I spent some time recently planning my next solo trip. I haven’t been on one for about 2 years and decided it was time to make my own adventure.
I reflected on trips I’ve taken over the years – what I learned, what was hard, what I remember most, what was the most filling. I looked at the similarities between my trips and pulled out pieces of what for me, makes my ideal road trip.
Here’s what I found –
- Having a few novel experiences
- Hiking with a worthwhile destination
- Space to rest and relax
- An opportunity to learn
- A challenge
- Scenic drives
- A Unique Stay
- Small Town Coffee Shops
- Beautiful vistas
That may seem like quite a few things to make it a great trip, but I’d found that often, these can be combined and make the best trips, even if they’re only a few days long!
I’ll give you an example. On a long weekend trip to Palo Duro, Texas I was able to do all of these in under 4 days time.
- We were able to see bison right outside the car window because of where crossed the road in Caprock Canyon State Park. We also drove through the 2nd largest canyon in the United States and it was incredible. These fit in the novel experiences and a scenic drive.
- We hiked the Lighthouse Trail which combined both hiking with something worthwhile at the end, an experience that stretched my comfort zone since it was a longer hike than I’m used to, and had beautiful vistas the entire way.
- We drove into town one afternoon for local coffee and lunch, followed by relaxing at our beautiful Dove’s Rest cabin on the canyon edge while we sat on the front porch chatting the afternoon away.
- I initially heard about this area of Texas from a book, Empire of the Summer Moon, and was also able to learn about the history of the canyon and it’s wildlife and people while we were visiting the parks.
Figuring out what makes my most ideal trip is going to be so helpful as I plan trips in the future. I had Teddy make his list of what makes his ideal trip as well so that we are both able to have meaningful trips together when we travel.
If you’re interested in ideas on how to include any of the 9 qualities above in your trip – stay tuned for a future blog where I’ll share quite a few ideas and my own experiences on each of these!
Your turn.
Go make your own adventure!
