The Destination AND the Journey

I wanted somewhere to document road trips and have them sitting somewhere I could come back to. I was also hoping that reframing these drives from “let’s get to our destination” to “let’s go on a journey” would make them more enjoyable:

To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Experience” (1844)

In this case, it would be both since the destination is always a cool spot that I am going on vacation for, even if it is a work trip.

The Map

Instantly I knew that I wanted a map with the route drawn on it with points of interest pinned. No text on the page until you click a spot to learn more about it. Any photos I took would appear too. Thus, the /albums/roadtrips album was born.

• 🗺️ Route: The route follows real roads, using my Google Maps timeline data to copy the route onto OpenStreetMap. Timeline data is pretty neat (if you don’t mind being tracked even more), it provides an exact breadcrumb trail of your location over time.
• 📍 Stops: Every stop is a pin, and tapping one opens a card next to it with a photo (or more) and a couple of sentences. The pin provides more context: what is nearby, the geography, and where it sits along the route. Each photo snapped with my iPhone has GPS coordinates attached to it so I can accurately pin the photos directly to the location with ease. Especially useful if I decide to take a random photo from the road of a Wind Turbine.

Two Trips In

Two so far, Austin to Cinnamon Shore and back. The drive down went inland through small towns. The drive back took the ferry and the causeway.

More to come and I am excited to add more trips! I am starting to think less of a drive to a new place as something I have to do, and more of an exciting way to see and experience new things.