Vacation Planning--Ready for Big Trip 2015

Hi Everyone! Guess what! We're almost through with one of the most depressing months of the year! I've never been a fan of January.  It's so cold, you know?! At least up here in D.C. it is.  And it's still really dark around here, even though the days are technically getting longer now that we've passed the winter solstice.  I won't be pleased until the sun is setting AFTER I leave work.  

And then there are all those goals and resolutions we want to set at the beginning of the year in the most depressing month. I'm just over all the "fresh start" and "new year, new you" headlines.  I read this recently:  "There's nothing special about January."  Ain't that the truth.  

I guess the one thing I like about January is that it's usually the time that Ben and I plan our annual vacations!  Last year I posted about how I'm pretty spoiled when it comes to vacations.  Some people never take a vacation, either because they don't have the means to or because they don't desire to take one.  And other people, always take a vacation.  I'm the latter.  Traveling is the one thing that Ben and I like to invest in.  We'll go months without buying new shoes or underwear if it means we get to travel somewhere nice for at least a week.  

At the beginning of each year, and sometimes a little earlier, Ben and I get together and talk about what place we want to "invest" our money in.  Our annual trips started in 2010, with Puerto Rico.  Then Hawaii, Miami and the Florida Keys, Sedona and the Grand Canyon after our wedding, and then for our honeymoon, Greece. 

Because we went to Europe last year and hope to go again in two years, we agreed that this year's vacation should be a bit scaled back. We figured we could cut our European travel budget in half by going somewhere in the U.S., Caribbean or Latin America. 




Once we decided on what side of the world we would stay, we started pinpointing places where we could reasonably see ourselves going.  Some of the places we circled through included: 

• California and Yosemite National Park: one of my best friends just moved out to L.A. and since Ben and I are Nat. Park fans we figured a trip out west would be a great way to knock out two goals (visiting my friend and getting a Yosemite park stamp).
• Hawaii, again:  except we would go to a different island instead of Maui, which we already visited.  Plus, one of Ben's friends moved there last summer.
• A Mexican cruise with my family:  my parents and sisters are cruising to Cozumel, Mexico for one week.  But Ben and I wondered if his intense motion sickness could handle the journey (Ben didn't talk for the entire speed-ferry ride from Naxos to Santorini in Greece).
• Costa Rica and Jamaica:  Ben and I aren't "beach vacation" people.  But we still considered these because we've never been to either of these places, and they would be within our budget.

After considering ALL OF THIS, we settled on:

MONTANA AND CANADA

   

Specifically Ben and I are going to Glacier National Park in Montana, and Banff and Jasper National Parks in Canada.  These are both places that we have never ever been.  

So that's where we're going!  I'll explain WHY we're going there in a future post!  Have you been to Montana or Canada before?  Have you made your annual vacation plans yet?