Pretend You're on Vacation

As an Unschooling family, one of the greatest pleasures we get is from pretending we are tourists in our own area. A few times a month, we pack a lunch or supper (and the camera) and get in our pretend rental car (otherwise known as our car) and head off on a new and exciting adventure for a few hours.

Eight years ago, right before a cross-country move, we discovered that there were at least a dozen places in our area that we'd always wanted to go and see, but had never found the time to go to. With the looming moving date, we were forced to go and see those places right away or never see them (to this day I'm disappointed that I never went on the gummy bear factory tour). While we did go see most of those local tourist attractions, we vowed to never miss out on happenings and places in our new locale.

Mostly, we've held to this. However, over the past eight year period we: had another baby, moved five times, and spent our time learning a gob of stuff. Basically, life started getting in the way again. Our early outings aren't remembered by either of our children, so we've decided to start being guests in our own area again. After a summer vacation, we grabbed local magazines and brochures from the airport. We've been scouring them, slowly doing all the things we haven't done before and all the things we've been wanting to do again.

Have you been bored with your area lately? Check out businesses that give tours (I've been very surprised at how many places that normally don't give tours are more than willing to let interested people have a private tour). Check the national forests in your area. Still can't find anything interesting? Pop into a local hotel and pick up all the brochures (hand them out to your friends after you are done with them). Broaden your idea of "local" to anything within a day's drive there and back. Day trips are wonderful for making you feel like you really did get away from the daily grind. Put a list of all the places you want to go on your refrigerator or vision board. Don't feel like you have to do them all in one day; try one a month.

Just don't forget to take your camera!