the summer is in full swing and it seems that everyone i know is traveling or planning on going somewhere. i just came back myself from a lovely long weekend with my family down in spring city. my sister and her 3 kids have been here for nearly two weeks, staying with me part of the time, and having them here made me realize that in many ways there is nothing more fun than being on vacation in your own hometown. there is no packing involved. you get a good nights sleep in your own bed and so do your kids. it is decidedly cheaper than an out of town vacay would be, and definitely my favorite aspect is that you get to escape your daily routine and duties just like you would on a normal vacation. i certainly shrugged off a big portion of my usual to do's while amy was here--no bill paying, much less screen time, more eating out, more swimming, minimal yard work, less worrying, a lot more laughs. it was so much fun to have them here and it gave me a terrific shift in focus and routine that i find very inspiring.
i've always loved having guests stay with me. my time living in tiny new york apartments and having many, many house guests break in my aerobed, taught me a valuable truth, however. apart from my sister and a very select few, i hold a firm belief that one should never stay with anyone longer than 3 days. cracks just start to show on guest and host by then! but back to the point, the reason i love house guests is that they make you do all kinds of things you normally wouldn't, whether it is wiping down the baseboards & cleaning out the cheese drawer, heading to that museum or taking that hike that have been on your list for months. guests are a good way to make you get out and do.
i love being a tourist in my own town. i always have a better time when i try and enjoy salt lake from a fresh perspective, just like you would if you were traveling through instead of permanently living here. i make a point of driving to different neighborhoods and scoping things out. i love heading to salt lake's diverse west side and have decided that redwood road is one million times cooler than state street though at first glance you might not know why. i love the taco carts downtown in the sears parking lot. jaren and i absolutely scored when we discovered the best mom and pop pet store ever to take our kids for a look see (4 different kinds of tortoises! what?!) out in west jordan. since i love food, i am attempting to start a dinner group with some friends to explore some of the ethnic eats my town has to offer. i'm calling it deep end dining and though we've only gone once so far, the night was a success mostly because the place, the neighborhood, and the food were new and different for everyone. it wasn't the same old, same old and it was a side of our city i certainly hadn't seen before.
i guess the epiphany of all this is really that as much as i lust after a trip to the beach, vacationing really is just a state of mind. it's not a place. remind me of that next january when i'm snowed in and so and so is in mexico, okay?
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