3 Favorite Road Trip Spots So Far
And appreciating the “in between”
I wrote a blog post a while back about “the space between” and this leg of our trip has given another great reason for embracing that “in between” time.
While we have a rough itinerary of our travels, we’ve left a lot of space for whatever comes up, because we know there’s a lot of magic that can appear when you’re open and less focused on one particular outcome.
So far on our trip in just a week we’ve stumbled upon a few amazing spots simply because we were driving, wanted to stop, and looked up what we were near.
While our destinations have been amazing too, our “in betweens” have been just as wonderful in their own way.
On a similar note - Sergey asked me the other day what one personal goal I have for this trip is, and after some reflection I was reminded of one of the interviews my cohost and I did for our upcoming podcast Making the Grade.
Our guest said that one of his biggest successes in life is acknowledging that he HAS successes 😳🤯 how powerful is that? We so often chase the next goal or aspiration without appreciating how much we’ve already achieved.
Yes, you can make any dream come true, I’m a big believer in that.
But what if your goal right now was simply to appreciate the goals you’ve already accomplished?
What if you took the “in between time” to focus on what there is to be grateful for in this very moment, rather than what’s next?
How simple but special would that be?♥️
So that’s my goal for this trip. To appreciate the in between moments, and to be proud of the goals I’ve already achieved- like this one: traveling the country in a camper van I once dreamed about with my little family.
Anyway, below are 3 of the “in between” spots we’ve appreciated so far on this trip as we travel from East to West!
Woodstock Cafe, VA
We stopped in Woodstock, VA on our way from Pennsylvania to Asheville because we needed a place to sleep and needed to fill up our water tank. The volunteer fire department happily filled our tank and was nice enough to recommend Woodstock Cafe to us. We decided to stop in before hitting the road , and couldn’t have been happier with the vibes, the food, and the staff! It’s a hidden gem an a must visit if you’re anywhere near by.
Hungry Mother State Park, VA
One morning we woke up at a Walmart (no surprise there 😆) and decided to hit the road right away. A couple hours in we wanted to give Kona a proper walk, and realized we were close to a town called Marion with a state park. This led us to Hungry Mother State Park which was truly a dream! Hiking trails, a beautiful lake, and a sense of peacefulness all around. We ended up spending the whole day at this magical spot that we’re so glad we left space for.
Johnson City, TN
We were so excited to get to Asheville, NC that we almost powered through a 3 hour drive to get there. Then we decided, what’s the rush? And checked the map to see that we’d be passing through Johnson City TN to get there and. Neither of us had been to Tennessee before so we decided to make a pit stop in this fun city. We were there for less than 24 hours, but we enjoyed our time walking around the city and the park with Kona, and of course eating and drinking. Three spots we visited and enjoyed in our short time in Johnson City were: Yee Haw Brewing Co, White Duck Taco Shop, and Dos Gatos Coffee Bar. We might have gone to the taco shop twice 🤷🏻♀️…
We did make it to our goal of Asheville, and it definitely did not disappoint (it deserves its own blog) but we’re very glad we had the luxury of taking our time to get there and appreciating the in between magic along the way.
If you’re ever in Virginia and Tennessee we definitely recommend the above spots, and no matter where you are in this very moment I definitely suggest to pause and be proud of all you’ve accomplished - the big, the small, and everything in between 🥰
