Marty’s photo of the day #3768: When Deb and I traveled the world for my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, I loved all of our adventures. Even so, our least exotic trip, to the top of Canada, always gives me the warmest feelings when I think back about it. That’s because our golden retriever, Kate, and our Labrador retriever, Annie, accompanied us. There was nothing quite like snuggling into a tent with the dogs on a cold night, listening to wolves howl all around us!

That’s one of the reasons I absolutely adored last month’s trip to the American Prairie Reserve with our dog, Nellie. Yes, we got to snuggle into a tent with her on a cold night—this time listening to coyotes, not wolves.

And one thing both trips had in common was all-day-long doggy enthusiasm. As this photo of Nellie on a lonely prairie road demonstrates, “Hurry up Dad! Get back into the car. We have so much more to explore!”