Favorite American Vacation Destinations

    After watching the movie clip, "The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disneyland" I notice that the park looked like nothing had changed since I was last there. I thought it was interesting that this film was made in the 1970's, and the last time I was at Disneyland was the early 1990's. In my opinion, I think it is great that the Disneyland park has stayed almost the same for so long, I think people appreciate Disneyland more because it has gone unchanged for so long. As people continue to return to Disneyland they are able see the park just as they had left it and have everything exactly like they remembered. I am sure that Disneyland has changed a few things over the years, but they tend to keep the key attractions the same. For example, the famous "Teacup" ride and "It's a small world" ride will always be the same because that is what people want. 

       I also think our economy has become smarter with how to sell things to people, for example, the Reeses candy. This candy has been around for years, but whenever companies are selling their product to long they think it is time to change it is some way. So soon enough the market comes out with a new Reeses candy with white chocolate. The point is is that this altered version of the old Reeses candy is not selling as well because people want the old Reeses that brought back old childhood memories. I have noticed that no matter what age a person is in they will always smile and feel like a kid again when they see something from their past. I am bringing up this point about the Reeses candy because Disneyland in a sense is like the Reeses candy. People of all ages want to come back to Disneyland and remember everything and be able to have the same childhood feelings. 

Video # 1

        While watching the video "Canoeing on the Charles River," I noticed that every canoe that sailed by had a designated man controlling the canoe. Every man controlling the canoe was dressed in a white long sleeved shirt and some were even wearing ties. I thought it was out of the ordinary to be wearing a suit on a river, but then I realized, this must be one of the ways the people in the canoes traveled from one destination to another. I also realized then the nicely dressed men were controlling the canoes must have been the tour guides. They way the men and women dressed while traveling by canoe is very different from the way we dress today when we are in canoes.

         One thing that surprised me when watching this film was the women on the canoes. Since this film was made in 1904, I was not expecting to see any women on the canoes at all, but surprisingly I did. 

Video #2

          When comparing the video "Automobile race for the Vanderbilt cup" to current races today, I noticed the raceways are very unorganized. The people that are watching these races are eagerly crowding the raceway trying to see the oncoming race cars. Some of the viewers were swarming onto the racetrack, but our raceways today do not allow people this close to the road because it is dangerous. I also noticed that women did not attend these races, which I did expect because back in 1904 women did not attend most events men did.

Video #3

         When comparing the video "The ball game" to baseball games today, I noticed that the stadium in the video was much smaller than modern day stadiums. Also the players uniforms were not as flashy as they are today. Some other things that I noticed was the lack of safety for the players, considering the batter was not wearing a helmet. Lastly I observed that there wasn't any advertisement on the stadium, today that is a big part on how teams and the park get their funding.

" Why we travel" response

              In the article, "Why we travel" Pico Ayer makes a very unusual point about traveling. Ayer starts by explaining the difference between a traveler and a tourist. Pico Ayer says that a tourist complains about the environment they are observing, but a traveler indulges their surroundings. I agree with Ayer's in this point. When ever I think about a tourist i think of people that rome around all day aimlessly pointing at structure without knowing to meaning behind it. Tourist to me usually spend more money and time booking a room at a five star hotel than observing their surroundings. Then when I think about travelers, I think of a person that doesn't worry about the hotel their are sleeping in, they want to spend more energy on their sight seeing and taking as much as knowledge as they can. A traveler is someone that sees their surroundings with all of their senses, and interprets everything in a new way. 

               Ayer next  brought to my attention, that in order to be a traveler you don't have to go to a foreign country, Ayer explains that many people travel in their own cities. San Francisco for example, many people that live in this city have to walk ten blocks just to get to work. What Pico Ayer made me realize, was that in those ten blocks to work, you are seeing different cultures, structures and lifestyles. People don't need to travel to Africa to whitness poverty, you can simple venture down the street and examine your own community. My definition of traveling, before I read this article was, leaving your life and problems behind you and venturing to a new country. But what Pico made me realize is you don't have to leave the country you live in to be considered a traveler.

              An interesting comparison that Pico Ayer made was the notion between traveling and a love affair, these are completely different ideas but have the same meaning. Ayer proposed that a love affair can be like a journey to a foreign country. You can't speak the language, and you don't know where you're going, and you feel lost but in the same sense you feel complete. I have never related traveling in this aspect, it made me think when you travel you are in a different state of mind. You suddenly don't think about the past or future when you are traveling, you are only thinking about that moment in time, but you also do this when having a love affair.

