As I’m sitting down to write this recap of our road trip, I don’t even really know where to begin. It was such a whirlwind of chaos, and I’m having a hard time putting it into words in my head, let alone into a blog post. If you don’t already know, Wynston broke his foot the day after we arrived in El Paso, Texas. You can read that entire story here. Although the ordeal cut our “to-do” list short, I still had a wonderful, relaxing time away. While out of town I quickly realized that there was silver lining to Wynston breaking his foot away from home, and it almost made our trip better! Imagine that 🙂
Our Southwestern Road Trip
Wynston and I headed out around 9:30am on Thursday morning. I planned to take my sweet time getting to El Paso because I simply wasn’t in a rush. I figured I’d stop as many times as we needed to stretch our legs and go potty, as well as take photos at picturesque areas along the way. We stopped a total of four times.
Our first stop was in Tucson, AZ, which is about 1.5 hours from home. I saw a Petco from the highway, and I made the decision to stop so Wynston and I could both relieve ourselves. It worked out nicely because the bathroom in Petco was huge and I was able to easily take Wynston inside with me. One of my initial concerns was not being able to take restroom breaks because I had Wynston, but it proved to not be a problem at all!
The other three breaks we had were at rest stops. At each of the stops I simply carried Wynston into the bathroom with me. No way in hell was I going to leave him in the car. No one said a word about having Wyn with me. In fact, a couple of the ladies in the restroom were mentioning how cute and well behaved he was (duh!). Only one of the rest stops had a “no pets in the facilities” sign but I ignored it, because you know, I’m a rebel like that…
Wynston and I arrived at the Candlewood Suites in El Paso around 5pm. The staff was extremely welcoming and I asked that they accommodate us since I had Wynston. They were gracious enough to give us a ground floor room right next to the exit. The best part was that directly outside the exit door was the pet area! It made our entire hotel stay incredibly convenient, especially after we went through Wynston’s broken foot situation.
Our room had a full kitchen, desk, queen size bed, recliner and spacious bathroom. Everything was high quality and overall perfect for our stay. My favorite part was definitely the kitchen. It had a full size fridge, dishwasher, stove and microwave! Not once did we go out for a meal because I cooked everything in our room. There happened to be a Walmart nearby so I was able to take advantage of grocery pick up. Each morning I cooked us breakfast and grabbed unlimited hot coffee from the Candlewood pantry. They even offered some free breakfast and dinner options, which was wonderful! I would absolutely recommend this specific hotel and other Candlewood Suites to anyone. Our experience was no doubt worth five stars!
We spent a lot of Friday relaxing at the room. It was nice to get settled in and enjoy the quiet away from home…that is until Wynston broke his foot. We spent four hours at the vet that evening, and it was then that I realized the rest of our trip was about to change…
And it did, but not necessarily for the worse. We still had a room right next to the pet potty area. I still had food so we could cook in the room everyday. Wynston didn’t have five animals or a big house to take away from his initial healing process. I quickly saw the silver lining in our less than desirable situation and I figured we’d make the best of it.
On Saturday we continued to rest a lot. I’m so grateful that I remembered to bring the stroller and kennel so I made sure that Wynston wasn’t spending time on his foot. Luckily I had pain meds for him so he spent a majority of the trip sleeping. I was okay with that because ultimately he needed to rest. I had no problems cooking meals and spending more time in the room than anticipated. It was a delightful break from the hustle and bustle back home.
The one thing I absolutely did not want to miss out on was our trip to White Sands, NM. When Sunday rolled around and Wynston was slightly more awake, I decided to make the 1.5 hour trek to New Mexico with one of my friends. It was an easy, quick drive and Wynston just slept in the car. I brought the stroller so he didn’t have to walk of course.
White Sands was gorgeous. It was a hot day so we didn’t spend much time there but it was SO cool to see. I’d love to go back when the weather is nicer. The sun beating down on the sand makes it especially toasty, and the white sand is somewhat blinding. It sure was a unique experience. It’s so interesting that miles of white sand sits randomly in the middle of the desert. It almost looks and feels like you’re driving through snow. The experience was different than anything I’ve ever done, and for that I’m glad that we went despite Wynston’s lack of interest. I hope to go back someday when Wynston is healed and it’s not 95° outside.
Wynston and I plan to do some more traveling in the near future once his foot heals up. I can’t wait to travel with my boy again and stay in another hotel that offers a full kitchen! The six hour drive was easy and now I know that I have no problems driving that distance by myself.
In the end, I thank God that I have the ability to work wherever I want, allowing me to travel with my dogs. Our Southwestern road trip was unforgettable and will go down in the books as a great but interesting first one. I have to admit that I learned a lot and have several takeaways about road tripping alone with a dog. I wouldn’t change anything about our trip because it made me a better and more educated dog mom.
Have you ever had an emergency with a pet while traveling?
Brandi Lytle says
Sounds like an eventful, but fun trip! Glad everything worked out–especially with the kitchen. I, for one, am a grumpy girl when I don’t get to eat!
We’ve never had an emergency while traveling with one of our dogs, but we did get Maddie spayed when we were home for Christmas. (We trusted our vet so much and hadn’t found a new one in SC yet.) We thought we gave her enough time to recover before driving back home, but it was a long trip…
I wouldn’t leave them at home, though! Gotta have those fur babies with us to enjoy the adventures! 🙂