It may seem at first a bit strange to consider being a tourist in your own town. It is, after all statistically speaking, boring as most of those reading are not luckily enough to live in those more exciting areas and I am certain that even the epicenters of culture become mundane and dull. The denizens of Paris are most likely quite sick to death of the art in the Louvre, the towering cathedrals and intimate cafes. Perhaps, they dream of the snow capped Rockies and Yellowstone National Park or perhaps, tropical beaches of the caribbean. It is after all human nature to long for the very things we don’t have and abjure the things we do.   

You might wonder what you could possibly do that you have not already done or seen what you have not already seen. I am here to encourage you to look again and to pay attention. As I have mentioned in another post, I had the privilege of seeing several bucket list items: a Russian Ballet, King Tut and the treasures of the Tsars. Those things were only made possible because I or someone I knew was paying attention to what was going on in the local area. This means you must first become aware of the museums and theaters in your area and check their websites regularly for visiting exhibitions and shows. 

Luckily, we live in the age of the internet and knowledge is but a few searches and clicks away. I like to start out by looking at my area’s tourism page and their events calendar. I have been surprised by what actually is around my area that I had no idea existed like the “catacombs” of the local brewery with their ghost hunting or the annual hot air balloon festival. I looked at the website “Only In Your State” and discovered all sorts of interesting places only a few hours away like dog sledding in the winter or lavender fields in the spring. It looks like I don’t need to travel to Alaska or France after all! There’s even indoor sky-diving just 45 minutes from me! I also semi-religiously check Facebook events calendar which is how I discovered that 3 hours away there is a winery where I could stomp grapes, cancel my flight to Italy! Facebook was also how I found out about the pop-up Ice Skating Ring at my local mall. Other touristy sites might be good to check out like Trip Advisor, although I find it’s not as good for finding things I don’t already know about. AtlasObscura is another site similar to Only in Your State that has led me to some interesting ideas. 

The main thing is not to rest on your laurels as it were but be on the lookout for different experiences. Eventually, you will learn what hidden gems your area is hiding. Take the unassuming Reading Museum in Reading, PA. You would never guess that such a small city would be home to a truly remarkable museum. It hosts an Egyptian mummy, a full knight’s armor, items from the Greek and Roman empires and its visiting exhibitions are usually quite good as well. My favorite thus far was Da Vinci’s inventions, where innovative individuals utilized his sketches and ideas to bring his many inventions to life. So often we see his art and hear of his inventions, but this exhibit focused on the more practical and scientific Da Vinci. Less than an hour away from me is a forge where you can make your own throwing ax and they have targets available to test them out afterwards. Hershey has a falconer where you can spend an afternoon learning about the sport of falconry and interacting with a bird yourself. I have attended a Gallery Opening. I have enjoyed a full moon with wolves and so many more things nearby. None of these things I would have found scrolling through some travel influencer’s instagram and all of them were far closer to home than I might have possibly imagined when I first started out.  

I do recognize that I am lucky to live so close to many cities and hubs of activities, Pennsylvania is after all the keystone state for a reason. Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York are all within quite reasonable driving distance from me and can be easily connected to via the train which runs from a city not 20 minutes away from my home. It was nothing to do a day trip down to the Cherry Blossom festival in D.C. back in college to see the showcase of Japanese culture or a trip to see a Broadway show in New York in high school. However, I am confident that there are things in your area which are worthy of your time to go discover. After all, despite being rather in the middle of nowhere Boulder, Colorado turned out to be a bit of a tea mecca when I visited, being home to both Celestial Teas and an authentic Russian Tea House! It also plays host to the National Center for Atmospheric Research and a cat cafe. Tea, science and cats, what more could you ask for?! 

Some of you may need to go further afield for some of those experiences which may have you scratching your head thinking this advice is contradictory to this blog. It is not intended to be a contradiction, more a recognition that not everyone has the same opportunities and access to extraordinary things near them. Most of the population of the United States is concentrated on the coasts and so there is a high likelihood that you dear reader, live near many hubs of culture. However, some really are living in places where the nearest neighbor is a 30 min drive past miles of cornfields. No amount of internet searches and creative thinking is going to offer them the same opportunities as those of us living on the coasts. This is not to be defeatist for those people who through no fault of their own are forced to go further afield than some of us.

The spirit of this blog is that we can find extraordinary things in our own regular vicinity to live a full life right where we are (generally). Some of us may need to draw wider borders than others of us and that is fine. I don’t often do day trips to New York or D.C. maybe once every five or so years as I have plenty to enjoy nearby. For me to make frequent trips to those places would not be in the spirit of what I am trying to achieve because I can usually find things closer to home. Others may be forced to do more frequent day trips just to see anything at all. Let us not be legalistic but rather embrace the spirit of this blog where we recognize that we can find joy where we are rather than needing to rush off to the far flung corners of the world.