2025 Travel Season: Texas & The Southcentral

This year, our travel season looks a little different. No month-long road trip. No long-distance national park circuit. No big loop through the West or flight to somewhere new. Instead, 2025 is the year we bring the Travel Season home!

We’re calling it Travel Season 2025: Texas & The Southcentral, a season built on adventure closer to home, mini road trips, state park days, city getaways, sunset cocktails, and dinners at local places we’ve driven past a hundred times but never stopped to try.

It’s a shift we didn’t see coming, born from a new job and a quiet question that changed everything: What if we stopped waiting until we were leaving to explore where we live?

This year is about discovering what’s just a short drive away. It’s about planning the way we always do, with intention, curiosity, and a little bit of wanderlust, and letting that guide us through the cities, trails, restaurants, and roadways of the area we call home. Because we believe Travel Season isn’t just about where you go. It’s about how you live, wherever you are.

So join us as we map out a season of local magic. We’ll be sharing itineraries, mini adventures, favorite finds, scenic routes, great meals, small towns, big views, and all the unexpected joy that comes with seeing a familiar place through fresh eyes. Welcome to Travel Season 2025: Texas & The Southcentral.

Waiting Until You Leave to Explore Where You Live

We don’t know why we do this, but maybe you can relate. We wait to explore where we live… until right before we leave.

There’s nothing like an impending move date to suddenly light a fire under your feet. Suddenly, the local hikes you’ve ignored for years or the museum you've driven past a thousand times feel urgent. You squeeze in a few “we-have-to-do-this-before-we-go” outings, all while tripping over moving boxes or racing the calendar.

It’s a familiar pattern.

Jon grew up in Virginia Beach and rarely went to the beach. Kelly lived in Maryland and hardly ever took the two-hour road trip to Shenandoah National Park. Together, we lived in Houston, but only made it to the Space Center, Museum District, or Waterwall when friends came to visit.

We thought we had time. We assumed there would always be next weekend.

And maybe that’s part of it. When something is always available, it’s easy to put off. It’s easy to stay home, rest, and watch Netflix. Exploring can wait.

But then we leave, and we realize how much we missed.

It’s ironic. And deeply human. And maybe… that’s why we travel.

But What If We Could Bring Travel Home?

What if we could bring the things we love about travel… the exploration, the excitement, the permission to enjoy… into our everyday lives?

What if Travel Season didn’t have to mean a month-long escape or a cross-country road trip? What if it could also be a mindset… a choice to engage more fully with the place we live?

One of the things we love most about our travel seasons is the way they shift our priorities. During those 2 to 4 (once, 6!) months on the road, something changes. We let go of the pressure to “get everything done” and instead prioritize things like:

• Doing something new

• Planning an adventure

• Enjoying a long dinner

• Waking up early for sunrise

• Spending the day outside

• Trying a new restaurant

• Taking photos, making memories

• Laughing, relaxing, being

Yes, we still pay the bills.
Yes, we work.
Yes, we respond to texts and handle what’s necessary.

But we don't plan doctor’s appointments in the middle of Travel Season. We don't spend weekends running errands or rearranging furniture. We don't spend our evenings catching up on laundry or stress-scrolling through Amazon reviews to replace a broken lamp.

We’re still us, but we shift. It’s a vacation mindset layered over everyday life. And we love it.

So… What Happens When You Can’t Travel?

In 2025, our plans changed. Jon took a new job that required him to show up in person, five days a week. Which meant: no long road trip. No month-long escapes. No big adventures.

At first, we panicked.

Is this the end of the Travel Season?
The end of this thing that makes us feel most like ourselves, both individually and together?

There was fear in giving up something that brings us so much joy and has shaped who we are over the last five years.

But then, a new idea started to form: What if the Travel Season… came home?

What if we approached this next season of life like we would any other travel season? What if we planned it? Prioritized it? Treated our own state, our own region, with the same excitement and curiosity we bring to any new place?

It’s the dichotomy of traveling at home… of making space for adventure and joy while still sleeping in your own bed. It’s holding on to the mindset of escape and exploration, even when the zip code stays the same.

2025 is… Travel Season: Texas & The Southcentral

We’re approaching Dallas, Texas, and the surrounding region like we’d approach Alaska, Utah, or even British Columbia.

We’re researching the best things to do.
We’re creating mini road trips.
We’re looking for nearby national and state parks.
We’re finding local beaches, hikes, and scenic drives.
We’re planning for wine tastings, luxury stays, and dreamy date nights.
We’re adding festivals, farmers’ markets, day trips, and detours to our list.

“Travel Season” Is a Feeling

It’s fun.
It’s freeing.
It’s a shift in priorities.

It’s the decision to do the thing now, not someday.

To say yes to adventure.
To let the dishes sit in the sink and go watch the sunset.
To take the long way home.
To find the magic in every place.

We’ve always said this: What if we could blend the new with the familiar until you feel like a Road Trip Local, someone who makes a lot of places feel like home?

Well, now we’re choosing to make home feel like travel.

And we hope you’ll join us, whether you’re exploring a new city or finally making that day trip to the spot you've passed for years.

After all, there’s a lot to discover… even in our own backyards!

You can follow our local adventures here and (coming soon) here’s how we’re turning the Travel Season local.

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