The Ultimate Pet-Friendly Road Trip

Dogs and road trips go together like peanut butter and jelly. There's nothing quite like feeling the wind in your fur, sniffing all the new scents, and sharing some fantastic new memories along the way.

Now, imagine you're planning a tour of America, but can only visit one pet-friendly attraction in each state. How would you choose a single destination that welcomes pets and speaks to the unique attributes that state has to offer?

That was our challenge this year and, at the half-way point of this 15,000-mile pet-friendly tour of the country, we're having even more fun than we expected! It all started back in February in Carmel, CA, when we took Buster and Ty to the spectacular dog beach for a romp in the surf and some sweet California sunshine.

From there, our route took us across the southern United States, to some of the most memorable and magnificent places this country has to offer. We hiked along the south rim at the Grand Canyon in Arizona, watched the sunset at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, and took the boys on their first canoeing adventure on the Buffalo National River in Arkansas!

We played at one of the biggest off-leash dog parks in the country in Tennessee, cruised down the Natchez Trace in Mississippi, and hit another fantastic dog beach in Florida before starting up the east coast.

You can't help but be immersed in history when visiting places like Magnolia Plantation in South Carolina, the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, and Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. Not only are these stewards preserving our country's heritage, they're doing it in the most beautiful ways and making them accessible -- even to those of us traveling with pets!

Between the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Central Park in Manhattan, and Boston's Freedom Trail, we did a fair amount of urban hiking, and enjoyed thoroughly exploring these national treasures before continuing on to New England.

And what better way to immerse yourself in the culture of New England than by visiting Mystic Seaport, a 19th-century seafaring village replicated on the banks of the Mystic River in Connecticut? To see how the other half lived, we took a stroll along the Cliff Walk in Newport, Rhode Island and admired the "summer cottages" built between 1850 and 1900 by some of the country's wealthiest families.

But, man holds no candle to Mother Nature when it comes to creating real beauty, and Acadia National Park in Maine is one place where you and your dog can fully appreciate her talents.

Acadia was stop #25 of 49 on our tour, and there's still so much to look forward to! From Dog Mountain in Vermont, to Mackinac Island in Michigan, to South Dakota's Black Hills, the spectacular Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and ending in Portland, Oregon ... it's possible that the best is yet to come!

For more information on all the attractions we've visited thus far, and those on our upcoming itinerary, please visit our GoPetFriendly.com blog. We hope you'll travel along with us vicariously, and perhaps be inspired to get out and make some #pawsomememories of your own!