Road-tripping: Texas to California {with a dog}

We recently packed up our entire lives and road-tripped it across county from Texas to the Bay Area. Luckily we had movers, so we didn't have to lug everything with us! It was just Jason, me, Indy and a truck full of belongings to get us through a month. We took our time driving, making a vacation of our trip. We planned some fun stops, almost all of which were dog friendly.

Our first morning saw us saying goodbye to our home for the past 8 years, grabbing our last Whataburger breakfast for a long time, and heading towards Amarillo. We had our last Tex-Mex at Joe Taco that had a dog-friendly patio for Indy. Right outside of Amarillo, you can drive right up to Cadillac Ranch! This is an art installation that has been in place for a long time and people were taking turns spray-painting the cars. Indy just wanted to swim.

That evening, we made it into Tucumcari, NM which is right along Route 66. We checked into our hotel and left Indy for a bit to go grab dinner at Del's. 

The next day, we had plans to make it to Flagstaff and Jason wanted to watch the World Cup game before we headed out, so we didn't do too much exciting this day. We did stop in Holbrook, AZ for a few Route 66 stops though!

We stopped for the night in Flagstaff and grabbed some picnic stuff and some yummy poke bowls for our exciting excursion the next day.

The next morning we got up bright and early and drove up to the Grand Canyon! Dogs are only allowed above the rim, but we were able to walk with him for a few miles before Indy basically drank all of our water and we had to turn around. The altitude and dryness definitely hits you - stay hydrated folks! We got back to the main area and had a delicious picnic with some pretty incredible views.

After that, we made our way towards Las Vegas, where we left our exhausted pup in the room so we could go to a nice dinner and do a bit of gambling. It was a fun little outing and basically the perfect amount of time in Las Vegas, ha!

We were ready to get out of that 100 degree weather, but first we stopped at 7 Magic Mountains, 30 minutes outside of Vegas. It's another art installation and located right off the road!

We drove all the way to Solvang, CA, where we would stay for the next two nights. It was actually a return trip for us as we had visited a few years back. This town is SO cute and super dog-friendly. All of the wineries allowed dogs and many of the restaurants had outside seating areas, so we could really bring Indy along everywhere we went. Our favorite stop was D.Volk winery though - we even had to buy a bottle to go!

After a few days exploring Solvang, we made the short drive to Paso Robles via Morro Bay. We let Indy play in the Pacific Ocean for a while before we checked in to our next hotel. We went to a few wine tastings (J. Lohr was yummy and our hotel had a wine tasting as well - both FREE!) before dinner, but wish we had a chance to explore the area more! Good thing is that it's only a few hours away from us, so we can go back soon.

Our last day we made the final push to our temporary housing in Sunnyvale, CA. We had heard from our waiter the previous night that the PCH was literally opening the same day we planned to drive north. It had been closed since the mudslides over a year before. It was basically a sign!

The road was windy and definitely added a few hours, but luckily most of the traffic was going south and we were going north. This is another example of a place we'd love to explore more, but it was a beautiful drive!

We had downloaded lots of podcasts to listen to on our drive (thanks Planet Money & Serial) and had a blast experiencing this with Indy. The whole drive was such a perfect transition to our new life here in California!

Also: We've found a home in Menlo Park - and are now accepting visitors...HA!

Iceland: South Coast

Our third day in Iceland was a doozy - tons of activities planned and also tons of driving! Luckily we had podcasts and some pretty amazing views to occupy us. Literally every 30 minutes, we had a different landscape. I've tried to include some pictures of each different type, but nothing can prepare you for the sheer SIZE of everything here.

Our morning started with a drive to Skogafoss, which was probably my favorite waterfall we saw. Although as you can see in the photos, there are little mini waterfalls everywhere!

Continuing our drive, we went from green to black pretty fast. After that, we started seeing the glaciers! That's when we knew we were getting close to Jokulsarlon. This is a glacial lagoon, that is filled with icebergs from the Vatnajokull Glacier. 

We had booked a tour on a zodiac boat - this boat went faster than the more common tours and we were able to see much more this way. We looked like marshmallows in our gear, but we never got cold!

Continuing our drive east, we stopped by Diamond Beach, where some of the glaciers end up on their journey to the ocean. After that, we caught up with another tour - this time for snowmobiling!

The drive up was insane - we were in a gigantic 4-wheel drive truck that was absolutely needed. Once we got to the top, the weather wasn't that great, so we couldn't see that much. It didn't dampen our spirits too much because we both got to take turns driving! When we reached the end of the glacier, we got to see just how close to the end and high up we were - would have been amazing on a clear day, but we still had tons of fun.

We had a LONG drive back that evening and we were luckily able to find a convenience store open to grab a, quick dinner that night. 

Also, word of warning - most gas stations there don't accept US cards. We had to go inside to buy a loaded up gas card which works on the machines outside. But if you're driving late at night, the inside stores aren't open after 10pm and you might be out of luck! 

It was around midnight that we arrived at the Black Sand Beach (or Reynisfyara), but with the midnight sun, you could hardly tell. There were probably 10 other people wandering around the beach, which is normal packed with people. It was surreal to experience it at night!

Our last morning, we grabbed breakfast and started our drive back to Reykjavik. We stopped to walk around Seljalandsfoss (literally, you can walk behind it) and also another "hidden" waterfall that is maybe a 20 minutes walk further. If you're interested, follow the signs to the left towards Gljufrabui. You do have to wade through some ankle-high water, so be prepared!

The best thing I can say is to bring waterproof everything when visiting Iceland. It would suck to miss out on some of the more unique sights because you're avoiding the water!

And lastly, you can't go to Iceland without trying a gas station hot dog! So when we stopped to fill up our rental car, we grabbed 2 and an order of fries for about $40. I wasn't joking when I said Iceland was expensive guys!

We got to the airport early...because WOW Air...and had time to have a couple of mimosas before our flight. And about our flight. Maybe don't fly WOW Air guys. About an hour in, the water from the toilets literally started overflowing down the center aisles. Luckily we were on a side aisle, but that didn't help the smell. They said it was fresh water, but it sure didn't smell like that. The pilot literally had to come and turn off the water supply. Add that to the 2 hour delay? YIKES.

The rest of our trip was lovely and we can't wait to go back to Iceland to explore the West Fjords and the North.

Up Next: To wrap-up our catch-up posts, I'll post some highlights from our week-long trip from Texas to California!