Vacation...

Let's see, now that I'm averaging about one blog entry a month, there seems to be a lot to recap. I'm sitting in a local coffee shop in Fredericksburg, VA. To my left is a small family of four. They're sipping their oversized lattes while snacking on their Pepperidge Farm Cookies, which they've "snuck" into the coffee shop--the way my friends and I used to sneak junk food into a movie. They're reading from the Bible, while the homeless man to my right struggles to keep his eyes open. Oh wait, he's not homeless, just dirty. I'm not sure what his deal is. All I know is that when I asked him if I could please plug my laptop into the outlet behind his feet, he didn't understand what I was asking, and unnecessarily removed himself from the seat, while I went about my task.

Ahh, yes. Fredericksburg. I love to hate this town. I sometimes think of this town as the place where possibilities go to die. The town has so much potential to be a great little place, complete with real downtown shops where you can buy things you actually need. I can see stores like Banana Republic and GAP lining the historic streets of the town, but disguised with aged columns, and heavy doors. But instead, they just have antique stores lining the streets, with the occasional bar or restaurant stuck between everything. The demographics of the area aren't compatible with the target market for Banana Republic or GAP. The local shopping mall has just removed Express from its line up. Golf courses have been converted into strip malls that compete for space with the new-construction neighborhoods. There only real place to buy things is a little dream the lcoals call "Central Park". This former golf course is now a paved grid littered with stop lights and SUVS. You have your pick of 30 different chain restaurants and "specialty stores" like TOTAL WINE or the Big Screen TV store. They have a store selling only batteries, or just vitamins. I find it very annoying and gross.

It's always a bit exhausting whenever I visit VA. There's just so much personal history to this place. There's like an entire decade's worth of struggles everywhere I look. It's sometimes hard for me to maintain my current state of mind while navigating through everything. But I guess that's just the way it is.