Why I think the locals of Arizona and California are wonderful, and also make me sad


When I turned 19, a year after I graduated from high school in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I was so ready to leave, and see the great big world out there that I was practically shot out of a cannon. There was no hesitation, I didn't give a lingering look in my rear view mirror as I headed west. And I can remember that it was all the same to me wherever I went, at first it was gonna be Australia, then Utah (I have no why I thought that Utah was in a warm climate!), and then Arizona and California. And I knew the best thing to do when I got to these strange places was to meet the locals.

I love the locals - the people who were born there, grew up there, and have lived there all of their life. I was so overwhelmed by the strangeness of it all that I found it very comforting to talk to people who thought nothing of palm trees growing everywhere, trees with green bark (palo verde), cactuses growing up right out of the ground, and oranges growing on trees in people's yards. The locals would just yawn and I would try to be as cool as they were. Well, I would try!

The locals in California were especially awesome. They knew the places that the tourists never went to, which is very important in such a crowded place! To this day I know beaches that the tourists don't go to, restaurants they'd never heard of. And no, I'm not going to idiot enough to advertise it here! If you want to know about these places, hang out with a local.

But the locals make me sad. And it's just my point of view, because I'm convinced that if I had grown up anywhere, no matter how wonderful and beautiful, I would have been anxious to get out. Whenever I read a comment on Facebook that someone grew up somewhere, as did their parents, and grandparents, I can't help wondering why none of them felt the way that I did - get away, see new places, discover! To me, it's like listening to someone who is proud of the low miles on their car, which to me just means that they haven't traveled much. But please keep in mind that this is just my point of view, I'd like to have a million miles on my odometer, to have lived in just about every city in the world. Yes, I've failed miserably, and never lived anywhere outside of the country where I grew up, but the thought still excites me.

Growing up in Minneapolis

So please don't get me wrong, growing up in Minneapolis was wonderful. Yes, I hated the snow, but the city is absolutely gorgeous, with trees and lakes. Lots of lakes! I could go on and on, but you see what I mean. To me, it was just a place where I grew up, and it was a place that I needed to get out of.

So I will never be a local. I might know a thing or two about Minneapolis, or Santa Barbara, or Phoenix, but I'll never have the same deep knowledge that a real local has. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is up to you to decide.
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