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Crystal has been going on many cross-country road trips in the US and it was time to do another one from Florida to California for Thanksgiving week. The plan was to spend a couple of months in California for the holidays with Candy.

Crystal usually does these road trips solo with her dog, Kuma, but this time Candy flew down to Tampa and we drove to California together. Since we were driving together, we thought we could make some fun stops along the way and explore more of America.

We planned on being on the road for 9 days and made stops in Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

ROAD TRIP ITINERARY

DAY 1: Los Angeles > Phoenix, 373 miles, 5.5 hours 
DAY 2: Phoenix > Las Cruces, 388 miles, 6 hours
DAY 3: Las Cruces > Roswell, 194 miles, 3.5 hours
DAY 4: Roswell > Waco, 499 miles, 8 hours
DAY 5: Explore White Sands National Park
DAY 6: Alamogordo > Flagstaff, 475 miles, 7.5 hours
DAY 7: Explore Petrified Forest National Park
DAY 8: Explore Flagstaff and Meteor Crater site
DAY 9: Flagstaff > Los Angeles, 465 miles, 7 hours

ROAD TRIP PREP

To make sure you are fully prepared for your road trip, review our ultimate packing checklist. If you are traveling with your dog, we have a great dog packing checklist as well.

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Since we were going to be on the road for more than a week, we wanted to pack some lunch and have our own food on the road for a couple of days. We made our favorite rice balls and Japanese fried chicken, plus some veggies and snacks.

We also brought a huge pack of bottled water with us so we wouldn’t have to buy expensive water while on the road.

THE ROAD TRIP

DAY 1 - TAMPA TO LAFAYETTE

Our first day was the longest drive because we wanted to get as far as we could get and have the drive to Austin the next day be shorter. We always have the most energy on the first day, so driving close to 11 hours was not a problem at all.

We stayed at Drury Inn & Suites Lafayette and it was a nice hotel at an affordable price and pet fee. Every Drury Inn provides free breakfast, free dinner, and three drinks per day and that’s including beer, wine, and cocktails.

There were plenty of eateries nearby, but the only thing we were thinking about was Whataburger. We both do not have a Whataburger near where we live, so whenever we go on road trips and see a Whataburger nearby, that’s where we always go. Well, Crystal is more of an addict than Candy is.

Unfortunately, our Whataburger meal was disgusting. We usually get the chicken strips meal and all the chicken strips were dry and barely warm. Candy could not even finish her meal. We were both so disappointed.

DAY 2 - DRIVE TO AUSTIN, TEXAS

Our drive to Austin was only 6 hours and we planned for a shorter drive on this day so that we wouldn’t be tired when we arrived in Austin.

We made a stop at the Texas Welcome Center and took some photos at the giant star. The Welcome Center looked fairly new and had a lot of maps and pamphlets and a relaxing rest area.

We also made it a point to stop by Buc-ee’s which is a very well-known gas station in Texas. It sounds silly to make it a point to stop at a specific branded gas station, but Buc-ee’s is on a whole other level.

Their convenience stores are humungous. In fact, Buc-ee's in New Braunfels, Texas, currently holds the world record for largest convenience store, coming in at 66,335 square feet.

We stopped by the Buc-ee’s in Katy, Texas and it was still massive at 56,000 square feet. We had a great time checking out Buc-ee branded items in the store and left with snacks, souvenirs, and of course, gas.

Once we arrived in Austin, we checked into the nice, pet-friendly hotel at the Canopy by Hilton Austin Downtown. The hotel was located in the heart of downtown Austin and there were a lot of bars and eateries nearby.

We had dinner at the hotel and highly suggest getting their flatbread pizza if you ever stay here. It was so good that anytime the topic of pizza is mentioned, we talk about this one. We also went out for a couple of drinks with Kuma at a bar across the street and then called it a night.

DAY 3 - AUSTIN

We woke up bright and early as we had a full day of activities planned for the day in Austin. We started with breakfast at 1886 Cafe & Bakery, which is located inside the historic Driskill Hotel. Crystal ordered the most adorable Texas-shaped waffle and Candy had a healthy bowl of oatmeal.

