Itinerary Aficionados Unite: It's ‘Plan a Vacation Day,' Hurray

JANUARY MEMES... seem to hit a little harder and feel a little keener than all of the other monthly memes combined, for the humor that's focused on the first month of the year often satirizes its seemingly interminable length, sunless mornings, and post-holiday blues. Obviously, there needs to be something to add some swift smile-a-tude to January's humdrummier ways, and that something arrives on the final Tuesday of the month. It's National Plan a Vacation Day, an occasion that is understandably celebrated by tourist-y outfits, yes, but also by anyone who loves daydreaming, looking ahead, and crafting the ultimate itinerary.

TRUE TRUE, a vacation, road trip, or gorgeous getaway doesn't require a down-to-the-minute timetable describing all of the things you and your crew plan to do. But if you want to make the most of January's final Tuesday, and all of its get-out-and-see-the-world potential, you might do as itinerary aficionados do and begin mapping out your next escapade. Here's a fine place to start, if you've got your sights set on a Golden State getaway: Visit California's "Road Trip Republic" page, which loves upon those locations made for tooling by in an automobile. The Highway One Classic sweeps you up to Big Sur, with recommendations for stops at the oh-so-beautiful Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and elegantly otherworldly Post Ranch Inn. And the Amazing Desert Oddities itinerary celebrates both the dramatic Desert Tower and Ricardo Breceda's Borrego Springs beasts, those scrap-metal sculptures that dot the scrubbily striking arid landscape.

HAPPY PLAN A VACATION DAY, daydreamers, planners, trip-bookers, future-lookers, and everyone who loves a super-detailed, can't-miss-a-single-roadside-stop itinerary.