I booked a trip to Denver for a couple reasons: 1. Was looking for a domestic location since the husband won’t let us travel internationally this year (Ensenada on the cruise does not count), and I wanted to avoid LAX as much as possible. Burbank had one way tickets to Denver for $26! Was able to pay and get it credited with Capital One Points. 2. Denver International just opened a new Capital One Lounge…I love lounge hopping 🙂 I was able to use the travel credit for our ACE car rental, flights back using Southwest points, and 2 nights in Golden and 2 nights in Denver using my free nights with the IHG credit card. Both hotel had free parking and breakfast.

Denver is known to have a lot of outdoors activities. I chose Golden since it was close to hiking trails. We hiked the Red Rocks Park & Amphitheater and Green Mountain on separate days. We went to Meow Wolf and explored both downtowns in Golden and Denver (Golden by far was better). I am writing all of this at the Denver International Airport in the Capital One Lounge, loving all the food and drinks at my fingertips. As our trip is starting to wrap up, I gotta ask…do I actually like traveling?

Getting to a destination can be simply described as a pain: packing, getting to the airport, finding transportation whether by public means or a rental car, getting to your hotel, figuring out food and experience options in said destination, etc. What is it that makes me want to go thru all this hassle to hike (when I am not the best at remembering locations) and eating at Thai, Mediterranean, Hawaiian restaurants, etc. where I could probably find similar to better quality establishments in SoCal. The first day we arrived, it was also windy and raining. Inclement weather can put a damper on plans as things are ultimately not under your control. So…what makes me want to do this?

Maybe it is partially that I want to say that I’ve traveled to various places, to have a goal to see different sights, to be able to travel on the cheap and find great deals on flights, activities, food, rental cars, and hotels…I know that ultimately, all these things aren’t important. God won’t be impressed by my freebie finding and wanderlust adventures. What matters is how I can glorify him in my heart, words, and actions. I don’t think traveling is bad and will probably still wanna go to places once in a while. Maybe it’ll be more fun for both Anson and I if I let us recover before the next time 🙂