Hometown Tourist

Naturally, it’s time to start planning family vacations for the summer and the gas prices have shot up to almost $4 a gallon. So now the last thing on your mind and budget is a little family get-away. The only thing your vehicle is going to be doing this summer is creating some shade for your driveway.

But wait a minute; before you dismiss the family vacation entirely, I have a question for you. When is the last time you have been a tourist in your own town? For many of you it has been a while or maybe never, for others it is a thought that doesn’t sound too appealing, but just humor me; because I was thinking the same thing when this idea was presented to me.

Let me tell you what my family did.

Just for fun, a couple weeks ago, my family and I became tourists of our southern metropolis for two days. I found an art museum we had never been to, a putt-putt golf course with batting cages, an arcade, a few shops on the other side of town that I have wanted to check out, a new park, an ice cream parlor and a restaurant that we hadn’t gotten the chance to try out yet. Surprised that I had found this much to do in basically my own backyard, I looked into what kind of deal I could get on a hotel with a swimming pool for a night. Bonus! I told the booking agent at the local Holiday Inn what I was doing and she gave me a great rate for a night.

I’m telling you what; this was one of the better mini vacations our family has been on for a while. We weren’t annoyed because we had to drive so far, we had more money to spend because we didn’t have so many extra things to buy like snacks, gas, and other activities to keep the kids happy in route, and we knew the area so there were no driving arguments. But, it was after we got had gotten home and unpacked our overnight bags that I realized what I enjoyed most about this trip (besides the obvious time we spent together as a family), we actually came back from vacation and didn’t need to rest from the vacation we just had. At the end of the weekend I was amazed at how much there was to do in this seemingly small southern town.

A little hint before you research your hometown or a neighboring city, you must really get into the tourist mindset. Look into everything you would normally do if you were going someplace further away. Actually pretend you have never visited Yourtown, USA.