Who are you?

As my husband and I approach our 25th wedding anniversary, we've decided it's time for a trip. A good one. We had talked about Europe. Or a trip north and then east. I've always wanted to see Nova Scotia. We had also considered flying into San Diego and driving the entire length of the Pacific Coast Highway which sounded like a really awesome vacation, but nothing really spoke to us or felt right. Then early this week, we finally settled on Alaska by cruise ship out of either Seattle or Vancouver and were this close || to booking such a trip, but something was--besides the fact we've never been on a cruise and he's prone to motion sickness--bothering me.

I'd love to see Alaska and its pristine glaciers, but cruising up the Inside Passage and stopping for only a few short hours in a touristy little town is not my idea of sightseeing. As I read review after review about these cruises, it dawned on me that this was not the trip for either one of us.

As a couple, I know us well enough to know that the only trip we could comfortably take is one on four wheels and on our own schedule. Early on Wednesday morning I proposed an alternative to Alaska seen by ship that seemed to ring true for both of us. After work last night, I dusted off one of my virtual books and bought two new ones. It's all over but the planning and come August, we will pile into my little SUV and drive down Interstate 94 to where it actually begins... in Montana. From there, like thousands of others making this trek, we'll find a way into one of the most famous of our National Parks: Yellowstone. According to Mapquest, the park is only 1,600 miles, or 26 hours away from our house in Michigan.

I'm looking forward to spotting a few big ass bears in the wild (none too close up, but I will carry bear spray just in case), waterfalls, geysers, geothermal pastel colored pools, famous presidents carved into mountains, wildflowers I never knew existed, bison, buffalo, coyotes, elk, wolves and the like.

Where the idea of going on the Alaskan cruise was inexplicably giving me fits and felt wrong in more ways than one, I can completely picture the two of us celebrating 25 years together in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

It pays to know yourself and the one you love.