Next, we headed towards the Texas State Capitol and took a free guided tour of the building to learn a little bit of Texas history. The grounds here were also beautiful, so we had a lovely time taking a stroll amongst the greenery.

After the tour, we headed to Sixth and Waller for some lunch since it was nearby and located inside the adorable East Austin Hotel. This cafe had a fairly small lunch menu with a fun mix of boho and modern decor.

After lunch, we went back to our hotel to pick up Kuma and headed to the famous South Congress Avenue. This vibrant stretch of hip boutiques and eateries was filled with people even on a weekday.

We stopped by some of our favorite shops like Warby Parker, Kendra Scott Flagship, and TOMS Shoes. We also visited cool iconic stores like Allen’s Boots and Maufrais. There are some fun murals in this area as well like the Willie mural.

After all the walking and shopping, we had some early dinner at the popular Guero’s Taco Bar. The chips and salsa were addicting and Candy’s chicken soup was delicious.

We were exhausted when we got back to our hotel, but made an effort to grab some drinks at the Roosevelt Room for some original craft cocktails. They are known for their cocktail creations and their cool speakeasy vibe. We made reservations in advance since this bar is very popular.

DAY 4 - DRIVE TO WHITE SANDS NATIONAL PARK (ALAMOGORDO)

The next morning, we made our way to White Sands National Park which is located near Alamogordo, New Mexico. It was about a 10-hour drive and it felt like we were driving forever in Texas before we entered New Mexico.

There were gas stations and food exits along the drive, but with limited choices. Most exits had 2-3 gas stations and 2-3 fast food options. We ended up eating McDonalds for lunch since that was the best option on the road.

It was dark by the time we arrived at our hotel, The Classic Desert Aire Hotel. After we checked in and brought all our luggage into the room, we were exhausted and hungry. Luckily, there were a ton of dining options in the area like Denny’s, Applebee’s, and McDonald’s, to name a few, but we were craving some Asian cuisine.

We ordered take-out at Bangkok Tokyo, which was located right next door to our hotel. They had an extensive menu and we settled on Chicken Phó and Hibachi Chicken. Both were fantastic dishes with generous portions.

DAY 5 - WHITE SANDS NATIONAL PARK

We took our time getting ready in the morning and headed to White Sands National Park around 8:30 AM. The drive to the park was about 20-minutes and our first stop was the Visitor’s Center to rent a sled.

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We found a great spot to go sand sledding and Kuma was able to join us too. Kuma loved the white powdery sand and was enjoying it just as much as we were. After a couple of hours of sledding, we headed to Alkali Flat Trail.

We took some amazing sunset photos on this trail and were so pleased that the weather worked in our favor. We were concerned about the cloudy weather, but we were still able to see the beautiful pink and purple hues in the sky.

DAY 6 - DRIVE TO FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA

Flagstaff, Arizona was our last stop on the road trip before heading home to our final destination in Los Angeles. The drive started out dark and gloomy with rain in the morning, but as we drove into Arizona, the clouds started parting and the sun came out. The views were gorgeous in some areas as we started seeing some mountains in the distance.

The scenery was beautiful but we started noticing that we were not passing by many gas stations or restrooms. We were on the highway most of the way, so we mostly passed through small towns and almost everything was closed because we were driving on Thanksgiving day.

Luckily, we didn’t have any restroom emergencies, but we made it a point to stop at any restrooms we saw just in case we didn’t see another one for miles and miles.

We arrived at our hotel, Drury Inn & Suites Flagstaff, around 3 PM and rested for a bit before we headed out for dinner.

As mentioned, it was Thanksgiving Day, so we didn’t have many restaurant choices. We settled on having a classic Thanksgiving dinner at Cracker Barrel, then headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

By the way, if you are planning on eating at Cracker Barrel on Thanksgiving day, be prepared for long wait times. It’s apparently their busiest day of the year. Luckily, we were able to put our names down on the waiting list ahead of time via their app.

