Back 35 years ago, H and I lived as newlyweds in a southern California mountain resort town, where H was doing a professional internship as part of his graduate program. We learned to avoid the grocery store on the weekends! Also, it was a ski area in the winter, and if it happened to snow on a weekend, we learned to stay off the roads, because most of the weekenders had no idea how to drive in the snow, let alone navigate snow-covered narrow mountain roads.
When I lived in the DC area, I lost track of how many times we visited Mt. Vernon with out-of-town guests. I ended up having my wedding reception there!
Recently we lived in NYC. We knew it was a temporary assignment, so we tried to do as much sight-seeing as possible, although it’s hard when you’re also working full-time. We took the Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise several times with various visiting friends.
The only tourists I don’t like are the inconsiderate ones - very loud and/or demanding, leaving trash around, destroying things (or letting their kids do so), or similar.
The rest I enjoy getting to know and are glad they came to see/experience the sights.
Like @coralbrook and @“aunt bea”, I live in San Diego. We do take advantage of many places tourists frequent, although we do tend to avoid them on weekends and busy summer days. We’ve lived here four years and tried out many of the events and festivals. I’m a zoo member and go occasionally, but know to arrive early and where the most likely parking will be, we go to the beach every other Monday in the summer with our Meetup group. We go to Liberty Station all the time to grocery shop and eat out. Biking on Coronado, Happy Hours with our Meetup, Cabrillo Point regularly, Embarcadero concerts a couple of times a year - all routines now. Our little nearby beach community is very popular with tourists so I’ve learned how to time my hair cuts and other errands. And to complain about Zonies in the summer.
Much of what attracted us to relocate here are the same reasons tourists come. But I also hate the scooters!
Colorado is a tourist magnet. The state is packed year-round with visitors from all over who come for all the amazing outdoor activities, festivals, and national parks. I’ve done plenty of exploring in the 20+ years that I’ve lived here, been to all the cool places and must-see sights. My family skies, but we go midweek and never over holidays or spring break. We also avoid the more popular mountain towns during the summer; Estes Park is a zoo until mid-October. We prefer to spend time at our cabin tucked back into the forest where can enjoy the lake and trails without the crowds.
Tourism dollars are good for Colorado, but some tourists have no respect for nature. Seeing trash and graffiti on trails makes me angry. The recently adopted permitting system for popular trails is also annoying. Still, I love living here and am in awe of this beautiful state.
I live in the outskirts of a tourist town -it’s a destination for several reasons - lots of early American history, a mid-size university that has lots of concerts, sports, plays, etc and seasonal activities. We generally appreciate our tourists but certain times of year they bring lots of traffic. For the most part, I know when to avoid it. However, for the last 15 years, my kids have gone to a private school just one block away from the main tourist drag so spring and fall were a PITA in the afternoons when I had to pick them up from school. I was never so happy when my oldest got her license and could drive them all to/from school.
We chose to live here for a variety of reasons, not the least of which were those that make it a desirable place for people to visit. We avoid the places (restaurants/shops) that cater to tourists. There are plenty of other better options for dining, etc. We’ve already seen most of the historic sights, etc, but occasionally will take out of town guests who are interested.
I grew up outside of Wash DC. Both of my parents are from other states where the majority of my extended family lived so whenever anyone came to visit, we had to go sightseeing. I still live in the greater DC area now. Dh’s family is all on the West Coast so when they come to visit, we usually spend at least one day in DC.
I forgot, we don’t have the scooters here in my tourist town thankfully. D17 goes to school in San Diego and that is one of the few things that I find bothersome every time I visit. They really clutter the area!
D.C. suburbia here. I have not seen all the sights. But when we do, we tend to go in very early spring or late fall to avoid any crowds. Or mild winter days. Avoid late spring and all summer for sure. It’s a different scene than yours though in that when we’re “doing D.C.”, we too are tourists.
I lived in California for too short a time, and regret not doing more ‘touristy’ things. Still have a long list of bucket items I want to do.
When I lived in Baltimore, I often went to DC and just did one thing - museum, public building tour, theater. You never run out of new things to see.
When we first moved to Colorado, everyone we ever met had to come visit, mostly to see if our covered wagons had made it and whether we had running water. We usually decided to ‘go north’ to Estes Park or ‘go south’ to Colorado Springs. We went to church at the Air Force Academy so many times it was like our home parish. We eventually just stocked up on brochures and maps and pointed guests in the right direction.
