Capsule Packing _ Western US Road Trip

I’m going to Salt Lake City for a bit later this month and wanted to pack light.

The brief:
Create a minimal wardrobe for early spring weather, versatility, and lots of walking.

The solution:
The last thing I want to be thinking about when traveling is putting together outfits. The time should be spent enjoying, exploring, eating, and connecting with friends. With that in mind, this travel wardrobe is turned into simple math equations to follow each day.

Let’s start with the packing list. This doesn’t include the coats that will obviously need top these outfits since the weather isn’t likely to get up to 60 degrees. And I run cold, so I’ll probably be wearing a puffer inside the whole time, but dang it, I’ll look put together underneath it all.

This packing guide has major 10x10 Challenge vibes, which when you think about it a suitcase of clothes is basically a mini-capsule wardrobe.

And now to style this travel capsule. I put together 10 days of outfits. Let’s take a look at days One and Two.

As mentioned earlier, I run cold. Despite science, I can be cold in 75 degree weather for some reason. Maybe I have some sort of medical condition, who knows. What I do know is that because of this, I have a solution. I’ll wear a pair of yoga pants as the base if it’s freezing balls out. Why not just wear some long underwear, you ask? Great question. I dig the yoga pant base for two reasons. One, if the day takes a turn into an adventure involving a hike, I can just pop off the outer pant, switch into hiking boots, and I’m off. And second, because I don’t own a pair of long underwear, but I do own yoga pants.

In the winter and into early spring, in a place like SLC, layering is key because inside and outside temperatures can be vast. Especially if you love exploring a city on foot like me. I have friends who nicknamed me their ‘favorite walking friend.’ As a result, I need shoes that are versatile and can see a mile or ten without making me regret my whole life.

I’m a big fan of sticking to a top and bottom set during early spring because it’s easy when nature calls. There’s likely always going to be a bulky coat layer to navigate so making the de-robing process streamlined is something to consider. This is also something to be mindful of when on holiday since you’ll likely be frequenting public restrooms more than at home.

To that end, I was pretty skeptical about this Everlane Super Soft Jean Coverall for that very reason. But this little beauty in fennel was on sale and I thought I’d try it on for size. And turns out, it is exactly as advertised – soft and coverall-y. Despite it’s many buttons, (maybe we can get a zip up version some day) I’d say the pro of being able to pull it on and instantly be in a look, outweighs the bathroom de-robing cons.

We’ll see how this planning pans out in reality. Details developing.