A Hometown Tourist

I love to travel. To travel and to decorate are my two biggest passions. Seeing new places, exploring areas that aren’t your typical “tourist” spot, trying awesome places to eat (I mean, is anything better than food on vacation???), seeing the beauty of God’s creation from different angles…it is all so exhilarating and simply magical for me. I have always said if I had all the money in the world, I would spend it on travel. I still feel that way. Sure, I am SUPER excited to build our house, and it is a dream to me…but I would never want so big or nice of a house that I would be confined to it and not be able to travel. It is simply not worth it to me. Even for anniversaries and birthdays, when Brandon asks me what I want, my answer is always the same..”To go somewhere I have never been.”

But as much as I love to travel and see new places, I have been really focusing on a completely different type of travel as of late. You see, my travels are limited. We only have a certain amount of vacation time and money (of course, that dang money factor likes to get in the way), so we are limited on how many places we can go each year. But even with limited funds or time, travel does not have to be limited. I was thinking the other day about how gorgeous my very own area of the country is…you know, the one I live in each and every day~ the places I drive by each day without thought, the places I walk past that have history and beauty, the roads less traveled. Those places are so full of beauty and wonder, but because I can get so focused on traveling somewhere ELSE, I fail to see the beauty around me. I would venture to say we are ALL guilty of this.

But, I challenged myself. I challenged myself to see my own speck of Western Kentucky as it truly is. I challenged myself to see it as though I had never seen it before…as though I was a tourist. I challenged myself to stop and take pictures of things that I see everyday, as though I had never seen it before- just as I would if I were on vacation.

Wow, y’all! To see things in a whole new way is insane. I live in an amazing area of the country. I truly do. People that don’t live in Kentucky would probably never give it a nod or any thought at all, with the exception of the Kentucky Derby…but there is so much beauty to behold here. Western Kentucky is not privvy to any large cities or what most would call major attractions, but just driving down the back roads and visiting the little towns along the way is enough to make you thankful to live in such a place. People are friendly. They wave at you. They speak. They want to get to know you. Life is truly not hectic, although I let it be so often. Life is good here. Life is simple. You see everyone you know at the local ball park, and you sit out on your porch watching lightning bugs and listening to the frogs and crickets…letting the moon be your only light.

I want to encourage you to become a hometown tourist…explore your very own area as though you have never seen it. Look at it differently. Pretend you are a tourist in your town. I promise you will see everything in a completely different light…and it will really awaken your mind to how beautiful the very things around you truly are- if you just open your eyes.

Every single one of these pictures were taken within a 30 minute drive of my house…some on my very own property or just a minute or two from my house. What a beautiful area of the country.

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Last Updated on May 10, 2021