We’re off!

Jazzagals settled in.

Quick stop before crossing the border .

Made it!

Almost there…

Day 1 - Friday night in Detroit! People were out enjoying the summer evening. Chris and I walked the dogs and picked up pizza from Buddy’s. Ben barfed twice on the car ride, so he went to bed early. Dogs are being champs so far!

State line #2

1/2 way through day 2.

Pulled into St. Louis at 7:30pm. Dropped off our bags the hotel and had a late dinner on a patio around the corner. Not impressed with St. Louis...dirty,lots of vacant buildings and homeless people. Dogs woke up at 4:30am...another early wake up call. Took the dogs for a walk at 6am and it was 80F. \240Hit the road at 8:30am.

Breathtaking.

Deep in the heart, of Texas…

Yesterday was a long day of driving. Hit a lightning/rain storm first hour of leaving Oklahoma City. Skies were dark and ominous. Stopped after an hour so Chris could do a work Zoom call at a Starbucks. Fortunately, Ben noticed an airplane from the side of the road which turned out to be an Air & Space Museum. So, while Chris did his call, I dropped the boys off at the museum while I hung outside with the dogs. Boys enjoyed the museum. Noticed there was a field trip and none of the kids were wearing masks.

Both Missouri and Oklahoma were loose on masks wearing.

The drive into Texas was flat, but some greenery. As we moved our way into New Mexico, it was all desert and some peaks in the distance.

Spent the morning in the main tourist area of Santa Fe. Dropped off dogs at the Zoomies dog daycare and then picked up breakfast. We are in the main square at a picnic table.

Then walked around a bit. Hit up Canyon Road which is the main gallery and art stroll. Ben were happy to have to walk around art and galleries, but kept them happy by getting a treat at Kakawa Chocolate Shop.

Spent a few hours at Bandelier National Monument. It was only 30 minutes away and we were in awe. So interesting to learn how indigenous people lived here. Creating irrigation and farmed, prepared food and other cultural rituals. Such a beautiful spot.

Let Santa Fe at 10am after a yummy breakfast. Picked up the girls at the doggie day care and picked up some snacks from Trader Joe’s and off we went. It was a LONG day of driving. Passed loads of rest stops, run down towns and sad strip malls. Had a quick lunch stop and it was so hot the dogs paws were burning on the pavement.

We arrived just outside the Grand Canyon park around 6pm. There were very limited options for dinner, so picked up pizza and set up a picnic at an outside table on the hotel property. Boys then went swimming at the hotel pool.

Early to bed and early to rise. Arrived at the park at 7am and got a primo parking spot. We were limited to the main south rim trial because of the dogs. Spent several hours meandering the trial and checking out the many stunning views of the canyon. It was truly breathtaking and made me feel so small. The canyon is massive and it’s mind blowing to think how it was created.

The park wasn’t too crowded in the morning and we walked for 3.5 hours. The jazza gals were such troopers, but they did get hot and were panting a lot. The walk pooped out!

Since we couldn’t really do much else at the park because of the dogs, we decided to pack up early and clock some miles. Headed to Vegas for the night!