There are 52 weekends in a year. Spending all of them at home seems a little excessive.
Fall might be the best time to do something about it. The summer crowds thin out. The weather chills out. The leaves start showing off. And suddenly driving two hours to sleep somewhere with a porch sounds like an excellent use of your time.
So consider this your fall weekend escape guide. Pick your preferred level of planning, pack a bag, slip on something comfortable, and get out of here.
LEVEL 1: THE CABIN
Planning required: Moderate
Likelihood of seeing decorative gourds: Extremely high
The classic fall weekend getaway. Find a cabin. Preferably somewhere with trees. Ideally somewhere your phone gets just enough service to play music but not enough to answer emails.
Pack a sweater, something to cook over a fire, and a pair of comfortable slip-on shoes for coffee runs, porch sitting, and wandering around pretending you know what kind of tree you're looking at.
Bonus points for a fireplace. Double bonus points if there's a weird guestbook.
LEVEL 2: THE COAST
Planning required: Barely
Likelihood of saying "we should do this more often:” 100%
Beaches in summer get all the attention. Beaches in fall know they're better.
Cool mornings. Empty stretches of sand. Hoodies after sunset. Restaurants you can actually get into. A coastal weekend getaway in fall gives you all the good parts of the beach without having to negotiate six square feet of towel territory.
Bring layers. Bring snacks. Bring some Sidewalk Surfers you can slip on for the walk from motel to coffee shop to beach to wherever looks good next.
No itinerary necessary.
LEVEL 3: THE "JUST DRIVE" TRIP
Planning required: Questionable
Likelihood of ending somewhere unexpected: That's the point
No reservation. No spreadsheet. No color-coded Google Map with 37 saved restaurants.
Just pick a direction.
A spontaneous fall road trip doesn't need much more than a free weekend and enough clothes to make it until Sunday. Take the scenic road. Stop when something looks interesting. Buy something unnecessary from a roadside store. Get lunch wherever has the most cars parked outside.
The itinerary is whatever happens.
LEVEL 4: ONE NIGHT COUNTS
Planning required: You could decide Friday afternoon
Likelihood of actually doing it: Pretty good
Not every weekend escape needs to become A Trip.
Find a town an hour or two away. Stay Saturday night. Walk around. Eat something good. Sleep somewhere that isn't your house. Come back Sunday with enough time to remember you have laundry.
Sometimes the best weekend getaway ideas are the ones easy enough to actually happen.
WHAT TO PACK
Here's the trick to packing for a weekend trip: you're going away for two days.
You do not need seven outfits.
Bring a couple layers, the toothbrush you'll inevitably forget, something slightly nicer in case dinner escalates, and shoes comfortable enough to handle whatever version of the weekend you end up having.
That's where Sanuk Sidewalk Surfers earn their trunk space. They're easygoing, comfortable travel shoes made for slipping on and heading out, whether "out" means a trail to the beach or ten feet from the cabin to the firepit.
Pack light. Leave room for whatever weird thing you buy on the way home.
YOUR WEEKEND STARTS WHEN YOU LEAVE
The best part of a weekend escape isn't necessarily where you end up.
It's that little moment when you're finally on your way. Bags tossed in the back. Music on. Normal weekend officially canceled.
You've got two days.
Go somewhere.