Monday, July 09, 2007

Spontaneous Getaway

Totally unplanned! Totally unthought out! Lacking of any direction! No time line! No route to follow! And the most fun we've ever had!!

Hubby & I took off on a road trip in northern Washington this weekend. It was about as spontaneous as we get. We crossed the border to go down south on Saturday morning just to pick up a package we had shipped there. Nothing unusual about that. We often have stuffed shipped to Oroville because we live right on the border so its easy to pick up. (For those shipments that don't ship to Canada) And I was hoping we might 'go for a drive' so I took my camera with me as usual.

Well, we decided to go for a drive after all...and then it turned into a road trip that lasted 30 hours!
On a whim, we just said "Let's Go!" and we took off for the south with no place in mind except to just go. I took stock of what was actually IN the car. I had a sweater and a blanket. We were wearing nothing but shorts, t-shirts & flip flops. So, we pulled into a Walmart & bought a couple t-shirts for the next day & new underwear. (Hey, everyone needs new underwear anyways) We checked a road map in the book section of Walmart & chose Leavenworth as our direction to travel. I had always heard that Leavenworth was this adorable 'MUST SEE' Bavarian town so that's where we pointed the car. A few stops along the way & in a couple of hours we were there! And it WAS beautiful. Felt like I was somewhere in the Alps with the 'oom pa pa' music playing & Bavarian buildings everywhere. We walked around for about 2 hours & then we headed on the road again.
This time we pointed west! We figured we might as well head to the ocean! So to Pugeot Sound we drove & ended up in the town of Everett. Drove around for a bit but found no hotels so we head north & finally found one in Mt. Vernon where we stayed for the night!

After a hearty Denny's breakfast, we decided to head back north east through the beautiful North Cascades highway route. And it was BEAUTIFUL. We stopped at several little towns along the way, towns like Concrete, Diablo & Winthrop & at every other 'look-out' stop to take pictures...over 300 pictures.
We had such a fun & relaxing time together, having no deadlines, no route of places we "had to be" and no rush to get to any of them. And if we had been wearing our hiking boots, I think we could have stopped for so many more little hikes along the way.
I have so many more photos to share but they'll have to come out in future blogs! I just wanted to share a glimpse into our spontaneous time away & say "Just Go!" and try a spontaneous unplanned road trip of your own! You never know what you'll find along the way. It could just be your smile & one of the greatest memories you'll have.

So now we're actually going to PLAN a real trip like this. Oh, maybe not the actual stops or destinations, but a road trip in the fall, when the tourists have filtered away and when its not quite so hot. And we can head lazily down to the ocean & down the beautiful Oregon coast. This time, we'll be bringing more than our flip-flops so we can stop at some of these mountain hikes.

9 comments:

  1. Oh Mrs Becks!!!

    Your blog entry makes me just *squee!!!* This is what our past entire vacations have been like, other than the fact we planned ahead to 'not plan' eg: we brought undies and clothes haha! Our little VW Van turns into a gypsy caravan and off we go - pointing the ol girl onto the road in a direction and just going. One time we had to go to a place called Thermopolis just cuz it sounded like a Dr Suess kind of name to me... it was SO worth it, but then you'll have to go there sometime to find out what I mean...
    One summer, waaayyy back when, we had a total of like $600 american dollars for the ENTIRE summer(8 weeks)... we camped for free everywhere, stopped in all small pokey towns, shopped thrift, bought whatever food was on sale... it was a hoot, and I wouldn't trade it for any summer we've had more funds.

    Your pics are amazing.... looking forward to more. Will catch you on hello in a bit, if you're on.

    hugses
    Mrs. Barb

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  2. Nothing -- just nothing -- matches the exuberance that spontaneity infuses into a vacation ... or ANY day, for that matter!

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  3. Beck, sounds like an awesome time! What fun!

    Hubby and I did a bit of a roadtrip for our honeymoon in Hawaii thirteen years ago. Some of the stops we planned but the rest we just hopped in our convertible and discovered some little island treasures, hiked the Na Pali coast, kayaked into the Hanalai Bay, and wound our way across a switch-back road with majestic waterfalls on one side and sheer cliffs on the other.

    We did the same thing one year in Texas and then again down the cost of California.

    Looking forward to some more pics from your trip! Three hundred, eh? Wow! Exciting!

    You know, I just finished reading an e-devotional from Joni this morning about "going Home". Heaven is going to be one big awesome place to explore! And don't get me started about when Heaven and Earth one day merge and are made new - whew!

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  4. Next time, take me with you! I won't be any trouble. Really.

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  5. Sems you had a good time, the pictures are telling.

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  6. Wow...sounds like my kind of holiday...I love road tripping - and of course, buying new underwear!!!

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  7. Anonymous10:35 PM

    You are amazing! I would love to get away and just drive without any deadlines or destination! My day will come I'm sure! Love the pics...."concrete" intrigues me!
    Mochas, Corn :)

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  8. Becky,
    Oh looks like so much fun. I like taking road trips. We did more of those when we lived in Arkansas. we took a couple when we first moved here but have not done any since really. The place you went look so beautiful. Love your last pic of you. Great picture!! Glad you had a great road trip.
    Janice

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  9. Serendipitous travel, to me, is the only way to go. Love it. Love that you had a great time. Love that route you took.

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