#Andersonepicadventure FAQ: How was the trip?

Family selfie pulling into the driveway

It has been a little over a week since we arrived back home from our trip and things have settled in for the most part. I have resumed my daily work schedule, had to start wearing pants to work last week, always a sign that things are ramping up at work. Tracey and the kids are bleeding out every ounce of time off. They spent part of last week at the Oregon Coast, another portion in Leavenworth WA camping and finishing up the week at Tracey's parents house.

Before I respond to the title of this post, here are some of the stats from our trip (from one of Tracey's posts) and the route that we took:

34 days, 31 states, approximately 8120 miles traveled. Hit the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic, a barrier island, Lake Champlain, and Lake Michigan. Lots of friends and family visited, a service project completed, numerous great cities toured, no natural disasters endured. 

This trip marked the milestone of Tracey and I both traveling to all lower 48 states but more impressively, we have also traveled them together in our 19 years together.

After arriving back home from one of these adventures, we are always asked, "How was it?" After last years trip, as in previous years, I responded with: "Awesome" "Amazing" "We had a great time" and others. As I was responding, I came to find these descriptions feeling almost hollow and not even close to describing how they were or made me feel. I began to really think about how I felt during and after the trip and the words I landed on then hold true after this trip as well. How was our trip you ask? 

It was humbling, inspiring and I feel grateful for the opportunity.

After each trip I feel very humbled. My small world always gets brought into perspective during these trips. I am inspired by the people we see and the places we visit. I am grateful to have the opportunity to travel and experience new things. And the best part of it all? I get to do it all with my family.

Not sure what adventures next summer will bring. I anticipate about January Tracey will come to me with some thoughts. That usually leads into a couple days of her mapping something out and then showing me. I usually need a couple days/weeks to process and get over any doubts I have. By the time I come around, she has everything booked and mapped out. Then the excitement and anticipation begins to build.

 I look forward to seeing what she will come up with and where the next Anderson Epic Adventure might take us.