I’ve Visited 25 States With My Dog, and It’s the Reason I love Domestic Travel

Prior to the pandemic, traveling frequently to far-flung destinations was not out of the ordinary for me. I was a bartender in New York and would arrange my schedule to take long weekends to go swim with nurse sharks in Caye Caulker, Belize, or eat late-night arepas on the streets of Cartagena, Colombia. I once even booked a flight to Rovaniemi, Finland, that left later that day because I got a good flight deal during prime northern lights season.

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So, when travel as I knew it had changed in March 2020, I watched as my passport collected dust, wondering if I’d ever hear the sweet sound of being stamped into a new country again. With a serious travel itch that felt impossible to scratch, one day in February 2021, I looked at my dog, Bowie, who would soon be undergoing intensive surgery to remove a cyst in his neck, and thought, what if I give us both the gift of getting out of this house? He was about to spend an unknown amount of time in a hospital, and I had reached textbook levels of stir-crazy. So, with very little planning and the same wing-it approach that I’d always taken, Bowie and I got in the car and began driving on Valentine’s Day.

Our first stop was Louisville, Kentucky. I had never been to Kentucky before, and had seriously underestimated what a far drive it is from New York City (roughly 12-13 hours). We shared Tupperware takeout brisket and checked out “The Door to Nowhere.” From there, we headed to St. Louis. This would be a favorite of both mine and Bowie’s. We took selfies under the giant arch, and Bowie reminded me he’s a city dog through and through, as his paws hit the pavement, sniffing other passing pups, and tugging the leash when he decided a store or restaurant was worth paying a visit to.

Sticking to dog-friendly hotels opens up a world of possibilities

It was Kansas that really stole our hearts. In Kansas City, I had one of the best sandwiches of my life at Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que, a half-gas station, half-barbeque takeout spot. I ate my Z-Man Sandwich, made with brisket, provolone, and onion rings, watched BBQ sauce drip on the steering wheel, and genuinely contemplated getting a second one. I gave Bowie some burnt ends and nibbled off the seasoned parts in an attempt to save his stomach.

While in the parking lot of Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que, I looked on Google Maps to determine where we would sleep that night. I saw a saved location from one of my many “Google lists” to see if we weren’t too far from a place called Lindsborg, A.K.A. “Little Sweden.” I opened my Booking.com app and searched dog-friendly accommodations in Lindsborg to find there was only one: The Viking Motel. So, off we went to the alleged most Swedish town in the U.S.

Our road trip would continue to take us all the way to Las Vegas, with stops in Quinter, Kansas, Boulder, Colorado, and Moab, Utah along the way. It was when I saw the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign that I realized I had somewhat accidentally driven from New York all the way to Vegas, and yet, as I sipped a margarita out of a giant plastic tube with my dog on a leash on the Vegas strip, I had an epiphany it was just as exciting to travel the U.S. as it is to travel abroad. Even more so when you have an adorable furry friend with you.

From Vegas, we started to make our way back. We hiked our way through the southwest at Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park and New Mexico’s White Sands National Park. We ran into the misfortune of a flat tire on a rainy Sunday in Oklahoma City (pro-tip: avoid flat tires on a Sunday in the Bible Belt), found solace in Hot Springs, Arkansas (where Bowie may or may not have joined me onstage while singing “Sunday Morning” by No Doubt at a karaoke bar), and visited a good friend in Nashville.

It turns out traveling with a dog is much easier than it sounds

My 2021 road trip with Bowie would become a new annual tradition. While my international travel schedule has picked up full force once again now that pandemic-related restrictions are no longer in place, every year since that five-week jaunt across the U.S., I have carved time out of my busy schedule to dedicate some road-tripping with Bowie. Throughout all of our road trips, I have learned traveling with a dog is much easier than it sounds, and dog-friendly hotels go above and beyond, sometimes even providing beds and toys and welcome treats, to make sure Bowie’s stay is just as comfortable as mine. A prime example is from our 2023 road trip when we drove down to Baltimore and spent a night at the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore, whose room service was tailored to pups with their designated “Dog” menu (Bowie’s favorite was “Dark side of the Moon,” made with ground beef, broccoli, and white rice).

This past year, I drove us from New York to Florida for Bowie’s 12th birthday in May. However, this time around, something changed. He didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as he once did, taking longer to get comfortable in foreign beds, whimpering in the middle of the night out of the confusion of unfamiliar surroundings, and no more zoomies after too many hours in the car. Little did I know that in October 2024, Bowie would grow to become incredibly ill, leading to being admitted to ICU with a severe case of anemia, needing two blood transfusions, and me being advised to prepare my goodbyes to him. Luckily, against all odds, Bowie made it and is still with us.

As he grows older and older each day, I’m not sure Bowie will ever be ready for a road trip again, but because of him being the perfect travel buddy—he has been to 25 U.S. states—I only have nine left to visit. I had never been interested in exploring the United States; I always painted the picture that there were way cooler places to visit in the world—like, why go to Texas when you could go to Zambia?—but Bowie helped shift my perspective. While I still haven’t been to some U.S. hotspots like Miami, Portland (Oregon), and Yosemite, my former reasons for not having visited were out of pure dismissal and disinterest; now, it’s simply a matter of time and something I can only hope he will find the strength to enjoy with me. One could argue Bowie is the ultimate travel influencer, forcing his own travel-obsessed mom to finally check out her own backyard.