“Vacation used to be a luxury, but in today’s world it has become a necessity” -Author Unknown

I love taking vacation.

It’s great to visit an old stand-by (for us, it’s Chicago), but it’s even better to visit someplace new. Someplace with new experiences, new challenges, and new landscapes. From the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee to the ocean front of Wilmington, North Carolina to the hilly terrain of San Francisco, this country is riddled with natural beauty and wonder. Every time I visit somewhere like this, I get out of the car and take a deep breath, as if to take it in and let it marinate in my brain. Then, once we’re unpacked and settled in to wherever we’re staying, I go for a run as a way to further check out my surroundings. But how often do I do this at home?

Over the past year or so, it has become evident to me that I live in one of those places of natural beauty and wonder. Being in a region that is very attractive to tourists, I often get comments from customers about what an amazing area this is. First time visitors are always blown away by the fact that you cannot see across Lake Michigan. Whether it’s the way the Grand River carves its way through the palm of the state or the way the sandy dunes of the shoreline rise up to provide breathtaking views, West Michigan is abundant with beauty.

When I was a child, I thought Michigan was boring. I longed for adventure in other places, but we were rarely able to vacation far from home. When I became financially independent, I decided to start looking for those other places. Yes, I have enjoyed my vacations, and I have many pictures of the mountains and other places we have visited. But, in traveling, I have learned to appreciate where I grew up and where I continue to live.

In the past 10 days, I’ve been on the beach, had a picnic, run a local trail, gone apple picking, run the eastern end of Lake Macatawa, and eaten dinner overlooking the lake. Never was I in the same place twice, and never was I more than 15 miles from my home.

A common sentiment I’ve heard either on vacation or around vacationers is that if they lived in <insert vacation spot>, they would do “this” (whatever cool, vacationey thing they’re doing at the time) every day. I think it’s fairly obvious to most of us that this is not true. After merely a couple weeks, the excitement and newness would wear off, and they would continue living just as they did in whichever place they lived before, and that cool, vacationey thing would be old hat. Well, it’s time to rediscover the cool things about where you live; whether that’s West Michigan or somewhere else, it’s time to take a vacation in your own back yard.