new Jeep. The pups loved running free on the mountain, and while I was nervous they would run off they never got too far. Loki did chase a deer and was missing for a few moments, but they always came back.
What We Learned Traveling with Dogs on the Road:
– Most hotels allow dogs and have a floor or even a building dedicated to guests with pets. If you are lucky your room might have a patio or outside door, so you don’t have to travel through the hotel with the dogs.
– KOAs are great with dogs. We didn’t camp, but we were able to book deluxe cabins in Grand Junction and Provo, both were clean, had simple kitchens, full bathrooms, air conditioning and plenty of space for the dogs to wrestle.
– Most towns have dog parks. We searched dog parks most places we stopped and while they weren’t normally packed with other dogs (it was hot in the southwest), it did give our guys a chance to run free after a day in the car. Tanner Dog Park in Salt Lake City was a great place to hike and the dogs got to play in the river. Our only mistake was arriving around noon in the heat of the day.
– We ate better and likely saved (maybe) a little bit of money bringing the dogs. Because we had our pups with us we rarely ate out, I packed a lot of snacks and we stopped at the grocery story to get food for dinner to make at our KOA or in the hotel. We left the dogs one time in the hotel room and they were fine. But most nights, we stayed in with them.
– Puppy CBD is a life saver, it helped them sleep in the car and kept them mostly quiet in the hotels. Loki still had a few random howls in the middle of the night, but again that’s why we were in the puppy wing of the hotels.
At the cabin, the dogs were able to run free, we took them hiking and they loved the big family gatherings with so much attention they were completely worn out by the end of each night. They didn’t love the sirens and horns at the parade or the fireworks at night, but again, the CBD helped calm their nerves.
Overall, it was great trip. We had a wonderful time in nature and loved catching up with our cousins. My favorite part of any road trip is staring out the window watching the world go by while I track where we are on my Rand McNally atlas (I got the 2024 version, the 100 Year Anniversary edition has great historical notes).
While the Jeep is not always the smoothest ride, we made it comfortable for both us and our pups (this Ruffwear dog taco – aka seat cover – kept our guys safe and mostly contained in the back seat). I am certain there will be more mountain filled road trips in our future.
KathyGorohoff.com 