Late last year, I found myself updating some old travel posts and verifying links I had included, only to find them leading nowhere. Many of the businesses that made an impact on us a dozen years ago have ceased operations as they must have been unsustainable. People die, tastes change, and the world evolves. I get all that, and I’ve typically embraced change, but something else is at work here in the United States, as many mom-and-pop operations haven’t weathered the times.

While particular destinations grow more and more popular to the point that Caroline and I no longer feel the same attraction, the traditional mom-and-pop businesses that serviced travelers are falling by the wayside.

After enough posts have been checked, when I’m looking for the same thing in Europe, I find that there’s a judicious number left. I’m verifying again and again that the majority of businesses we’ve visited in the past ten years are still open.

Disappointed that so many services that we’ve enjoyed here in the States are gone. I suppose it’s indicative of our form of capitalism that everything must churn and, ultimately, die.

Image created using Dall-E.