Going for a Ride

A big part of a vacation for me is the planning. That's why I book flights, trains, buses, car rentals, hotels, and entertainment events up to a year in advance. Once I buy that plane ticket, the vacation begins. I borrow a tour guide of the destination from the library. I search relevant websites as I plot a daily itinerary of the trip. I watch as many videos on the stops as practical to ensure I hit the high points of each location. I create an Excel spreadsheet to detail the expected expenses, enter the hotel addresses, and record the distances and duration of each drive. 

This year, one of the destinations is Colorado, where I will tour the Centennial State in a loop begining and ending in Denver, driving as far northeast as Estes Park, as far northwest as Grand Junction, as far southwest as Mesa Verde National Park, and as far southeast as Alamosa. I planned this exact trip for July 2020, but the pandemic squashed that opportunity. I'll be leaving four years older, perhaps less prepared for the high altitudes, so I am wondering how taxing the hikes will be on my lungs.

The main objective of the trip is to visit national parks: Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado National Monument, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, and Great Sand Dunes National Park. The National Park Service provides America's greatest service to the world, as 318 million people visit its 429 sites across all 50 states. I have always enjoyed and learned from my trips to about a hundred of them.