Freshen Up...Your Day Trips

If you've hung out here very long, you know that Ryan and I love a good day-trip adventure. We love them because they're a relatively low-budget way to do something out of the ordinary, spend time together, and make memories. And we love all those things.

Here's the great news, though: you don't have to be married (or in a relationship at all) to take day trips. If you enjoy doing things on your own, you can certainly plan a trip for yourself, and the best part of that is, you can make ALL the decisions. You could also put together a trip with some friends, with your siblings, or maybe even take the kids in your life and have a fun day out with them!

Maybe you do this sort of thing already, but you need some new ideas, because you tend to go to the same places over and over. Or maybe you never go anywhere because you don't know where to start. Either way, hopefully this little list will help you brainstorm!

1. Join up with a bus trip group. 

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Confession: I've never done this. And it may not be for everyone. But it might be a good fit for you.

Before I was married, I belonged to a credit union that offered trip opportunities to its members. You had to pay for the trips yourself, of course, but someone from the credit union did all the planning and arranging. You just paid, packed, and showed up. Sometimes the trips were full vacations (a few even went overseas!) but sometimes they were bus trips for a day. I remember looking pretty seriously at one that was a bus trip to Chicago for a day of Christmas shopping. I'm not a city driver, so trekking to downtown Chicago was never gonna happen for me. I thought it would be fun to pay the fee, ride the bus to Chicago, enjoy seeing the city decked out for Christmas, get some shopping done, try some new restaurants, and ride back home.

I don't think it's uncommon for banks and credit unions to offer a service like this, so check yours out to see if they have one! Sometimes churches arrange trips like this, and travel agencies may also be able to point you to groups in your area who plan these outings.

(Ryan and I actually think this would be fun to do for a living. Take groups on day trips!!)

2. Check out a state park!

(You can upgrade that to a national park if you have one near you.)

Ryan and I love visiting state parks whenever we have the majority of a day to devote to one. We love hiking the trails, seeing the natural beauty, and soaking up the chance to be "alone" together, even though there are usually many other people all around us doing the same thing.

We pack a picnic lunch, take the camera, and have a fun day. Different parks offer different things, so we adapt our visits to whatever they have to offer. We've boated on lakes, taken a paddleboat around a pond, climbed dunes, hiked cliffs, checked out towers, walked through caves...you name it!

It does usually cost to get into the parks, but the price isn't bad, and we stay for the day so we can maximize our entry fee. Some of our favorite memories are from state park visits! (Ryan asked me to be his girlfriend during one of our hikes, and we planned our wedding in Brown County State Park the day after we got engaged.)

3. Try a Big City Scavenger Hunt.

We did this a couple of years ago, and it was so much fun! Ryan arranged the date after finding it on Groupon - and it was a total surprise for me. I had no idea what we were going to do until we got there. This is the way it works: you purchase the clues to the hunt and when you're ready to begin, you activate the clues and you have an allotted amount of time to find each location. We did the downtown Indianapolis scavenger hunt and had a blast. (You can read about that date here.) There are many city hunts, though, and you can find the complete list here. Even though we don't live in Indianapolis, we're pretty familiar with the downtown area, and even so, it was a fun hunt that taught us new things. So your own city could still be fun, even if you live there!

4. Scour Only In Your State.

If you haven't visited the Only In Your State site, you're missing out! I refer to this site all the time when planning our county tours - especially if I'm not very familiar with that part of the state. This site gives you a glimpse into fun things to do, unique places to eat, and not-to-be missed sights to see in every single state. I've found places I've never heard of hiding in articles on this site. Like this one. (AHEM: Ryan!!!!) The covered bridge dinner series? I could go on with the examples, but I think you get the point. :)

5. Have A Friend Help.

This past Christmas, we gifted our family some day/weekend dates. We planned the whole thing from start to finish, gave them the money to buy tickets and meals, and we had so much fun watching them unwrap their date days. It may have been the most fun we've ever had putting gifts together! If you have a friend who particularly loves doing this sort of thing, ask him or her to plan a day trip for you. Set a budget and see what you end up with! (Be sure to specify if there's something you just can't do. Like skydiving!)


Hope that helps freshen up your day trips! Have some fun exploring and trying new things!!