To me, there is a difference between a tourist and those that live in the area using the resources. I don’t live at the beach, but I live close enough for a day trip. I don’t consider that a tourist activity. Same with NYC. If we have out of town guests , there are times when we act like tourists. But if I am going to dinner or a movie, I wouldn’t consider myself a tourist. Not sure it matters, but what is the distinction between a tourist and a local? Is a Queens resident a tourist if in Times Square for a show? Is a north Jersey person a tourist at the beach? It just struck me in reading Coarlbrook’s post that many of those going to the beach or park are locals, not tourists visiting the area for a brief period.
Here in Colorado, hiking trails start a few blocks from our front door, several ski areas and a national park are between 40 minutes and 1.5 hours away. Lived here for 17 years, still in awe and wonder every day as I look at the mountains. It’s getting more crowded, and parking at the trailheads is an issue, so I do try to avoid more popular spots, but I love the happy crowd downtown.
Like @milee30 - we live in a Florida beach town. Our area attracts “snowbirds,” rather than college students on spring break. Lots of people here from January through about Mother’s Day. I agree with the point about dining out during the season. However, most of our visitors are in the age range that they hit the early bird specials, so if one doesn’t mind dining late, it can still happen. Traffic is horrendous on our main beach drag.
I am not an outdoorsy person at all other than sitting on the beach with a cocktail for sunset. - lol. I woudn’t say there are necessarily tourist “attractions” here. The beach itself is the attraction. However, when we have visitors we do take them to one larger, downtown area in the vicinity that has some nice museums.
I will say we have had a revolving door of company since we downsized and moved here. With three more sets already booked for the fall.
Some friends have had a condo in our area for about five years longer than we have. They reminisce about how empty the beach used to be in the off-season. It’s really not like that now, except maybe between TG and New Year’s. The beach is either crowded or less crowded. As others have said, I’m happy for the economic boost and no state income taxes.
I live outside DC. I just toured the capitol last year for the first time in the 25 years I’ve lived here. I have season tickets to the Kennedy Center, but I don’t necessarily think that’s a tourist thing.
My small neighborhood is on the water and about half the homes are people’s vacation homes. In the summer I’ll get boats docking right off our beach overnight or for weekends. Boat traffic gets a bit busy on nice days. I enjoy looking at most of them, the cigarette boats drive me nuts.
I have lived by the beach in San Diego my whole life, other than college. I definitely plan my outings around avoiding tourists. I usually don’t go to the beach on the weekends. But there are some beaches in La Jolla that don’t have parking lots, so are pretty much locals only. Still, the natural beauty never gets old to me. I still stop for the sunset and appreciate where I live.
When Ilived on Coronado, it wasn’t touristy, just a lot of Navy folks.
Imo, one of the best things about living near DC is visiting the Lincoln Memorial late at night, even in summer. There may be busses and tourists, but it’s an amazing experience to be among the crowd.
We live in Central FL, within 30-45 minutes of WDW, Universal and SeaWorld. We have been here about 20 years and it has grown and changed so much. It is not hard to avoid the attractions area doing day to day stuff. For me, the best part has been seeing family and friends I never would have seen if we still lived in our previous home, TX. When the kids were young, we had passes and would meet people down at the parks. It made for a lot of good memories. Another bonus is lots of good flights to choose from flying out of Orlando.
My mom lived in Naples, FL for 30 years before she died a few years ago. I used to love to go down there. Now it is just a giant traffic jam.
I grew up in two tourist spots, the Phoenix area, and Monterey Penninsula. As my dad was a great hiker, camper and explorer, we saw much of what tourists pursued in our area. As the Phoenix area is snowbird paradise, the traffic congestion and slow driving mid to late winter would send us around the bend. Given the spring training craze, the numbers are probably greater these days, but the freeway system is much improved. There is a different aesthetic to tourists than locals. Most places I live have been casual and understated for locals, while tourists were another ilk, more formally and perhaps impractically dressed for local activities, whether outdoor or cultural.
@“great lakes mom” what you say about how differently locals v. tourists dress reminds me of the time we went down to visit friends in Maryland. Wife worked in DC, so she’d drive us in for a day of sightseeing and we’d meet back up at her office to go “home” together at the end of her day. Kids were 7 and 10, and we did the Mall, Lincoln Memorial, White House, all understandable draws for many visitors. One evening we had a “can we tell the tourists from the locals” conversation, and DS1 said “I think Dad’s the only one I saw today not wearing plaid or an embarrassing hat.”
I don’t enjoy crowds, so prefer to visit tourist areas in the “shoulder” seasons – spring and fall for the Jersey Shore, for example. Just easier for my lifestyle preferences. Of course that was not so easy to do when we had to work around school schedules, so we would go to more remote areas such as the Adirondack Mountains for summer vacations in those years.
But now every day is a vacation day for us retirees, so we can do whatever we want, LOL!
