Almost every vacation my family went on took us by Cadillac Ranch, and almost every vacation, I wanted to stop. I wanted so badly to walk out to these strange, dusty, old cars and admire them. They fascinated me. We never stopped, though, always too anxious to get to our destination.
Last summer, Jarrod and I took our first vacation together (you know, other than the honeymoon). The week before we were supposed to go, I injured my ankle while rock climbing, so we had to revisit our vacation plans since it was going to be heavy on hiking and climbing.
While it was disappointing to look at all the things we weren't going to be able to do, it forced us to slow down. We left ourselves a little extra time to allow for taking it easy and unexpected stops, and it was one of the best decisions we made.
So last summer, we did something I had been putting off for 25 years. We finally stopped at Cadillac Ranch and spent about an hour slowly walking through the dust, admiring the layers and drips of paint, looking in awe at the sea of paint cans and lids smashed into the ground in the rain, and enjoyed a little stop that I desired to make for so long.
Don't be afraid to give yourself a little wiggle room. Slow down, and enjoy something you keep skipping over for things that appear better. Breathe.
