Planning.

Carole and I plan our longer vacations meticulously. We don't narrow down our daily activities so that we're stuck to a rigid schedule, but we do make sure of our routes, our campsites and lodging, and our multiple destinations. 

Thus, we've begun the initial planning for our Colorado trip which will take place year after next. Yes, we're going to have many vacations between now and the long Colorado haul, but we're doping out particulars for what will be Carole's retirement celebration-trip to the state of so many 14K-foot summits.

Carole has never visited Colorado. I went in 2012 and have never quite gotten the scenery out of my mind. We want to spend a lot of our time in and around Rocky Mountain National Park, but we've already discovered that reserving a good campsite there might be a problem. We're targeting our vacation for September to coincide with the Fall aspen leaves, so it'll probably be a little easier than booking a site in summer, but you never know. Fortunately, Colorado has a lot of options when it comes to parking your travel trailer in a National Park, National Forest, state park, or BLM campground.

Hopefully, we'll be okay on that count.

The trip will last somewhere between one and two months. It will be, by a good deal, the longest trip we'll have ever taken with our travel trailer as our lodging. We're going to book some train rides (definitely the Durango-Silverton rail), and lots of hiking, some kayaking, and a little shopping.

I'm looking forward to it, and Carole is already excited about this vacation. Hell...she'll be retired before you know it and the trip will be upon us.

On a hike just outside of Durango in 2012. The leaves really were that shade of gold, and the skies truly were so blue they were almost black.

One day in the middle of the Weminuche Wilderness of the San Juan Mountains.

Along the appropriately named Blue Lakes Trail.