Finding the local flavor on your own
- Melissa Herrera: Not Waiting for Friday
- June 18, 2023
- 1203
I’m seeing lots of smiling faces taking vacations these first weeks of June. I’ve seen pictures from Florida, South Carolina, Colorado and Washington. Ohioans love the Carolinas. Here is where I tell you I’ve never spent a day in Myrtle Beach.
I’ve always been an out-of-the-resort-or-beach-town type of girl. I blame my mom, who would send for pamphlets from the remotest tourist attractions. I realize the privilege I had in taking many motor home vacations in my youth, but I am glad for heading just off the beaten path sometimes. Even though we went to the badlands and saw Mount Rushmore doesn’t mean we also didn’t stop at 100 other quirky historical sites. Mom didn’t miss one, and she gave us a love for the open road.
I had a nail tech last fall at a beauty college who gave me pause during the exquisite service she was giving me while filing down my callouses. She doesn’t take road trips, and obliviously, I asked her why. She looked at me and said, “As a black woman in America, I don’t feel safe.” I was humbled as my stories of the open road faded away. We discussed it at length and had a really good conversation. We can’t be afraid to discuss it.
If you’ve never seen “Lovecraft Country” (a series that lasted only one season on HBO Max — an absolute crime) or the movie “Green Book,” bring yourself into the know. These are very small references to what she described to me. We cannot speak of our carefree vacation experiences without recognition that others may never have experienced the same. It annoys us to be reminded, and I say let’s stay annoyed.
Road trips and resort vacations are altogether different beasts. I wish I could describe what I feel when I tell you I don’t long for a resort but for what’s outside it.
I suspect having your every whim taken care of is amazing, but then you’d miss the exquisite tacos in the stand by the zocalo or that view of the beach from the rocky point accessible only by local taxi. Resorts work hard to create an “experience” for their guests, but I guess I’d rather find it on my own. I don’t want anyone to bring the local “flavor” to my doorstep. I need to feel it myself in the place it exists naturally. I don’t want it to be manufactured.
We’re not taking any trips this summer. We usually go in the fall, and one may be in the works for the end of August or beginning of September. We need to tend to a few things with family in Mexico, so what better time to turn it into a vacation?
What I really long for is a road trip to Mexico. The last time we drove down it was the early 2000s and let me tell you how much I miss it. When we rented a car in Huatulco to amble around the tiny towns, I thought I was in heaven. Our kids remember the long road trips we took down, which probably totals five to six for them. We’d pack our vehicle tightly, putting lots of things tied up in a tarp on top of the car, and head off for an adventure. I would never trade one second of those treks.
I need another trip out west. I want to drive my car through each state and again see the magic that exists in the amber waves, the purple mountain majesty. There’s so much to discover in the world, and we keep growing older. I long to stay in place yet wander. Can those two coexist? I think they can because who’s going to stop me? I remind myself of what I’m able to do while recognizing the limitations we put on ourselves and others. When I’m gassed up and ready to roll, there is no better feeling. I want us all to able to enjoy that feeling.
Melissa Herrera is a columnist, published author and drinker of too many coffees based in Holmes County. You can find her book, “TOÑO LIVES,” at www.tinyurl.com/Tonolives or buy one from her in person (because all authors have boxes of their own novel). For inquiries or to purchase, email her at junkbabe68@gmail.com.