The Places We've Been...

Every year, Eric and I pick a city that we have never been before and explore!  We do the typical touristy things, I take a million pictures, and we leave the stress at home.  And when we get home, we are completely reconnected.  We spend 4-5 days alone, experiencing and seeing new things together, having no one but each other to depend on, with no distractions.

At first, we started by staying closer to home, then went to bucket-list places after we were married.  For us, It really isn't about the city as it is about spending time alone, away from everyday stuff, and not knowing another soul except each other.  Our priority is to take our time and just enjoy being wherever we are and being together.  We look forward to our trips all year and have decided that they are a marriage-must!

I couldn't have married a more perfect travel buddy.  Eric is always up for anything!  We go at the same pace, like the same sorts of things, love sightseeing, like the same restaurants (most of the time...he's lots more adventurous when it comes to food than I will ever be), and he doesn't even mind that my camera is attached to my forehead the entire time.

I am a meticulous planner, you might say a perfectionist, so I'm in charge of planning our trips.  This is the exact opposite of my husband.  He's easy-going and always up for anything!  He allows me to be neurotic and actually prefers that I plan everything.  *Gosh, I love him!*  
Our destination depends on affordability and whatever we're feeling at the time we start planning.  A few times, our trips were decided by circumstance.  Weddings have taken us to two of the cities we've been to and Eric's Army training have taken us to two other cities.  Hey, we gladly use any opportunity to get out of town!

Eric is a genius at reading maps and subway schedules!  He will have our entire route figured out before we leave our hotel room in the morning, and since I couldn't tell you north from south, his skills are essential!  My insane planning and his map/subway-reading knack make for a perfect travel pair! 

During our {almost} 7 years together we've been to:

Sturgis Bike Rally & Rapid City, South Dakota:

Mount Rushmore

Estes Park, Colorado:

The Wheel Bar

Panama City Beach, Florida:

On the beach!

Minneapolis, Minnesota:

Minnehaha Park

St. Louis, Missouri:

Budweiser Brewery

St. Louis Arch

Boston, Massachusetts:

The Boston Common 

On the Freedom Trail

Downtown Boston MA.

Seattle, Washington:

The Southern Kitchen- seen on 'Diners, Drive-In's, & Dives.'

The Space Needle

On top of the Space Needle

Washington, D.C:

The Reflecting Pool & Washington Monument.

Washington, DC was a happy surprise!  {a blog post about our trip to D.C is in the works!}  This year I had my hopes set on San Francisco, CA, but with Eric gone for 4 months on the opposite side of the United States than California, and us moving to Germany a few weeks after that, we assumed that our trip this year would be somewhere in Europe.  And with Eric being only 2 hours away from D.C I jumped at the chance to plan a trip!  An opportunity to see D.C?!  We'll take it!   

We got married in the middle of my senior year of college, then Eric started graduate school right before our 1st wedding anniversary, so we've never gone on an actual honeymoon.  When we get back to the states and are a few years down Eric's career path, I'll start planning our honeymoon (even though Eric would like to think that our yearly trips make up for not having one).  But for now, we are having a blast taking our yearly trips and recommend it for all couples!  We can't wait to explore Europe!!!