Monday, August 18, 2008

Little towns full of stuff

I was in La Conner, WA yesterday. It's a quaint little town, founded over a century ago, right on the Swinomish Channel. It's one of those little towns that used to be fueled by industry and now mostly relies on tourists to survive.

My sweetie had been there before and thought I would like it. Perhaps I was just in a mood, but each little shop struck me as full of junk. Boutiques with unique clothing, art galleries with sculptures, paintings and jewelry, even a cookware shop all seemed...superfluous. Useless. The browsing crowds (and it was quite crowded, I had to circle the main block twice to find a place to park) felt avaricious, filled with the desire to acquire. Um, did I mention I might have been in a mood?

Despite browsing through several shops I bought nothing. Not even a book at the well-appointed book store. Not even a chocolate at the candy shoppe. We had lunch and that was that.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your description reminds me of making my annual summer trip "downtown" in any of the touristy places I've lived where I've wondered the same things. The only shops I enjoyed were the Chrismas shops (a goose egg with a painted scene of Sitka's Russian Orthodox Church is unusual), and the T-shirt shops ("Alaska- where men are men and women win the Iditarod"). Then there's Cannon Beach. One a year was enough!

Momma P