Just as you're never a hero in your hometown, so your hometown is rarely a hero in your mind. Time to change that.
I lived in Washington, DC, for nearly 40 years as an adult and never visited the Washington Monument. Oh, I trudged up the steps once when I was in high school and a visiting cousin asked me to accompany him. (I was trying to save money by taking the steps. Not until I got to the top did I discover the charge for riding the elevator was only ten cents.)
I rarely stepped into the Smithsonian, though I wrote plenty of travel articles urging visitors to do so.
I never found time to visit the holocaust museum.
The last time I saw an IMAX movie at the Air & Space Museum was when my son was a little boy. He’s now 24.
Why did I neglect those national treasure in my own backyard?
Well, because I lived there. I mean, I could visit anytime.
And, so, of course, I didn’t.
With gas topping $4 a gallon and airfares rising along with the summer temperatures, maybe it’s time some of us consider what has recently come to be called a “staycation,” a vacation that entails taking the time to appreciate what’s in front of our very noses: Our families and our hometowns.
A dear friend of mine, Melanie Wells, penned a touching column in the Wall Street Journal of April 23rd about the joys of staying near her home in Brooklyn with her four-year-old daughter for several weeks at the start of this summer.
“The decision to stay put was driven by our need to relax, recharge and reconnect,” Melanie wrote. “Was it boring to stick close to home? Hardly. As a working mom, I found spending every minute of each day with my daughter to be a nonstop wonderfest . . . But the best part? I learned how to quickly tune out everything but my daughter's voice, a trick that has been helpful in the breathlessly busy [past] year.”
I think we rarely appreciate our hometowns as much as we should. We dream of exotic destinations but forgot some people visit our hometowns because they think they are exotic—or at least very pleasant—destinations.
We take what is easily available for granted. I, for example, it’s been about eight months since I last walked the very pleasant park path along the Mississippi River that is just outside where I live now, in St. Paul, MN. Since that last walk, I’ve been to India, Thailand, Japan, Argentina, Russia, Estonia and a dozen major cities in the US. But I haven’t taken the time to enjoy what is literally outside my front door.
So maybe it’s time to make an adventure of resources at your fingertips. Forget airline schedules, passport requirements, and foreign currencies.
Here are some ideas to get you started on a staycation:
--Visit your local tourism office and see what your local professionals recommend visitors to your town or region not miss.
--Take your kids or grandkids and explore your backyard or immediate block. See if you can identify the kinds of trees or flowers in your neighborhood. Appreciate local architecture.
--Is there a newspaper printing plant, a television studio, or a bakery that would be willing to give you a tour of its businesses? Children, in particular, learn from those kinds of visits, but you might encounter some surprises, too.
--Dig a history book on your village, town, city or region from a local library and begin a kind of treasure hunt, identifying historic buildings or parks and learning about their pasts.
--If it’s been too long since you visited the closest zoo, change that. If you’re lucky enough to have museums close by, get reacquainted with them.
--Spend the summer trying local restaurants you’ve never tried—especially ethnic ones. Keep notes on what you like and publish them on your blog or web site, if you have one.
--Consider volunteering at a local senior citizens’ center, food bank, or veterans’ hospital. You’ll make new friends and do good at the same time.
--Start a community garden or "adopt" an overlooked plot of land that needs some upkeep. Again, you'll likely make new friends, and you'll beautify your community. (Oh, and it counts as exercise!)
In short, there’s an entire world less than a gas tank away from your living room. This may be the season to get to know it.
