Along the lines of @abasket cooking thread and the travel dislike thread I thought of another thread idea.
Friday I went for a walk along a path in a oceanfront park. Along the path I took a few breaks to look down at the water. At one point I sat and had the pleasure of seeing dolphins. At another spot I looked down and saw people surfing, kite boarding and enjoying the sand and beach. My companion and I had a conversation about people on holiday and how we take for granted where we live but also how we avoid or have not visited spots that out of town visitors see.
Do you live in a tourist town?
Have you seen all the sights?
Do you avoid going to areas that tourist flock?
Yes, HI is definitely a tourist place. My relative swam with dolphins the other day by chance. I’ve never been so fortunate but do love the beauty surrounding me. I don’t go into Waikiki often but our whole island and state is quite lovely with amazing restaurants!
I have NYC skyline views from my town. Often remind my kids that millions of people save their entire lives for the opportunity to visit that city. None of us like it - can’t wait to move.
I’ve always lived in a tourist area except for my college years. It’d be weird to not see tourists in season. Normally we do some of the tourist things on a regular basis (hikes, water activities, and enjoying the view pending which area we lived in), but it did take us a few years to get around to specifically seeing Gettysburg’s NMP. We were on the beach in Oregon talking with another traveler who was envious of our proximity to it. After he left we noted that we really needed to take a couple of days and explore it! We’ve been there a few times since, though drive through it often due to the way the park goes through the village/borough.
I live in a heavy tourist town. I haven’t been to the downtown Gaslamp District in about 6 years. I don’t go to the gorgeous beaches and coastline in the north part of the County. And every time I try to go to Balboa Park I cannot even find a parking place!! Last time at the world famous San Diego zoo was about 10 yrs ago.
I used to have the sunset views to myself, especially in winter off season. But in the last 5 years we must be all over the Internet and the cliffs are blocked with hundreds at sunset with cars jockeying for parking.
I don’t do a good job of going out and enjoying my city, although over the last 30 years I’ve probably visited everything.
Def do not live in a tourist town. Not sure if I should attach a sad face or laughing face to that - LOL.
I guess it depends on your definition of tourist town - would I choose Atlantic City or Vegas? - no. Do I enjoy an occasional big city trip - yes, I’ve enjoyed Chicago, NYC, San Diego, Portland…but really a couple days is enough - except maybe San Diego (or CA in general - I could definitely stay longer).
Not a crowd person.
I live in the suburbs of SF. Love it… I can go see the touristy bits when I want and avoid them otherwise but still take advantage of the great weather and beautiful surroundings.
I live outside (20 miles) a big tourist destination these days. I try to focus on the benefits to the economy and how fun it is to showcase this wonderful city. That said, we have become a magnet for bachelorette parties- and this is NOT a good thing. We call them the “Woo Girls” and they wear short cutoff shorts and cowboy boots, get very drunk and ride around town on pedal taverns being generally obnoxious. There are a lot of VRBOs etc who won’t rent to them and even some bus tours that reject them. If you are into seeing drunk girls wearing veils (well only the bride) with little pink penises pinned to the veils… We generally don’t go in town when it will be an issue (i.e. most evenings), and have learned how to get in and out if we do go in for a concert or other event. Our town was it’s own Civil War town so isn’t really simply a suburb, and while a popular destination for visitors doesn’t draw too many of the bachelorettes, although they have been spotted!
I live in NYC–so definitely a tourist town. My neighborhood has some second and third tier tourist attractions, i.e., attractions mentioned in some guide books, but not ones you’d bother to see if you only had 24-48 hours in the City. As a result, we get some tourists, but not enough to make us hate them.
I love theatre, but only see 0-2 Broadway shows a year. It’s just too expensive. I do see about 70 or so Off Broadway & Off-Off Broadway shows as “paper,” i.e., I pay very little so there are “butts in the seats.” I’d rather see 70 or so shows for about $400 rather than 1 or 2 shows for the same amount. I’ve seen almost all of the IMPORTANT NYC attractions, but in some cases, it’s been 20+ years since I’ve seen them.
A young relative & her parent stayed with me this week while visiting a couple of NYC colleges. She was shell-shocked by my neighborhood. NYC is a City of neighborhoods. Each has its own personality. My neighborhood isn’t much like Times Square or Greenwich Village. Her parent wanted to treat me to dinner. We rode the NYC ferry to another borough & ate at a very upscale restaurant. Expensive by my standards, but not by mid-Manhattan’s. Then we got back on the ferry. It was dark by then and the skyline was astoundingly beautiful.
It was fun to see my City and my neighborhood through the eyes of a teenager. She reminded me of why I live here.
Northern New England, so a strong mix of history and natural attractions. The most recent aspect of tourism that’s impacted our lives is planning trail walks with our dogs for quieter times, such as very early mornings or weekdays. I also time my errands to avoid Friday and Sunday afternoon gridlock. DH changes his route home from work Friday afternoons to avoid the highway – he’s heading in the same direction as visitors to lakes, mountains, etc.
