I don’t feel like I travel a ton, mostly because there is a never ending list of places that I long to go. My house would disagree and longs for me to stay home long enough to get caught back up on all the laundry, dishes, yard work and so on. Luckily for me, my house isn’t a “smart” house and doesn’t talk so I just keep booking our next trip. I have places like Yellowstone and Grand Tetons that I want to “swing by” if we are within 5 hours of it and find it hard to not make it there if we are that close. I have other places like Alaska that I have never been to but feel like I need at least and entire month to go explore so I keep putting it off. The point is, I’m always planning. or planning to plan, our next adventure. So, we do travel more than the average family. My kids sort of don’t think they are as lucky as I think they are but they have been a lot of places most kids their ages haven’t. I hope that someday they find the value in it and appreciate all the long hours in the car.
We don’t travel first class. We try to camp almost everywhere we go. It’s almost always a road trip and rarely a flight. I don’t have a fear of flying but i do have a very real fear of missing something super awesome along the trip that we wont see high in the air. My husband is a great team player and drives everywhere we go, he knows I don’t love it and so he willingly and graciously takes the wheel. . That means I get shotgun on some of the best tours in the world. When I grow up I dream of having one of those fancy RV’s and just taking off with no time constraints. I want all the time in world to just see it all.
The world is so full of unique and amazing things. This image for example, I took it and didn’t love it. I thought it was totally missing something, maybe it is. I didn’t fall in love with Saguaro National Park while we were there. In fact I recall saying I probably wouldn’t put it on my “if we are within 5 hours” list. We saw it, it was interesting for a minute but that was good for me. However, the more I look at this and other image from our trip, the more I want to go back and think this image is exactly what I saw there. The sunsets were amazing and the cactus were intense. I’m a huge wildlife fan so I sort of travel to places that I know I have a good shot of seeing something wild. We didn’t see a whole lot of animals and my goal to see a javelina just didn’t pan out. I was super disappointed. When we went, we mostly just saw the wild wild west….so dry and so hot. I think that i misjudged it a bit.
I think I’ve learned ( or I’m at least in the process of learning ) a little, to stop expecting things to be anything and just hit the road with open eyes and ears and take in whatever it is that I can from each trip. I want to see the cactus and the ocean. I want to see snow and sand, birds and fish. I want to hear the river and feel the sun. I want to smell the pine trees or the blossoms and I want to be able to bring all those things back and share them with everyone.
I’m beyond blessed that I live where I can get to 3 different national parks if I drive 3 hours or less in a different direction. I have state parks all around me and basically a never ending supply of outdoor activities to keep me going. You may not be so lucky. So If you can’t take a vacation today, or don’t know where to start planning for your next adventure, know that I am here doing lots of ground work for you. I will be posting, hoping to inspire you to take some time to get out and explore nature. I hope my adventures lead to your adventures and that we can see the beauty that surrounds us everywhere.
Do you have a bucket list of places your would love to go? Are you planning any upcoming trips that you want to share with me and maybe inspire me? How about any suggestions of places I need to hit? Maybe, you have some tips for my upcoming trip to Rocky Mountain National Park and the other parks in Colorado? I want to hear them all, leave some comments below and lets travel the world together!