As our vacation gets closer and closer, I have to admit something: I am stressing out.
You would think that after planning this trip for more than a year, I would be completely calm, cool, and collected by now. Instead, the closer we get, the more my brain seems to come up with a list of things to worry about, double-check, remember, and prepare for.
But somewhere underneath all of that stress is something much bigger: I am really, really excited.
This isn't just a quick weekend getaway. We're taking a pretty big road trip—three states away from home—and we'll be driving through two states we've never driven through before. That's one of the things I love most about taking road trips. There's something different about watching the scenery change outside your window and realizing, I've never been here before.
We've been planning this trip for over a year, so it has definitely been one of those things sitting on the horizon that we've been looking forward to for a very long time. And now that it's finally getting close, it feels a little surreal that the planning is about to turn into the actual trip.
One of the funnier parts of this adventure is that we'll even be about 15 minutes east of our hotel and suddenly find ourselves in another state—because, of course, we're going to visit a casino while we're there. Apparently, when you take a road trip, you might as well collect a few state lines along the way!
And honestly, I'm really starting to appreciate these road trips we've been taking.
For a long time, flying seemed like the obvious choice for a vacation. Get on a plane, get where you're going quickly, and start enjoying the destination. And there is definitely something to be said for that.
But driving has given us something flying can't.
We're getting to see more of the country together.
We get to take the roads we've never traveled, stop at places we would have otherwise flown right over, discover little towns, see the scenery change, and—perhaps most importantly for us—eat at places we would never have had the opportunity to visit if we were flying.
Some of our favorite parts of these trips aren't necessarily the big destination moments. Sometimes it's the random restaurant we found along the way. Sometimes it's a roadside stop. Sometimes it's simply looking at each other and saying, "We've never been here before."
There is something really special about exploring the country together, one highway at a time.
So yes, I'm stressed.
There are still things to get done. There are details to figure out. There are probably going to be moments when I wonder why I thought planning a giant road trip was a good idea.
But I'm trying to remind myself that the stress is temporary. The memories won't be.
In a few weeks, all of this planning will be behind us. We'll be in the car, heading toward an adventure we've been anticipating for more than a year. We'll cross state lines, drive roads we've never seen, find new places to eat, explore somewhere new, and probably take approximately a million pictures along the way.
And that's the bright side I'm choosing to focus on.
Instead of thinking about everything that still needs to be done, I'm trying to think about everything we're about to experience.
Two new states. New roads. New food. New places. A little gambling. A lot of driving. And plenty of time together.
Maybe that's what I need to remember when the vacation countdown starts making me anxious: we're not just traveling to a destination.
We're taking the long way to somewhere wonderful.
And I can't wait to see what we find along the way.
