I’ll admit it—even though I now live in a region I adore, I still continually find myself wanting to explore somewhere else. It has next to nothing to do with how I feel about where I live and lots to do with frequently wanting to experience new places, activities, and scenes. I’m not the only one who feels this, right? Now that we’re heading into what is generally a slower travel season for most of us (and what is a colder and darker season for many of us), it’s a good time to get out and see those places and things which are just down the road, but we still haven’t been to.

Here are some ways I enjoy playing local tourist and garnering more love for where I live:

1. Be a local supporting the locals– Even when I travel, I crave a sense of community, so you bet I crave it in my own town too. Not only can it be really fun to peruse local shops, eat at local restaurants, and sip a damn fine cup of coffee at a local café, but it can also nurture that sense of community. Each time I’ve moved over the years, I’ve been excited to see what my new area has to offer, so it hasn’t taken long for me to cruise Google Maps to find what I want to check out. One major bonus I’ve noticed over the years is that when I visit these local places, I meet the folks who work there and sometimes get to know them really well. It always helps me feel so much more enmeshed in the local community and I often accrue other connections from meeting these folks too, including more people to explore the area with.

As much love as I will always have for my hometown area on the border of Kentucky and West Virginia, I never loved living there. To me, as a youngster, it felt like there was hardly anything to do—especially something “nice” to go do—and I generally wanted to be somewhere else. When I was in high school, I was both shocked and excited that a beautifully-renovated coffee shop had opened in my town (which I think was the first it had ever had). I practically broke the sound barrier and risked my new driver’s license to visit for the first time. I remember thinking that I never thought something so lovely would open in a town that felt much as if it were falling apart at the time. That one little shop somehow singlehandedly transformed how I felt about my town—if not in a huge way—and my friends and I spent the next couple of years hogging their fluffy couch and thinking we were tres sophisticated with our mocha lattes overflowing with whipped cream. All of this is to say, even when don’t have a lot of local options, we can often find at least one that feels special.

When Andrew and I lived in central Virginia, it was a lovely area with lots to do, but I just didn’t feel at home there. I spent a few years lamenting that feeling and dreaming of somewhere I did feel at home. Finally, I decided to just dive in, visit the places I hadn’t yet, and focus on what I did enjoy in the area. Our farm was a 20-minute drive from any town, and the closest town to us was very small, but it was charming and walkable—two things I seriously appreciate. The first time we visited, we found ourselves wondering why we hadn’t visited much earlier, and then found ourselves returning weekly. We discovered a few shops and restaurants we enjoyed, and also found a combination restaurant/coffee shop/wine shop, called The Caboose, that quickly became our regular haunt. We’d grab bagels there together some mornings before work, would use it as an enjoyable place to do mundane things like file taxes or do paperwork, would grab a coffee after a trip to the library, and would meet friends there for dinner after work. An odd sensation for me was that I no longer felt the need to keep seeking out tons of new restaurants and such because this one encapsulated what I often looked for in other places. Us becoming regulars there was one of the handful of things that helped me begin to enjoy and appreciate where we lived for the last couple of years we were there. A major bonus: We met one of my closest friends, Stephanie, there.

2. Seek Out the Seasonal– Not only do I like to seek out special, seasonal activities when I travel, but I know a lot of folks plan entire trips around seasonal offerings: big holiday markets, ski season, leaf peeping, music festivals, food festivals, and so on. These things tend to feel all the more significant because they’re seasonal and not around all the time, which often makes it easier to find “special” things to do in our home region. If you’ve seen my seasonal bucket list posts, you know much of what I go out and do is based on the season we’re in. Here are some things I like to take part in each season:

Autumn– Going to the local pumpkin patch for pumpkins, mums, and cider. Picking apples at a local orchard. Walking around my town with a cup of hot coffee in hand and taking in the foliage and décor. Attending historic (or spooky) cemetery tours. Savoring seasonal goodies at my local coffee shops and bakeries. Perusing harvest markets.

Winter– Visiting our town’s enormous and beautiful tree farm (and leaving with the best tree, of course). Going on hikes during light snows. Sledding and/or snow tubing with friends (I promise, you’re never too old for these things). Giddily attending a performance of a classic like The Nutcracker. Taking part in holiday house tours. Browsing handmade markets. Driving around to enjoy holiday lights. Checking out a new museum or two. Stopping in at the coffee shop that has the really good hot cocoa.

Spring– Driving down to the coast and taking in a beach or water-side park while they’re still basically empty. Checking out at least one of the Daffodil Days events lots of towns in New England have. Visiting botanical gardens, arboretums, or state forests. Biking local trails. Savoring a wine tasting. Sprinting to the first farmers markets of the year.  

Summer– Being near the water as much as possible. Seeking out restaurants with beautiful outdoor seating. Checking out local sports games (even as non-sports kinda people, we went to local polo and soccer matches for the first time this year and had a blast). Going to various summer festivals and outdoor concerts. Walking around charming downtowns. Doing some day sails with friends or with tours. Picking big bunches of blooms at our local flower farm.

3. Armchair Travel Your Region– I consider myself an armchair traveler extraordinaire. Travel memoirs are my favorite genre to voraciously take in, and I love flipping through a travel guide. When I’m feeling fiction, it’s often something with a very strong sense of place. Long before I moved to New England, I made my way through countless books (and films, shows, and podcasts) set in this magical region: Memoirs about farming in Vermont or Western Massachusetts, or about growing up on Nantucket, novels set along the Mass coast or further inland in places like Concord or way up at the top of Maine, and travel guides for the coastal areas of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.

Now that I live in New England, I still return to its memoirs, novels, and travel guides frequently—not only because I genuinely adore this region, but also because I get new ideas for places to visit with every read. Every time I make my way to yet another charming town, beautiful historic site, gorgeous shop, delicious restaurant, or stunning landscape, I love my adopted home all the more and learn so much more about it.

After writing this, I’m once again itching to go take in more local goodness. We’re on the cusp of the cozy winter season and all it brings with it, after all.

If you also fancy yourself a local tourist, I’d love to hear what you like to do in our own town or area, so please feel free to share!

Off to the coffee shop,

Lara