As for visiting the highlights, we were lucky to chaperone a lot of the kids’ field trips the years they focused on local history. It was a great way to see things, and to see students seeing things.
I also live in SD county as @coralbrook has mentioned in her post. I do go to the tourist attractions during off season because there are less people. We have a pass to the zoo. Living in California does not mean that everyone can afford to live at the beach. I do go to Torrey Pines, on an almost daily basis, because I have a parking pass there, and seeing the pacific ocean on a daily basis reminds me of how amazing mother nature really is. We pay a good amount of dollars to live in a place with great weather and natural beauty. I’ve only recently had more time to enjoy it, now that our children are adults. I don’t mind the tourists but I do mind seeing the litter of the scooters and bikes everywhere. Those concussion-makers need to be recycled at the scrap yard.
Lived in DC- between the summer weather and tourists, was nuts. Lived in SF, not so bad. Currently live in a “destination” area, but no tourists near me and we just stay away from the beach on weekends or go very early.
Worst was when we lived on the beach in Venice, CA. (Not to worry, right off the beach, but a 12x12 main space.) I used to say, if you need to do something on a weekend, better be out by 7:30am and back by 9am, to park. Many of you know my utter disappointment at going back last fall and seeing how much more touristy SM had become. Yes, get rid of the dang rental scooters.
Afaiac, the traffic in many small-city parts of Maine got worse after 911, when more telecommunters moved further from NYC.
I live in a Florida beach town. Lucky for me, I’m a good cook and enjoy cooking so we just avoid many of the restaurants (or stick to local secrets) during season and most of the things I really enjoy here are things tourists are too scared to do. Most tourists only go ankle deep in the water along our “best beach in the world” recognized beach, so we just go to the other nearby, just as nice beaches or go boating or swimming anywhere since tourists don’t do as many of those things.
The one event I used to love but just don’t do any more is watch the fourth of July fireworks from our boat in the bay. It’s gorgeous and fun and I miss it, but trying to boat home amid all the drunk yahoos isn’t worth it. So we just watch from shore and boat at night on literally any other night of the year. Most of the time, if I’m out boating after dark, there’s nobody out there and it’s gorgeous, just no fireworks. That’s OK, I’ll take it.
Seattle has become a tourist town. I generally welcome the crowd which brings $$$$ revenue to the city and the state and the visitors are mostly well-behaved Alaska cruise folks (no brides and their drunk entourages as described by @MomofWildChild yet!). That said, the tourists empty out my favorite Rack like locust wipes out crops!! 
It is OK though… saves me $$.
I live in the Chicagoland area. Been here for a year and love, love, love it. I can walk to the beach from our house, I walk on the lakefront daily, and have easy access to concerts, restaurants, museums, sporting events, etc… My husband and I were just commenting today how lucky we are to live here.
We have a vacation home in a summer tourist magnet. (Year-round population about 12,000–on any given weekend in July or August the population can increase to 40,000.) We spend time there primarily in the off-season and/or shoulder months. In the high season, we have been in the area long enough that we can find beaches that aren’t crowded and frequent the same restaurants so that if the owners answer the phone when making a reservation, they will find a spot for us. It is a gorgeous beach location–very pristine with strict zoning that limits development. Our adult kids have grown up spending summers there and are always willing to come to visit. In fact, we usually celebrate Thanksgiving there and my kids usually bring friends who don’t have another place to go. (My son-in-law’s parents always come too.) It is always a fun weekend.
We try to rent our place in August when rentals go for the most $$$ and have been lucky because we’ve had the same renters for a long time (I have forgotten how long it’s been.) The rental covers a big portion of our expenses… Plus, we don’t feel guilty traveling to a new destination during that time.
I live near DC (but not as close as I used to).
I haven’t been in the Washington monument since I came here on vacation when I was about 10.
I worked in DC for many years, and now I get a little melancholy when we head down there.
One funny DC story - I took metro when I was pregnant, and walked up the stairs even 39 weeks pregnant. many people would follow me… like if I could do it, they should too.
totally random comment… somehow all these pics of food showed up on my screen. ???
We have a vacation/second-almost-first-home that we will retire to, in a tourist area, south Jersey near Cape May. I’m sitting on our back porch now, listening to the Cape May ferry horn, having just kayaked on the nearby waterways. I love being here almost half the time (almost every weekend and most of the summer) and strive never to take it for granted.
It does get crazy in the summer, but tourists bring money, and the area needs that economy. Just happy to be here.
Oh, yeah, big tourist area in southern Maine! But fortunately, the tourists all clump together along the coastline. If you go inland, where there are many beautiful mountains, forests, and lakes, you don’t see many people. We can leave our cabin and drive 45 minutes and not see a single car. 
I’ve lived in the Chicagoland area for many years. When I lived in the city, I did see many of the sights, concerts, theater, restaurants, museums, etc. We moved to the suburbs when our kids were small, and have barely been to the city in years. I am probably one of the last “locals” who has not seen The Bean.