Not every trip in retirement has to involve a passport. Sometimes, it’s just a few days with people you love and a quick change of scenery.
This week’s adventure started with a very generous gift from my best friend: airline miles.
So I took a short flight to Irvine to spend three days with her and meet the newest member of her household, a sweet longhair chihuahua mix named Nova.
Three days of catching up, laughing, eating, drinking, floating in the pool, and doing what best friends do best: absolutely nothing particularly productive.
It was wonderful.
There is something different about time with your best friend. You don’t need an itinerary or to see the sights. You don’t even have to finish a sentence because they already know where you’re going with it.
Eventually, though, I had to head home, but just long enough to unpack, do laundry, and repack.
The next morning, Shawn and I drove up to Flagstaff to see our oldest daughter, who is doing her Masters degree and teaching at NAU. We had a nice lunch and catchup with her before heading down the very curvy 89A highway to Oak Creek Canyon.
And when I say curvy, I mean hold onto your lunch. But the payoff is worth it.
We were headed to one of our favorite places in Arizona: Orchard Canyon on Oak Creek.
This was our second time there in the last month. Last time we went with Shawn’s brother and his wife. This time it was just the two of us, and we stayed for two nights in our favorite cabin, where almost immediately we went into full relaxation mode.
No schedule. No sightseeing list. Just each other.
We even brought a new board game where we had to land a plane together successfully, and managed to have fun and remain married afterwards. 😂
And of course there were the deer.
The cabins sit right in the middle of an orchard, and the deer apparently consider it their personal dining room. Usually around sunrise and sunset, they wander down from the forest to munch on the apples, grapes, and grass right outside our front door, completely unconcerned about us watching them.
It’s easily our favorite part.
There’s something about sitting outside your cabin in our rocking camp chairs, cocktails in hand, watching the sun set behind the canyon walls, while deer graze a few feet away that makes us feel like we’ve escaped somewhere much farther than a couple of hours from home
It doesn’t always have to be a Big Trip.
Sometimes it’s a plane ticket from your best friend, three days of catching up, a daughter in Flagstaff, a winding mountain road, two nights in a cabin, cocktails, board games, good food, and deer in the front yard.
No passports required.
In the spirit of spending time with each of our kids before our next Big Trip, which is coming up soon, we’re heading back up to Flagstaff next week to see our youngest daughter, who’s a Junior at NAU.
Too bad we don’t collect frequent flyer miles from road trips.