I’ve never been very goal-oriented; in fact, I wrote in one college admissions essay: “in place of [goals], I have a rule. I just work as hard as I can at everything I do, and I figure that’ll let me do anything I want.”

In retrospect, mentioning that to an admissions officer is probably about as bright as arguing with a interviewer about why I don’t have two personal heroes (which I also did, and still got the offer). But it does describe how I’ve run my life so far. The process is more important than the outcome, since good processes theoretically yield good outcomes.

When COVID started in March of 2020, a coworker said (and I’m paraphrasing) that disruptive events create as many opportunities as they eliminate. I’m no stranger to taking the opportunities that most people would describe as “good” when they come along. If you’re as lucky and as privileged as I am (awkward but true), then COVID must have silver linings. Like what?

For example, being able to escape the San Francisco Bay Area. Doubly so because I was able to maintain my Bay Area salary. Triply so because when we leave here for our final destination post-COVID, when vaccines are plentiful (ha!) and life is “normal” (double ha!), that my partner will be between jobs and we can take a vacation blissfully unconstrained by the realities of her draconian corporate vacation policies as a nurse.

That time off is an opportunity, and I’m inspired by this story of someone who took 100 days off work to drive his BMW M235i on a 20,000-mile road trip. (Gee, I feel like my inner 20-year-old is running the show now.)

What would I do with all that time??

American Southwest

This takes me through some of my favorite places: the Mighty Five in Utah and the Owens Valley on the eastern slopes of Sierra Nevadas. (Sorry, Pacific Coast Highway, you’re boring.) It adds some places I’ve never been before, notably the views in the high Rockies and around Monument Valley. I’m so excited about this road trip I even suggested that some of my Camera Team coworkers join me on it! We figured we’d spend a week+ driving out to Colorado, work for a week from Google’s Boulder office, and then finish the return drive after that rest.

Mountaintop Tour

But now that I live in Utah, I’ve been to many of those American Southwest places. A better trip might focus on the novelty and beauty of the high Rockies alone by driving all of the jaw-dropping and adrenaline-inducing mountaintop roads. I’d love to take my turbo-powered car up the Million Dollar Highway, Peak-to-Peak Byway, and Top Of The Rockies Byways, among others. Of course, I’ll have to time it carefully to avoid winter closures and especially-dangerous wintery conditions.

Big Sky

For the biggest dose of novelty, though, we could go north – since living in Salt Lake City we too often travel south already to the Mighty Five. And there’s a fair number of things to see North!

Obviously the crown jewels are Glacier and Yellowstone – and maybe Banff if we go more into Canada – but as you move east you find the Beartooth Highway, Mt. Rushmore, and a a number of cave-themed parks and monuments. So many things that’ll probably be well out of reach for a long, long time after we leave Salt Lake City.

Battlefields & History

Speaking of well out of reach, we have a trip through the distant East Coast that is based on – but has a certain Isaac twist – on a family trip I did as a child. This one explores the significant places in American history from its foundation to Independence to its Civil War. Then we sprinkle some national parks and driving roads (can you say Tail of the Dragon?) for good measure.

It’s a good month idling around reading plaques, walking large fields thinking about history, and enjoying the sights and sounds of an entirely different kind of nature than we have either in Seattle where I grew up, in California to which I begrudgingly moved, and in Utah to which I escaped (temporarily).

I’ll have to write a new post after I’ve taken my fabulous trip!