Go Where the Wind Takes Us

After my mom died I wanted to get away.

I told Brad we were going on vacation.
A good one.
Despite the fact that we DON’T have money and that we DO have 4 small children.
I wanted sun, sandy beaches and pina colodas. We looked into a cruise first. Did you know you can’t have more than 4 people in a room? AND if you have more than 4 people in your family an adult has to be in each room. So Brad and I would have to be in separate rooms (boo) and the vacation costs would double!
That’s ‘Big Family’ discrimination. (In my humble opinion.)
Anyway, I didn’t mind spending some money we didn’t have on a vay-cay, but mama also wants new windows, so we started looking for something else.
How about flying somewhere totally new and different? … Hawaii… Florida… maybe New York! Um… did you know plane tickets are effin’ expensive for 6 people? And there is the cost of a hotel. (Does it stress anyone else picking out a hotel you’ve never seen??) AND renting a car.
Eeeep!
It’s hard to justify the cost of a memory-filled-vacation when half the vacationers probably won’t remember the trip. I was ready to throw in the towel, but Brad insisted our family needed to regroup.
He was right.
We knew we wouldn’t be on a luxury boat or flying to a exotic destination.
So where would we go?
Mmmm…I want to be in the middle of nature.
I want my brain to be in awe of God.
Maybe a bit off the grid… with animals!
Yeah… nature, far away, and wild animals.
Yellowstone, yo!
We wanted to make new memories with our little family.
Camping in Yellowstone!
Now I love camping, but let’s be real – camping isn’t a vacation for a mom.
It’s like a negative vacation.
Camping is an anti-vacation for a mom of small children.
How about an RV?
I threw up this comment on FB…And it’s funny, because I wasn’t trying to be funny.
I was totally serious.
And it turns out, our friend’s mom has an RV that she rents out to friends. A nice RV. With a fridge and potty. And for a deal. Yes, please!
Our cup overflows.We started planning our route and it turned out we would be able to visit at a lot of our out-of-town friends and family. The trip started to magically fall into place. That was amazing.
We were excited to visit people but the main purpose of this mission… I mean vacation… was to be together with each other.
To regroup.
Refresh.
We wouldn’t be tied down to any set plans or visits and we wouldn’t ever feel rushed or pressured to be in any certain location. We took one day, sometimes one hour, at a time and did whatever we wanted. We deemed this vacation the ‘go where the wind takes us’ vacation. We pulled off the road for anything we thought looked neat, we called friends/family a day (maybe an hour) before we would be near them to see if they were free. If they weren’t that was fine, if they were, then we would meet for a snack, a meal or a visit.
Maybe stay in their house or in their driveway.
Laundry, showers and hugs goodbye.
Sigh.It was a phenomenal trip!
I’m going to blog about it at length, just in case you want to do a trip too.
(I’ll break it up with the start of our house tour and other fun stuff too!)
But here are the Cliff’s Notes of our route: Orange County CA – St. George UT – Colorado Springs CO – Denver CO – Cody WY – Yellowstone National Park WY – Boise ID – Portland OR – Eureka CA – Auburn CA – and home to the OC again!
That’s 9 states. (the route takes you through the corners of MT and AZ)
13 nights.
4,000 miles.
A million memories!!!

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Kara Noel Lawson

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