Tourism

                  In this article "The Tourist," writen by Dean Maccannell, is a very bold article. What I mean by this is Maccannell discusses how tourist are wondering all over the world in search of what the world is really like. But the main problem with these tourist is they really have no idea what they are searching for or looking at. Once the tourist comes across their destination they wish that nobody was around to distract them or annoy them because they want to be able to see the statue. But what Dean Maccannell is getting at here is, you don't need to be alone with the statue to be able to see it, you need to see past the statue and into its history and worth in order to enjoy it.

               Another thing Dean Maccannell wrote about that I noticed people do quite often is they don't use the important area by it's full name. For Example, people all over the world want to come to California to see San Francisco. But now people have grown accustom to calling San Francisco, "The City". Now why would something with such significants be cut short by it's name? It just doesn't seem right that something stands before us with great worth and we cut it down my not using it's name.

             When reading this article it reminded me of the people that I know have traveled, and who are traveling for the wrong reasons. It is just two people in proticular that only travel for two reasons. One, because they have the money, and two just so they can say they did it. I am happy for them that they are able to do this and hopefully bring a little culture into their life. But in the same notion, their reasons for traveling bother me. There are many people out their that would love to travel and see where they were from or feel what it was like to live a certain way. While others take advantage of it and just travel to say they did it. 

"The lost of the creature"

          In the article "The Lost of the Creature," written by Walker Pierce, Pierce is trying to get people to stop and look at the beauty of the world for what it is. Just by looking at a scene, sush as the Grand Canyon, doesn't mean you are actually seeing what is there. But it is difficult for most to see the Grand Canyon for what it is, because other mediums such as post cards, books, and tourist folders have already formed a thought of the Grand Canyon for you to fallow. Pierce shows us that tourist already have an ideas in their head of what the Grand Canyon should look like from postcard. Pierce further explains that people compare things such as the Grand Canyon to what other medias have persuaded them to think about it. Once the tourist see's the Grand Canyon and finds out it looks exactly like the pictures they are satisfied and ready to leave. The real beauty and truth of the Grand Canyon was never discovered by the tourist because they had been blinded by a different source. Walker Pierce wants people to travel away from the paths and surrender and take in what your are seeing.

               Pierce then makes a good example of a family is lucky enough to have the entire park to themselves, they said it made the trip that much better. But how? How does having an entire park to yourself make it better? The park should be the same no matter how many people are around. Walker Pierce just wants us to breakaway from the faulty image of fun and how things should look, and start looking at the scene for what it is.

       When reading this essay it is sad to say that this is how people act. I can even recall past times in my life when I had a picture in my mind of where I was going and what it would look like. Except I didn't image what this place would look like, a book put this photograph in my mind. Once I arrive to my destination, I was disappointed in what I saw because it was different from the pictures. I admit that I was young and naive then, and I didn't take in what I was there and interpret it for what it was. It is sad to know that so many people think this way, I just sit back and wonder why people that think this way travel in the first place? If someone's only resource of their destination is a postcard, why go? Why don't they just travel by looking at pictures in a book, because to them there really is no difference.

Track 3 response

What does home mean today? To most people home is were they are taken care of and comfortable. To most that is an assistance living facility is where they feel at home. A home to most people doesn't necessarily have to be classified as big house with a yard and a dog. Most elderly today live in assistant living and love it. These elderly people are not capable of living on their own so they need additional help with a more scheduled lifestyle to keep them busy.

How are class and culture reflected on peoples homes? It has been shown in statistics that most nursing homes and assistant living homes have a majority of white americans living in them and only a very low percent are black. Assistant living homes deffinantly consist of a curtain class. These homes are not cheap to pay for so they are targeted toward people who make a set amount of money each year. So the lower class citizens don't have a chance in living in a assistant living facility. 

Are consumer culture and the media affecting our fantasies of home? Yes the media is effecting our fantasy of a home. Sadly the media controls most peoples lives already with hypmatizing them with what to think, eat and even wear. I think the media promotes nursing homes as a positive thing and hospitals want to convince the elderly to come and live at their hospital because it is the best and no other hospital can compare. After reading the article "Quality of life in assistent living facilities," some of the senior citizen living in nursing homes are not happy with their choice. These people have desires living a normal life again. Most elderly are frustrated with their choice of living in a nursing, they simply need more independence. This is were the media had brainwashed some of our senior citizens into thinking they were better off at a certain hospital then an assistant living facility. I think it is very important to do research on your own and nor rely on media to give you correct information.

Problems people face with creating a home? One of the biggest problems people face today is money. Money is the ultimate decision maker of were you are going to live. Some people can't afford an assistant living facility so they settle for less. It is sad to see our elderly family members unable to afford to proper living and can't be taking care of properly. Money is always going to be a problem in this economy and it is only getting worst. My grandparents bought a house equivalent to buy a new Honda today. Now a days people are having to move out of California because it is far to expensive to live here. My parents struggled more then my grandparents did when buying a house, and it is only going to be harder for my generation.