We get this question often – what exactly do you do all day on your road trip? What’s a typical day look like? Excellent question, and honestly it varies from day to day and area to area. But here I’ll break down some examples for you.
Tag: Life (page 1 of 2)
Hey Marmot, you’ve got something in your teeth! 😉
How on Earth is it July already?! We’ve been on the road for 4 months now, and still loving every minute … okay maybe not loving it when the rain’s been pouring on us for a bit, but we will take some rain if it means lovely waterfalls, rainbows and bright sunny days come afterwards! We are now embarking on the part of the trip that I have eagerly anticipated the most – Alaska! But for now, here is the tally of facts and figures from the last month – June 10th through July 10th:
I love kids with a passion I usually reserve for hot cheese, miniature chairs, and Prince concerts, but I feel no stress to reproduce simply because of a fear of withering eggs. – Olivia Wilde
We get the kids question A LOT and I love this quote from Olivia – she captures the sentiment pretty well if you ask me. With lots and lots and lots of talk about biological clocks and a woman’s age and fertility [which oftentimes comes up with near or perfect strangers, never ceasing to boggle the mind], can we just all agree that we are collectively tired of talking about it?! The way the conversation almost always goes for me is this: Are you married? [yes.] Do you have kids? [no.] How long have you been married? [3.5 years] How old are you? [Oh, early thirties.] When are you going to have kids? [Not sure – vague next few years reference.] Don’t worry, you have time. [Ok, thanks perfect stranger for that reassurance] or Oh, if you want to have more than one, you should think about getting started – you never know how long it will take [stranger then launches into stories about all the people they know who have had fertility issues].
Here are some recent Instagram snaps from @thepursuitof_life! If you aren’t following along and would like to see more of our day-to-day wanderings, head on over to Instagram to follow!
Well we have officially been on the road for 100 days! Well a couple more than that by now. Our 100th day fell on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and we spent the day sea kayaking around San Juan Island in very windy seas but beautiful sunny weather, searching the horizon for signs of Orcas or other whales or dolphins. We didn’t see any whales unfortunately, but spotted a number of Bald Eagles, including some mating activity, and had a lovely time exploring the western coast of San Juan Island, and getting a workout in to boot.
So, as we celebrate this milestone of 100 days into this grand adventure, here are some random thoughts from me.
We have affectionately named her Magellan, or Gelly for short!
So how did we end up choosing this camper over all the other options – tents, RVs, fifth wheels? Camping and roadtripping continues to grow in popularity, so there are lots of options to choose from, but when we focused on our budget, our must have features, where we would be traveling and what kind of experience we were looking for, the Treeline Teardrop Camper was the perfect option for us. Here’s why and how we came to the decision.
The Wave at Coyote Buttes, Northern Arizona
Another month on the road! Here is the tally of facts and figures for our roadtrip as of May 3rd (a few days over the month mark!):
I woke up like this
We’ve all heard it from someone at some point – wow, you’re looking a little tired today. Sometimes meant with good will, sometimes with a little malicious intent, it is just not something that you should ever say to someone. No matter how good the intent. And here are 6 reasons why.
- It isn’t helpful. Nobody can immediately turn themselves into someone who looks chipper, fresh faced and well rested. If they look tired, it will take a solid 8+ hours of sleep and probably many other things, including stress relief, exercise and a hot bath, to not look tired anymore.
- It will always be taken with offense. Even the most well intentioned mention that someone looks tired will be taken as a slap in the face. Doesn’t matter the tone, who says it to you, or what the context is, nobody ever wants to hear that.
- That person probably IS tired and probably for a very good reason that they probably do not want to talk about. If he or she wanted to talk about it, tired person would initiate the conversation, and then you can be helpful. It is a very different thing for someone to come to you and say – oh my word, I am SO tired! That is an open door for you to say, oh dear, perhaps you should try to get some rest tonight. I’ll do X for you, or why don’t you sleep in tomorrow and I’ll handle Y so that you can catch up on your needed rest? That is friendly and helpful and appreciated. But it was initiated by tired person, not by you.
- There are far more effective and kind ways to express concern. In the rare event that you are actually concerned about someone looking tired or worn down, there are any number of more effective and compassionate ways to express this concern. [And let’s be honest, most of the time this is a phrase uttered out of bored observation or mean-spiritedness. Shame on you if that’s the case]. For instance: a simple how are you doing today would suffice. Or how about sharing some experiences of your own lately to relate to the person who looks tired, such as: this week has been so intense around here, these late nights at the office are killer and I’m exhausted – how are you holding up?. Misery loves company and starting a conversation that you are in the same boat as the tired looking person will be much more helpful than an attack on how they look that day.
- Nobody looks good tired, so you are telling someone that they look like sh*t. It is always a bad thing when someone tells you that you look tired. It means that your skin is sagging, you’ve got bags or dark circles under your eyes, you aren’t focused, etc., etc. Looking tired means that you simply are not looking your best, and someone telling you that you don’t look your best is not helpful (see #1 above). Nobody reacts well to being told they look like sh*t, so you are not going to get through any concerns that you have, if they are genuine.
- It isn’t nice. All of this is to say that telling someone they look tired simply isn’t nice. Don’t be a jerk.
Excellent question. If you’ve decided to take some time off from work to do something different for a bit, how do you begin to decide what to do? For us it was a long time of what ifs and how abouts and that sounds interestings. One hears from time to time about those people who just quit their jobs, sell their belongings, and travel the world. Actually one often reads about them in a magazine or newspaper or blog. I certainly have – in fact I usually print those stories out and put them on my desk amidst the stacks and stacks and stacks of papers, intending to read up on these fascinating people if only I could find the time.
And then about a year ago, I said to Ryan – no, really, why not?! And that started a semi-serious conversation about whether we could actually take some time off.
MAY THE WIND UNDER YOUR WINGS BEAR YOU WHERE THE SUN SAILS AND THE MOON WALKS. – Tolkien
We had the most amazing send off for our big road trip a couple of Saturdays ago. My parents flew in from Florida and co-hosted a camping- and fishing-themed send off for us with our neighbor besties Eric and Liz. It was the perfect way to embark on this great adventure and reminded us how lucky we are to have such a wonderful community in San Francisco.