October 13, 2009
It always takes me some time to pick the cities for a Shop Local Etsy Finds. For this month's edition, I went through tons of old emails looking for cities around the world that friends and family had mentioned when writing to me. As always, in every city I looked up, Etsy sellers were there.
One of my best friends took a spur of the moment trip out to Portland to explore the area. He sent me an email two days later: "I'm camping on the beach where they filmed The Goonies. I'm officially the coolest person you know." At that moment, I was inclined to agree.
My sister spent four months living in Perth back in college. It's about as far as you can get from New York without floating in the middle of the Indian Ocean. While there, she managed to crash her car into a kangaroo three times. Sadly, I'm not making that up.
Sometimes you try to travel vicariously. When my wife went with her sister on a ten day tour of Israel I was expecting her to come back with stories and pictures covering 5,000 years of history. Instead, we've got a photo essay and travelogue featuring nearly every bar and club on the Israeli coast. Sometimes traveling vicariously backfires on you.
This is where I spend all of the big holidays every year now that my parents have up and left New York to settle in North Carolina. They've been there long enough that my mother is picking up traces of a Southern accent. How that's going to mesh with her Bronx/Long Island accent is something I'm looking forward to hearing.
My father's family came over from the former Czechoslovakia back in the 1920s. At one point, my dad heard that there was a bridge in Prague with our last name. Naturally, he assumes that means that we must be descended from Czech or Slovak nobility. Every so often, he tells me to head back and claim our family throne. So, at least I've got that going for me.
Not only is San Antonio by far the hottest city I've ever visited (seriously, it was at least 160 degrees), but I was able to pull off a tux and cowboy boots combo when I went to a wedding there. It's also going to be the home of my grandmother's first great-grandchild when my cousin gives birth any day now. They make baby-size cowboy boots, right?
Looking for more Etsy Finds? Try these links:
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Know of any other great finds that fit today's theme? Then comment on Etsy's Blog and let us know.
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