Our vacation through the American West taught us to slow down, cherish time together, and praise God for the beauty and diversity of His creation.
It was still dark at 4:45 a.m. when my husband’s alarm gently chimed in the silence of the cozy cabin in Moab, Utah, just outside Arches National Park. My two children, asleep in bunk beds, didn’t stir one bit, and I turned over and pulled the covers snug under my chin. Not yet — just a few more minutes, I thought.
“Come on, family — time to wake up!” my husband declared, eliciting groans and sighs.
The four of us were planning to drive into the park and hike up to the Delicate Arch to watch the sunrise, and though we were excited, we were also exhausted. At that point, we’d been traveling for about a week, with about a week and a half still to go.
Our journey began at our home in Nashville, Tennessee. From there, our destinations had included Kansas City and Colorado Springs. After leaving Moab, we stayed in Page, Arizona, and Phoenix. Santa Fe was our next stop, followed by a night in Tulsa — the city of my birth — before returning home.
Road trips are a quintessential American rite of passage. They allow us not only to soak in our great nation’s diversity and richness but also to marvel at the Creator’s glory, revealed in the land’s beauty.
America’s Landscapes and the Glory of Creation
At the Garden of the Gods Park Visitor & Nature Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, I discovered a mural bearing a fun piece of trivia: In 1893, Katharine Lee Bates visited Colorado to teach at a local college for the summer. Before returning to Massachusetts, she went on a covered-wagon expedition to Pikes Peak. From that summit soaring 14,115 feet above sea level, she was inspired to pen a poem that became a cherished song, “America the Beautiful.” Although the song has four stanzas, the first is the most well-known:
“O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!”
These lyrics deeply resonated with me and often drifted through my mind as we sojourned. The farther Tennessee was in our rearview mirror, the lush greenery and rolling hills gave way to flat expanses of sparse vegetation and red, rocky crags. Winding rivers and placid lakes disappeared, replaced by arid expanses. America isn’t a flat, generic landscape, and my family’s trip out west reinforced my appreciation for the country’s regional diversity — as well as for the glory of God’s creation.
Standing next to geographic structures that have existed for centuries, under a vast expanse of sky filled with infinite stars, makes you realize how small and insignificant human beings are. As King David wrote in Psalm 8:3-4 (NKJV):
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?”
God brought the world into existence and proclaimed all of it good. While mankind’s fall into sin corrupted its perfection, the Lord still fiercely loves His creation. All that we see around us is a reflection of His glory. Every mile that my family and I spent on the road reinforced this truth, from the plains of Kansas to the heights of the Rocky Mountains.
Road Trips Teach Us Patience and Presence
Whether traveling alone, with a spouse or friends, or with children, time on the road can teach us lessons in patience and presence. The many hours confined together in the car, hotels, and guest rooms foster conversation and closeness in ways we don’t experience in the busyness of daily life. In a world where families often spend their days running from activity to activity, a cross-country drive gives us an opportunity to inhabit time together. We sing songs, listen to audiobooks, eat snacks, explore roadside attractions, and embrace boredom.
Road trips offer something irreplaceable, slowing us down and restoring our attention to the space we inhabit — and the people with whom we inhabit that space.
Every moment on the road becomes a thread in a rich tapestry of shared memory — memories my children will cherish long after my husband and I are gone.
They’ll have numerous conversations that begin with, “Remember that trip out west we took with Dad and Mom…?” And they’ll laugh about things like me getting temporarily lost in Arches National Park and the lizards they caught outside of our hotel in Page. As someone who never took family vacations as a child, I’m grateful that my son and daughter will be able to reminisce about our many trips.
Arriving Home with a Heart Full of Gratitude
By the time we pulled into our garage at the end of our three-week adventure, we’d put 4,609 miles on our car and collected so much more than photographs and souvenirs. Our hearts overflowed with gratitude — for one another, for our great nation and its people, and for the extraordinary world the Lord created.
That night, while I drifted off to sleep in the comfort of my own bed, I thanked God for bringing us safely home, as well as for my family and the privilege of exploring His creation together. May we never take these gifts for granted.
Amanda C. Bauch is an award-winning writer and the editor of numerous bestselling books. Alongside her pastor-husband, she’s raising a son and a daughter in Nashville, Tennessee. You can read more about her passion for family, gratitude, and appreciating God’s creation in her book, One Nation Under God: 40 Devotions for Patriotic Women.
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