Something I’ve recently decided is that if I ever have kids, we’re taking multiple family trips a year. And these are gonna be trips of all shapes and sizes. Camping, beach lounging, history seeing…I want them to experience all of what our country has to offer.

For some reason, my parents weren’t ever big travel fans. In my 18 years of living with them, we took two family vacations. I look back fondly on them both. But those were the only times I left the state of Missouri, up until I went off to college and started taking road trips (oh, yeah, add Final Fouring to that previous list), going on mission trips, and studying abroad.

I think I’ve decided this because now that I’m an adult, I’m seeing things for the first time that many of my friends experienced when they were in elementary school. I mean, on my recent trip to Philly, I was nerdily excited to see the Liberty Bell. I guess I just hope my kids get their nerdiness out of their system before they hit their 20s.