DAY 7 - PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK

We initially had plans to explore both Petrified Forest National Park and the Meteor Crater on the same day, but quickly realized that we needed an entire day at Petrified Forest.

You may think that Petrified Forest is a park filled with forests, but it’s quite the opposite. There are actually no trees here, but all rocks and petrified wood, which are basically chunks of trees that fossilized into beautiful stone over 200 million years. At one point, it was a luscious forest filled with dinosaurs.

Although it is a relatively small park, there was so much to see and do here. We really enjoyed our hike at Blue Mesa Trail and the Painted Desert view at Pintado Point was absolutely gorgeous. This park is also super dog-friendly, so Kuma enjoyed the entire day hiking and exploring with us.

By the time we got back to our hotel, we were exhausted. Luckily, Drury Inn provides free dinner so we did not have to waste our energy finding a place to eat and we were able to stay right at our hotel.

DAY 8 - DOWNTOWN FLAGSTAFF & METEOR CRATER SITE

We started our morning early and drove a short distance to Flagstaff’s Visitor’s Center. There is a famous Route 66 sign located here and we wanted to take a picture with it before starting to explore the downtown area.

We walked around with Kuma and stopped by some boutique shops like Old Barrel Tea Co. We also spotted various commemorative plaques around town that marked historical buildings in the area.

Crystal wanted to sit down and enjoy some coffee at Late For the Train Coffee shop, but there were only two tables outside in a shaded area and it was pretty cold in the shade, so we had to skip it.

In retrospect, we could have stopped by the coffee shop by taking turns going into the shop and sitting down at one of the benches at Heritage Square across the street.

The historic downtown is fairly small, so we only spent one to two hours here. Kuma was able to get some exercise in by walking around with us and she was tired by the time we went back to the hotel to drop her off before we headed to the Meteor Crater.

The drive to the Meteor Crater Barringer Space Museum was about a 45-minute drive from Flagstaff and it went by pretty fast. You just stay on Interstate 40 until you see Exit 233. It especially went by fast for Candy since she was hooked on a podcast from Dr. Death called Miracle Man.

To some, visiting a Meteor Crater may seem like it’s just a big hole in the ground, but it’s so much more than that. We learned about the impact of meteor craters and even enjoyed a fun ride in their 4D theater. The crater is massive and there were several lookout points both inside and outdoors.

DAY 9 - DRIVE HOME TO LOS ANGELES

We woke up to a chilly and drizzling morning and checked out of our hotel by 6:30 AM. Surprisingly, we had some issues finding a coffee shop that was open early in Flagstaff. Starbucks did not open until 8 AM, but we found a local coffee shop that opened at 7 AM right across the street from our hotel.

We started the morning in heavy layers and a coat, but as we approached California, we were down to our tank tops. The drive was beautiful and of course, as we got closer to Los Angeles, we hit traffic. This was the first time we hit traffic on our entire trip.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, the itinerary we planned turned out great. We were a little worried about possible snow in Flagstaff, but it was totally fine. Most of the drive was easy and the only tiring part was the last leg of the drive when we hit traffic in Los Angeles.

When planning out these itineraries, we make sure to book all of our hotels ahead of time and note all points of interest at our stops so that we can enjoy our time to the fullest and not waste time searching for things.

The weather was perfect at all the sites and the temperatures were in the 60s-70s at most locations. The mornings were the coldest in the high 40s and low 50s. Flagstaff was much colder since it lies at approximately 7,000 feet elevation near the mountains.

Although Flagstaff had the coldest temperatures in the high 30s to low 50s, we still didn’t feel like it was bitterly cold. We dressed in layers and wore our light puffer coats and felt very comfortable walking around everywhere.

We had a great mix of visiting both the city and nature on this road trip. As much as we enjoy exploring big cities, we both seem to favor exploring the great outdoors more. This was our second cross-country road trip together within the past two years and we hope to make it a yearly tradition.

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