I won’t tell you where I live, y’all are lucky I told you my real name on that question the other day about name meanings. But I will say that I live in a military town and the only tourist attraction here is a museum dedicated to one of the famous groups that is based at this military installation. Don’t want to say too much more. I’ve never been to the museum because I’ve just never had an interest. It’s a common field trip destination and it’s literally right down the road from my house. Still, not interested.
I’ll also say that I live in the same state as the Biltmore Estate. I’m about a 3-4 hour drive from there. My husband and I have taken weekend trips to Asheville but have never toured the property. The first time we visited Asheville we looked into maybe going there but the price of the tickets made us immediately change our minds. It wasn’t even during one of their busy times, like when they decorate for Christmas or have a special exhibition going on. To be fair, now is the time that I would change my stance on paying such a high ticket price and actually go visit. That area was hit so hard by Hurricane Helene that they are desperate for tourist money to come back to the area. I’d be willing to help with that.
I’m also about as close to the coast as I am the mountains. While we have been to Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks, we did not go visit the location where the Wright brothers took their first flight.
My state is not much for tourist attractions other than those few. I mean, there may be some local points of interest but nothing well known for out of towners I don’t think. When I was in high school two counties north of here, I always heard of a particular street in the city where I now live. My friends always joked about it being a street where hookers walked and you could easily find shady people. Since then, my city has gone out of its way to change the perception of that particular downtown street. The hookers moved to a different thoroughfare. In fact, when my husband used to have to leave for work at four in the morning, he would often drive with his window down in the warmer months. Stopping at a red light with the window down in the dark of the late night/early morning brought some of those women to his window on occasion. So, not really a tourist attraction, but a place that was infamous for the reputation it had and I have visited it. Not for that purpose obviously, but because it’s a main strip of road near my house that I have to drive on almost daily.
I’m kind of glad I don’t live in a very tourist-y place. While I enjoy being a tourist myself when I travel, I think I would be infinitely annoyed if I lived somewhere that had tourists around all the time. How do residents of NYC deal with all the people? Are they used to it by now or just perpetually annoyed? Years ago I remember hearing something on the radio where Alanis Morissette had said something like, “If it’s tourist season, why aren’t we allowed to shoot them?” Is that how Las Vegas residents feel? Or Seattle? I’d imagine people in Orlando who aren’t affiliated with Disney would have something to say about it.
Final thought—tourism is good. Just don’t come tour my city. There’s not much here and people don’t generally follow traffic laws. Your life will be in danger. I tried to warn you.
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