The Side Trip

Rouge River Gorge

You’ve planned your trip. As you execute the schedule that you have created, you find that it leaves you with time to spare.  In fact, you will likely find that throughout the trip, there are time blocks between your “main events”.

What do you do with the extra time?

Enter the “Side Trip”.

 What is a Side Trip? It’s a small trip, from a few hours to a few days, that is embedded in your longer vacation. For a side trip, you keep your base of operation the same and venture out from there. Sometimes the side trip is spontaneous, when you unexpectedly find that you have a few free hours and are able to take in a local attraction. Sometimes you can plan your side trip ahead of time.  There are basically three types of side trips.

The first, and most in depth, takes anywhere from a full day to several days. This type of side trip usually takes some planning to coordinate all of the moving parts.

The last time our multi-gen family took a trip to Maui, there were several members of the group that wanted to visit the World WarII Valor in the Pacific National Monument which includes the USS Arizona Memorial. This is on the neighboring island of Oahu which is about 100 miles away. It is about a forty minute flight. We planned this trip ahead of time and made travel arrangements through the tour company, Viator, to maximize our time. We were up before dawn to catch our flight, and we did not return until late that night. It was fantastic to have the flights, ground transportation and tour coordinated for us so that we could concentrate on packing in all of the adventure the day could hold.

The second type of side trip is the basic day trip.

Our family recently took a trip to Ashland, Oregon to see a play at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The play was on a Friday evening, so we arrived Friday afternoon in plenty of time to see the play.

We didn’t have to be back to work until Monday morning. This left Saturday and a chunk of Sunday before we had to hit the road to be back home.

Since we knew that we would have a free day on Saturday, we planned to visit Crater Lake National Park, which one of our family members had never seen. We knew it would probably be cold, but since we planned ahead, we were able to dress accordingly. As it turned out, it had recently snowed and we were only able to make it to the lodge as the rest of the road was closed.

By planning ahead and adding in this side trip, we got to see Crater Lake beautifully decked out in a fresh snowy blanket, which as it turns out, was one of the highlights of the whole trip.

On the way back down the mountain, my folks mentioned that we should stop at the Rogue River Gorge. They had been to the viewpoint before and remembered it as being beautiful. They were not wrong. This short stroll took less than an hour, and it was spectacular with all of the fall colors. I guess you could say that we added a side trip to our side trip.

On Sunday, we needed to start heading north, but we decided to take a couple of hours on the way out of town, and stop at Weisinger FamilyWinery.

When we arrived, there were a couple of fellows shoveling grape clusters into the press. Their forklift was broken and they had to resort to manual loading. I was able to ask a bunch of questions and learn about their pressing process.

This side trip was shorter than the one on Saturday, but it was enjoyable and added a local touch to the trip.

Whether you have a few hours or a few days leeway in your schedule, take a side trip. These trips will add richness and depth to your overall vacation and you may just discover something wonderfully beautiful.