Travel · Everyday Moments
The Best Part of Our RV Trip Wasn’t Planned
The moments that stayed with me most weren’t on the itinerary. They were the simple spaces where my kids could just be kids.
When we planned our first RV trip, I spent months researching.
Campgrounds.
National parks.
Scenic drives.
Accessible stops.
Places to explore.
Like every trip we take, I planned our days intentionally. Some were centered around incredible destinations, while others were left mostly open so we could settle into RV life, explore the campground, and simply enjoy wherever we happened to be.
I hoped we’d make memories we’d never forget.
And we absolutely did.
Even though we’ve only been home a few weeks, what’s surprised me most is that the memories I keep coming back to aren’t the ones I spent hours planning…or maybe weeks. 😅
They aren’t the famous overlooks or the bucket-list destinations.
They’re the moments in between.
Exploring a trail behind our campground and stopping to toss pebbles into the river.
Covering our campsite with sidewalk chalk.
Blowing bubbles just because we had time.
Building campfires and roasting s’mores until it was way past bedtime.
Looking through binoculars to see what we could spot in the distance.
Watching my four-year-old wander around our campsite, happily picking flowers for no reason other than he wanted to.
None of those moments cost anything.
None of them were on an itinerary.
And yet they’re some of the memories that have stayed with me most.
One of the things that surprised me most was how little anyone asked for a screen.
Without really trying, my kids traded tablets for binoculars, chalk, bubbles, trails, and whatever adventure they could invent next.
They weren’t looking for someone to entertain them.
They were simply being kids, and honestly, just watching them was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip!
It reinforced a question I’d been asking myself for years.
Have we become so good at creating opportunities for our kids that we’ve forgotten to leave room for childhood itself?
Not because sports, lessons, camps, and activities are bad. Some of our favorite memories have come from them too. I actually think they can be a really great part of childhood.
It just made me wonder…have we become so good at creating opportunities for our kids that we’ve forgotten to leave room for childhood itself?
Somewhere along our RV trip, I realized I was seeing something I’d been wondering about for years.
Childhood doesn’t always need more.
Sometimes it simply needs room.
Room to notice.
Room to explore.
Room to wonder.
Room to create games no adult could have planned.
Room to follow curiosity instead of a schedule.
Our kids didn’t become different children on that trip.
They simply had more opportunities to be themselves.
Ever since we’ve been home, this is the part of the trip I keep coming back to.
Not the places we visited.
Not even the incredible scenery.
But the reminder that some of childhood’s greatest gifts don’t come from the next attraction.
They come from having the time and space to let curiosity lead the way.
If you’d told me a year ago that we’d already be planning another RV trip, I would’ve laughed…but I’ll save that story for another post! We’ve been home less than a month, and we’re already dreaming about where we’ll go next because yes…I’d absolutely love to do it again!
But even more than that, I want to recreate the feeling we found there.
The feeling of watching my kids simply be kids.
Watching them explore.
Watching them imagine.
Watching them discover.
Watching them become completely absorbed in the world around them.
If we can bring even a little of that feeling into our everyday life, I think we’ll all be better for it.
With love,
Michaela