THE Trip

Eleven years ago I turned a major ‘mental corner’ in my thinking about travel.   I travelled solo to London for a week of sightseeing and then on to the Umbria area of Italy for two weeks at a converted monastery for an intensive session of al fresco watercolor painting with a small group of like-minded souls.  A few short months later, the events of 9/11 left an open spot on a program in Singapore for a replacement speaker.   While both journeys were very different in many ways, they both were put together relatively quickly.  From this, I learned that I could go forth into the world and enjoy traveling without having “all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed” for every minute of the time.

Shortly after those trips, my husband - Dennis - entered my life and we have done many wonderful trips together.  On our cruises, we always tag on extra time at our starting and ending points to see the country on our own.  When visiting my family in the East on either the northern or southern coasts, we have cruised through many nearby states learning about small towns, state or national parks, and metropolitan areas with museums.  Most of these trips have had some structure in their planning with a couple excursions scheduled very carefully.

In less than 48 hours on August 30^th, Dennis and I will take off on a road trip.   It differs in two key ways from prior outings in that (1) it is by far the longest at approximately 35 days and (2) it is the least scheduled trip we have ever undertaken.  True, we have objectives that we want to see as identified by the pins in the map... but not a specific or set timetable for the journey.  

Our only planned reservations are a concession to possible crowds over the Labor Day Weekend as we head through the Northern California wine country.  Beyond that point, our route heading north is pretty well defined by there being only one road  to follow as we drive the Pacific coastline starting at Eureka, California, up through both Oregon and Washington, and then, cross into Victoria, British Columbia.  The return trip offers several alternatives on a more inland path once we start south in Bellingham, Washington.  

 

I plan to write about our adventures and share photos in my blog as we move along this journey...testing new ways of traveling...learning about an area of the country we are not familiar with...and staying present with the environment around us.  

 While I don’t feel quite like Marco Polo heading off across the Asian continent, this trip is filled with options and opportunities.