Year in Review: Travel

I didn’t take any major trips this year—the farthest I got was California, but since I’m from there it wasn’t all that exciting. I mean, except for my sister getting married. That part was exciting.

I was sort of regretting that I didn't take any big trips. After all, I am young and single and untethered, and isn't this the time of life when I am supposed to be seeing the world? Instead I watched friends travel to Mexico, Brazil, Israel, China, London, while every one of my "we are absolutely going to do this because these things always fall through" plans fell through even before they could reach the planning stages. And even though I have been setting money aside for a trip abroad (Italy? The UK?), and have connections in Maine, Minneapolis, Nashville, Seattle, D.C., Texas, New York City, there is a part of me that fears that yet another year is going to pass me by. Somehow I have trouble making my plans a reality.

And yet as I looked back on the past year, I realized that it hadn't really been a lost year at all. It may not have been as glamorous on the surface, but I did an amazing amount of exploring and experiencing in my own neck of the woods. I made a few trips to Frankenmuth, took several hikes in the Waterloo/Pinckney area just west of Ann Arbor, and went canoeing on the Huron River. I toured Mackinac Island (again), camped in northern Michigan, saw Sleeping Bear Dunes. I went English country dancing in Lansing, finally went people-watching at Top of the Park, saw a local artist perform at the art fair, served as a youth counselor up in Auburn Hills, and experienced the Woodward Dream Cruise for the first time since I came out here. I had cider and donuts at two different cider mills, tagged along on a number culinary expeditions in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area, took a Zingerman’s Tour de Food, and attended many GSNO events at local food and drink venues. I went to a Tigers game, albeit as a halfhearted Dodgers fan, and then to a Pistons game as a fullhearted Jazz fan, having learned my lesson about split loyalties. I ventured into downtown Detroit and rode the People Mover with my parents, then ventured into Detroit again to see the Motown Museum, then ventured in a third time with a proper tour guide, and made one final venture for the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot. I even extended my radius slightly beyond Michigan with a weekend trip to Chicago, two trips to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, and a spontaneous road trip to Columbus.



I do still plan to be a little more ambitious this year. But when it comes down to it, as fun as it is to see new places, it's less about the places then the people you're with. And for sticking to just a few hundred miles from home this year, I think I did pretty well.