I'm Home.

I'm home, and feeling really really really really great.

Really great.

Our trip was amazing. It was just really perfect, and I am so glad we went. My Partner In Crime, Obsessive Over-Planning, and I have won big this time. Victory was ours. But before I tell you alllllll about the trip, I wanted to talk more about some other stuff.

First, this trip was great in that I have returned home feeling very confident in the abilities that is the team of BF and I. We did lots of things and arrived on time, we didn't run out of money or get terribly lost in big cities (well, bigger than we are used to) and navigated 1500 miles of road in a rental car, and did it all without breaking up or (me) crying or any sort of theatrics. This was a big test for us, and I am very pleased to report that we passed. It's nice to know that you can share the familiarities of every day life with someone, while also being able to see and do new things without falling apart. I take serious comfort in this.

Second, going away really showed me what a great life I have right here. I needed that. I was getting into a seriously uninspired summer funk that I think was perfectly mirrored by this dreadful shell of a blog the last month or two. Yes, I have been having summer fun, but I have also not been writing, creating, photographing...really doing anything of interest. I think familiarity just began to breed all sorts of contempt. But towards the end of the trip, i was really longing for salt marshes, floppy dog ears, kitty moustaches- even my job. That also made me resolve to try to stay in the headspace that you are in the first few days home- delighting in the familiar, the things you took for granted.

Third, I want more. I want more travel, more new things to see and do, a better camera with which to capture it all. And, we want a Westfalia van. Badly. After seeing them in camping action and talking with some very enthusiastic owners, this is a sweet little dream that could be reality one day. It was nice to pass the time in the car talking about saving for one, and the things we could see and what we could do if we had one. I love feeling inspired and motivated.

And finally- fourthly, I learned a good lesson about myself. I learned that I need to be more fully present in the Here and Now. I have a tendency to live in Remember Whens and In the Futures. That doesn't leave a lot of room for enjoying what is right in front of me at that very moment. Seeing such a stunning part of the country forced me to do just that. I must enjoy what is here now.

Painstaking retelling of the trip to begin tomorrow!