the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time. | bill bryson (via)

i think one of the greatest gifts of living in a city that many consider to be a vacation destination is to occasionally do just as the quote above says -“experience everyday things as if for the first time.”

take this saturday for instance. R came down from LA to join me for a girls’ weekend. with the forecast dictating summer-like temperatures, i knew our planned activities beckoned the outdoors. so i suggested a day trip to coronado for bike riding and a pit stop to the hotel del. she obliged. and my goodness did the weather ever as well.

december 2013.

i’m not gonna lie, my parents and i have recreated this exact weekend many times before. for father’s days and birthdays and just because we can. and maybe i’ve taken for granted that a quarter tank of gas and and $8 rental fee are all it takes for an afternoon of fun and fitness.

but i think it’s important to take a different perspective every so often. to remind yourself that you live in a vacationer’s paradise. and that it’s a real privilege to be able to decide on a saturday morning that by saturday afternoon you’d like to be pedaling a beach cruiser (with a basket if you’re lucky) along the sidewalks of 92118.

so looking ahead to approximately two weeks from now (yikes!), i want to challenge myself to do these kind of touristy things more often in 2014. i may be blessed enough to travel by plane, train and automobile to cities and states across the country, but lest i forget what lies just miles beyond my own front door. while i have driven these roads and seen these sights and tasted these flavors for nearly all of my past 28 years, that doesn’t mean i can’t choose to experience them through a new set of senses. so here’s to deepening my love for my city this year and to approaching known experiences as if for the first time.