Ellie's Great Adventure: Exploring the Southwest.

Introduction

This trip continues with part 4 of Ellie’s Great Adventure.

• Part 1: The North Road
• Part 2: Northwest to Pacific
• Part 3: Highway 1 and 101 to San Francisco
• Part 4: Exploring the Southwest
• Part 5: Homeward Bound

In this leg of the journey, we drive down from California to Texas passing through seven National Parks, Preserves or Monuments along the way.

The Journey

At the end of Part 3, we left off just east of San Francisco after completing our Highway 1/101 drive down the coast from Oregon. It was time to start our journey into the southwest.

Yosemite National Park, CA

We set out heading to Yosemite National Park. Normally, the best time to visit is in May or June, when snow melt reliably powers the parks many seasonal waterfalls. We were there in late October, but the west-coast had just been inundated with a “bomb cyclone” dropping near record levels of rainfall in the area. Ellie enjoyed seeing the falls at full flow, even trying to impersonate one with a little drool.

Unfortunately, many other people had the same idea, and the area was booked solid. We only had an hour or so in Yosemite before we had to drive out in order to reach our hotel in Fresno before dark.

Mojave National Preserve, CA

From Fresno, we drove south through Bakersfield and then east to camp in Mojave National Preserve. That night was Halloween, and we had a fun time camping out in the desert. The next day we tried a trail near the visitor’s center and drove out to walk in the dunes.

After spending the day in Mojave, we did a short drive over to Kingman Arizona where we stopped for the night to position for a another short drive to the Grand Canyon the following day.

Grand Canyon, AZ

The canyon is a pretty nice park for a dog. You won’t be hiking into the canyon, but there are lots of pet friendly paths around the rim and throughout the campgrounds.

Based on a visit 20+ years earlier, I had promised Ellie lots of fearless and friendly squirrels. Sadly, things had changed. She didn’t encounter any friendly squirrels, but she did get to meet some elk wandering near the campground.

After camping the night, we took a leisurely drive out of the park by driving east along the rim. Then we headed south to Sunset Crater.

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, AZ

One of 600 volcanoes in Northern Arizona, Sunset Crater last erupted around the year 1085. It is currently believed to be extinct. There are 2-3 dog friendly paths and Ellie enjoyed stretching her legs.

Afterward, we drove a short distance to stay the night at a Best Western in Holbrook Arizona before continuing on.

Petrified Forest National Park, AZ

Painted Desert and Petrified Forest, both part of the same park, were only a short drive from Holbrook. We entered on the north, Painted Desert side, and drove south, stopping frequently along the way. When we reached the Petrified Forest, we took a short walk so that Ellie could inspect the petrified sticks.

After leaving Petrified forest, we took the back roads took the back roads into New Mexico, hoping for a scenic drive away from the interstate.

Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, NM

By chance, we ended up driving through the Very Large Array right around sunset. This radio telescope was featured prominently in the movie Contact, and has been involved in pretty much every type of astronomy you can imagine. I’ve heard that, if you were to put a cell phone on Saturn, it would have a stronger signal than many of the phenomenon it studies.

Even though they weren’t giving the usual tours, this was one of my favorite stops on the trip, and it resulted in some of my favorite pictures of Ellie.

After lingering a bit in the sunset, we drove on to Truth or Consequences to stay at a Holiday Inn Express there. This was, hands down, the best hotel we stayed at on the trip. Staff were friendly, the rooms were very nice, and the pet fee was a shockingly low $10-15.

White Sands National Park, NM

The next day, we drove from Truth or Consequences to White Sands, a few miles from where they detonated the gadget at Trinity. Ellie enjoyed seeing a few surprisingly small and non-radioactive lizards on a nature hike, but she also thought it was pretty hot out there. Mostly she liked to lie on the cool gypsum sands.

After leaving White Sands, we drove south to El Paso and the southern border before heading east to Van Horn Texas. There we stopped for the night in a Red Roof Inn where there is never a pet fee.

Prada Store, TX

From Van Horn, we drove south on smaller roads, stopping at the Prada store and passing through Marfa.

Marfa is known as an art town and the Prada store was an artistic endeavor not associated with the Prada company. The original intent was for the store to be unmaintained and gradually degrade into the desert. However, the night after it’s completion it was vandalized with all the shoes and handbags stolen. So they repaired it and added a security system, and since it has become a well maintained tourist destination on the road to Martha or Big Bend. Ellie looked but did not see any Prada treat bags.

Big Bend, TX

We end this leg of the trip in Big Bend National and State Parks. This was my third trip to Big Bend and Ellie’s first. At the time, there was a BBQ festival in the national park and it was booked solid. So instead we camped in Big Bend Ranch State park at their Grassy Banks campground along the Rio Grande. Ellie swam almost all the way to Mexico.

In retrospect, the state park is more dog friendly and, while the campgrounds are definitely rougher, ours was quite nice and sparsely populated. We had a peaceful night, watching the stars and listening to coyotes singing hello to Ellie.

The next day we explored Big Bend, visiting many sites in the park including Elena’s Canyon where we saw a javelina.

Leaving Big Bend, we took Highway 90 east along the border to begin the homeward leg of our journey.

To be continued in Part 5…

Lodging

Hotel prices generally exclude a $10-$25 pet fee.

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Cost Summary

Gas $400

Continue on the adventure:

• Part 1: The North Road
• Part 2: Northwest to Pacific
• Part 3: Highway 1 and 101 to San Francisco
• Part 4: Exploring the Southwest
• Part 5: Homeward Bound