I had long been promising my mother a trip to see some of the National Parks. There were several on our list to see, but it happened that my spring break at school coincided nicely with a much needed vacation on her part, we were in need of a good spring vacation site. That limited our choices to the Southwest, and being that we live in Arizona, we decided it better to venture out of state to new and “uncharted” territory.
Having just resolved to take my dogs on my next vacation, I immediately began searching for dog-friendly parks and hotels. And so the following plan was formed:
Day 1
We would travel first to Socorro, New Mexico, to visit some friends of my parents. (At this point, my father decided to join our party). Our hope was to join them for church on Saturday, spend the evening with them, and head out the next morning. They also had a dog, and my two were welcome at the house. With a fenced back yard, that should simplify Day 1.
Day 2
From there we would head south to Alamogordo and White Sands National Park. We would spend the night in White Sands at a dog-friendly hotel I’d found online, the Satellite Inn, and spend Day 2 at White Sands.
Day 3
Day 3 would see us traveling up into the mountains near Alamogordo to Lincoln National Forest, which among other things boasted trails where you could have your dogs off-leash as long as they were under voice control. We would return to Alamogordo for the night, before heading out the next morning.
Day 4
Early on Day 4 we would head southeast to Carlsbad, New Mexico and Carlsbad Caverns. While the dogs can not go into the caves, the park claimed to have kennels where you can leave your dogs while on the tours. Exactly what this would look like we weren’t sure, but it sounded promising. I was also hoping to find trails outside the caves where I could hike with the dogs. I found another dog-friendly hotel in Carlsbad, where we would spend that night.
Day 5
The last day of our vacation was to be spent driving home through the Permian Reef and Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Northwest Texas. We’d just learned about it in Geology class, so that was the crowning touch on our adventure plans.
Plans in place, dogs more than ready to be out and about,
Bored Aurora, ready to see the world
we packed our bags to travel….
