For baby boomers, travel is, well, booming. According to the AARP 2017 Travel Trends Report, 99 percent of boomers plan to take at least one leisure trip this year, with an average of five or more trips. But why do they want to travel, and where do they want to go? The report uncovered several trends.

"Wouldn't this look better as a lake?"

I was staring out into Yosemite Valley. Half Dome and El Capitan loomed in the distance—two natural landmarks accomplishing what I thought impossible: Make the giant sequoias gathered below look small.

"What?" I turned to the man standing next to me.

"A joke," he said. "Someone once thought this valley would make a great lake."

Route 66 sure gets a lot of hype, but have you sent groups along U.S. Route 50 lately? Probably not. In July 1986, Life magazine dubbed the Nevada portion, "The Loneliest Road in America." And yet, from rural mountain ranges to desolate deserts and miles upon miles of rich farmland, Route 50 stretches across 3,073 miles from Ocean City, Maryland to Sacramento, California. It spans 12 states and links four state capitals—offering the most complete cross-sectional journey along the United States midriff.

Millennials are one of the largest generations in history (larger, even, than the baby boomers)—and they're entering their prime spending years. Born between 1982 and 1999, millennials were raised on the Internet, fostering a global awareness and an inherent interest in travel. But what are these young travelers looking for? The Millennial Traveler Report conducted by Expedia and Future Foundation discovered a few key generational characteristics.

I may be a mid-20s milliennial, but I think I jumped on the emoji bandwagon a little later than most humans my age. I'm a writer, so my gut feelings toward anything destroying the written word aren't exactly warm and fuzzy. The Oxford English Dictionary named "emoji" 2015's word of the year, and that wasn't cool.