So you’re thinking of going on a trip but you don’t know where to? Well, this is my thought process. Hopefully it will be of some help to you!

Step 1. Close your eyes and imagine yourself somewhere. 

Where were you?

Were you relaxing on the beach with sand between your toes? Could you hear to the waves crash and feel the sun warming your skin? If so, then we know you want to go to the beach.

Were you blown away by a view? Was the earth below you and the white clouds just out of reach? Were trees surrounding you growing thicker as the woods carried on? Maybe you should go to the mountains.

What was that language? You couldn’t make out what the people were saying, but it didn’t scare you. You were lost in a new culture taking in the interesting lives around you. Maybe a new country is calling you.

Were you dwarfed by giants? Buildings shot into the air soaring higher than the last one. Did cars zoom and people bustle? If that’s what you saw, then maybe you should go to a big city.

I always close my eyes and let my mind wander to some far off place. Sometimes my brain wanders to the crashing waves of the beach while other times my brain goes to the hustle and bustle of a metropolis. Once my brain has wandered somewhere, I begin to look for places like that in the real world.

For the sake of the post, let’s say my brain wandered to big trees and mountains.

Step 2. Google “big trees and mountains.”

Sometimes the most random Google searches can be the best Google searches. When I typed in exactly what I wanted to see, “big trees and mountains,” Google provided a wide variety of responses. “Big trees and mountains” is vague enough to allow Google to give you the “best response” as well as others that may not be perfect matches in words, but lead to somewhere great. From here, you have the freedom to click on different websites from places that have big trees and mountains.

Step 3. Image search “big trees and mountains”

I ALWAYS image search! Image searching is a GREAT way to see a lot of information at one time. Say you like this one tree or that one mountain view. If you click the image, it will blow it up and give you a link to the website they got it from. From there, you can see where the tree is that you have clicked on. That will help narrow your choices of location.

Some of the trees shown in this particular Google search are from rather far away. One tree was from Switzerland while others were located in California. Some of the trees were pretty close to me in the Smoky Mountains! But, in my wandering brain, the beach wasn’t too terribly far away…. So where would some big trees be that are close to both mountains AND the beach?

Step 4. Google again. This time Google, “big trees near mountains and beaches.”

Bingo! What did I get here?! More links specifically on big trees that are near the mountains and beaches. And guess where they are!? CALIFORNIA!!!! How perfect is that?! Down a little bit on the page (you can’t see it in the screenshot) was a link about the Avenue of the Giants in the Redwood Forest. In the northwest corner of the state sits a national park full of giant trees. It’s got mountains and isn’t too far from the beach. What a wonderful combination!?

I now know where I want to go! The Redwood National Park in California. 😀

I know that seems like a really simple way to find where you want to go next, but when you have NO idea, I think this is the best option. It allows you to follow your heart as well as do some good research. Once I know where I want to go, the hard part begins. Planning the trip to the new place can be extremely stressful. There are ways to defuse of that stress though! Be looking for a post on that soon!

Hope this helped those of you who want to travel somewhere but can’t seem to pin point exactly where you want to go! 🙂

My family and I took a road trip from Seattle, Washington to San Francisco, California summer 2013. These are some of the pictures from the Redwood National Forest. I love my big trees!! 😉

Ok so this picture is AMAZING! It’s me leaning against a fallen Redwood. The rangers have marked the lines in the tree with FREAKING HISTORICAL EVENTS!!! THAT’S JUST HOW OLD THE THING IS!!! Ha!! I’m such a nerd. The markers of course begin at the middle ring of the tree and go out. This is what they say. Be prepared to be AMAZED.

1000 Vikings discover North America

1096 Oxford University Founded

1160 University of Paris Founded

1218 Genhis Kahn conquers Persia

1368 Ming dynasty begins

1453 Renaissance begins

1486 Printing press invented

1521 Cortex conquers Aztecs

1620 Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock

1773 Boston Tea Party

1850 Humboldt Bay discovered

1928 California State Park system established

THAT TREE WAS 1,000 YEARS OLD Y’ALL AND IT’S NOT EVEN THE OLDEST OR THE BIGGEST IN THE PARK. WTF?!

Oh you know… Trying to be big next to a giant

Looking up at a Redwood

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Check out how big they are in comparison to the people!!

Family inside the tree – Redwood National Forest

My parents next to a giant

Our uncle driving their van through the tree

Just HOW CLOSE we were to the inside wall of the tree

Driving through a tree

You can just barely see my hands over the top. Yes, I climbed in it.

From left to right: Cousins Katie and Emory, Me, Uncle Trey

That’s me curled up inside the root system of a fallen Redwood

Avenue of the Giants – Redwood Forest

Redwood National Forest

Published by Morgan Cantrell

Morgan spends her spare time dreaming about travel and re-reading Harry Potter. She is a public historian by training and a chocoholic by admission. She also suffers from oldest child syndrome. View all posts by Morgan Cantrell