Explore Your Backyard – How To Discover the World

Beginners Unite!

For the absolute novice who has no idea how to start traveling, I have a suggestion for you. Explore Your Backyard.

(If you’ve traveled a bit you can skip this section, although I encourage you to stay … it never hurts to consider some new ideas.)

Here’s an interesting truth . . . Travel isn’t complicated.

Traveling boils down to visiting interesting sites, eating exciting food and sleeping in new places. 

Please support local business during your journeys whenever possible.

This section is specifically for the folks who’ve browsed through Instagram or Facebook travel photos, would like to visit amazing places but literally have no idea how anyone could fling themselves out of their neighborhood, let alone around the world.

My suggestion? Explore Your Backyard and develop good travel habits. 

You have to learn somewhere, why not start where you’re comfortable?

Brainstorm a List

What’s In Your Backyard to Explore

Get a pen and paper. We’re going to start by making a long list of places you could visit that are nearby.

Write down every single place you can think of. It doesn’t matter how silly or insignificant, every “local haunt” deserves a spot on your list. You can edit it down later.

If you live in a very small town, I know from experience that your options might feel limited, but there must be a hike, a lake, a stream, a reservoir, a famous or very old building, a church, a water tower, a small museum, a historical monument, a tall tree, a pioneer cabin, a graveyard or even a famous rock (maybe you could make a rock famous!!!)

Unless you live all alone out in the middle of the desert, there must be, in the very least, a cemetery you could wander through for a few minutes.

I’m from the World’s Most Boring Small Town and here’s what I came up with:

• Burraston’s Pond

• Mona Reservoir

• Pioneer Cemetery/Pioneer House 

• Mona City Cemetery

• Pole Canyon Hike

• Mona City Park

• Old Swasey Cemetery West of Town

Mona was quite literally the most boring place to grow up and I’ve still somehow managed to come up with half a day’s worth of interesting things to visit!

Someone better hire me for the Mona Tourism Board stat. Haha.

Think way outside the box and see what you can come up with near you.

Other Suggestions

If you’re still drawing a blank, do a little online research. You might not realize there’s a famous landmark in or near your town!

True Story

I’ve been to many of America’s smaller communities including places like Devils Lake, North Dakota, Salina, Kansas, Lewiston, Idaho and Elko, Nevada. Believe me when I say you can make your own good time anywhere.

With your list in hand, we’re almost ready to tour your local area. But first . . .

RESEARCH

Before you set out, take your list of places you plan to visit and do an internet search of each item. See if your potential sites have:

• Wikipedia articles

• News stories

• Are of historical significance or importance

• Hashtags (If there isn’t a hashtag, you can create one! How exciting!)

Other Questions to Ask:

• Is there a famous person buried in your local cemetery?
  
• A well-known rope swing you didn’t know about?
  
• Was that big lake in your backyard always there?
  
• Did Billy the Kid terrorize your town?
  
• Maybe your local church has a famous work of art you weren’t aware of?

The possibilities of historical oddities you might dig up are endless. It’s up to you to find the treasures.

View your exploration as a Grand Adventure . . . an exciting opportunity to do something new.

Before you head out, consider your list from a tourist’s point of view. Ask yourself, why are these special places interesting, historic or worth a stop on a long road trip?

PLANNING

Now that you’ve made your list of local attractions and you’ve learned all you can about them, it’s time to plan your trip. Take a half a day (or even better a full day, bring a lawn chair and linger longer if you want). Try to go when the weather is perfect. You’re going on a journey and you should enjoy every minute of it.

It’s time to Explore Your Backyard like a tourist.

My Tentative Schedule:

• Set out at 9:00. Get a drink and treat from the local gas station

• Take a short hike up the canyon, pick some summer flowers

• Wander through the cemetery, deliver flowers to a special grave

• Swing by city park, see if anything interesting is going on

• Local cafe for lunch, enjoy the daily special

• Burraston’s Pond (take chair and watch rope swing crazies)

• Visit old cemetery west of town

• Pioneer Cemetery/Pioneer House wander through park

• Get a world famous cinnamon roll for afternoon pick-me-up

• Go to reservoir and watch sunset

• Post pictures/journal about my day

Recommendations for All Your Trips

I don’t want to tell you how to do your exploring, but I do have some suggestions to make your trip more meaningful. 

Local food, drinks and snacks should be a part of your journey. If there’s a family owned shop or restaurant, make it a point to eat there before, after or during your trip.

If someone in town makes “The World’s Best Toffee” pop in and buy some.

Part of the fun of traveling is experiencing the local food and supporting local businesses. Don’t skip this important aspect of your journey.

If there’s no local restaurant or cafe, pack a lunch, make sure it’s something you enjoy. 

If you start your travel journey with good habits, they’ll serve you in the long run. 

Souvenirs/Geocache

Before you set out, there’s one final thing to consider . . . is there something you want to collect from the places you travel?

I collect Christmas ornaments, bracelets, and earrings, things I use in everyday life. Alex collects rocks, pins and patches. Not every place we visit sells what we collect . . . except for rocks . . . unfortunately there are rocks literally everywhere.

Consider what you’d like to collect and start now if you can. Here are some ideas for Souvenir collecting.

Lots of people with or without kids Geocache during their travels and collect Geocache virtual souvenirs, which can also be fun, although do your best not to look like a terrorist. 

BE INSPIRING

Make sure your phone or camera is charged. I’d suggest you take some pictures of your big trip!

In fact, I dare you to post pictures as you Explore Your Backyard (you can hashtag #exploreyourbackyard).

You never know who you’re going to inspire to step out of their comfort zone by stepping out of your comfort zone.

The truth is, it’s exciting to explore and it doesn’t matter if you’re in your own backyard or on the other side of the globe. There’s a good chance that Mary from Russia is interested in that weird rock you saw . . . post it online and give her the opportunity to see it. 

When you get home, pull out your travel journal and make a few notes about your day. I guarantee you’ll smile when you’re later journaling about the Taj Mahal or your African Safari and you reread your original post about the day you oh-so-bravely visited that freaky abandoned house outside of town. 

Repeat this process until you’re ready to move up.

I encourage you to share this with a friend who’s wants to travel but has no idea how to start. Let’s encourage everyone to step out of their comfort zone and try exciting things.

Thanks for Reading

Please feel free to share your questions or comments below. If you see any typos, let me know!

I encourage you to share my tribal knowledge with someone who loves or would love to travel.

The Art of Travel (TAOT) ~ Written by Kylie, a huge thanks to Alex for the great photos.