February Focus: Day Ten
I usually luck out with the Airbnb’s I choose. I don’t just go for the most popular spot. I’ll take lots of time to go through reviews, the photos of the property, a map of the surrounding area. The home looks as expected and I always seem to settle in right away. Right now I’m in a little cabin overlooking Lake Bomoseen. It’s very cozy. It’s just what I needed. However, if I were a professional critic, I’d have this one qualm: I don’t feel like I’m actually in Vermont.
I look out the window and see the rolling peaks of the Green Mountain State. I drive around and encounter the farmlands. The cat gets to see the surrounding forest. I’m for sure in the Uplands. But here in the cabin, I could be anywhere. There’s no decor to signal I’m in Vermont. This may be a nitpick, but for how liberal and sustainable a state this is, I’d expect homeopathic supplies inside. Natural hand soap or dishwashing liquid. Instead I got mass-produced corporate items. It’s not my cabin and I have no say in how it’s ran, I just know what I would do if I opened my home to the general public, especially in destinations, not tourist spots.
When I’m on the road, I like to buy products specific to that area. I want to sample all the town or state has to offer, as I’m not going to get too many household products made in New York City. The state, yes, but even that’s not easy to come by. When I’m elsewhere, I like to feel how the locals feel; to see what options they have at their disposal and partake in what may not always be available for purchase. Luckily for me, I found a Vermont-based gift shop only one town away, where I may have overbought, but picked up all things local. I even got some fabric softener which I don’t normally use, only because it was made here.
We’ve got an uphill battle ahead of us in America right now. All the Powers that Be want us to “work together”, but it feels like they’d rather we conform to what they want us to be. Be different and be yourself, but only in these constrained perimeters. Or else you’ll be canceled and called a nutcase. I don’t believe in that. I believe we’re free to be whoever we’re meant to be. And part of that includes absorbing the local culture of wherever you plant your feet, whether you’re aware you’re doing it or not.
I believe these fifty states of ours act like their very own little countries, with their own customs, traditions, and yes, products. And I want to see them all so I may take a little piece of it when I go. I hope I encounter more rentals that embrace their communities and showcase how special these places are. There’s something unique to find everywhere. If you don’t at least try and buy local when you can, soon there might not be anymore “local” to be found.