Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Tourism shouldn't be passive
I have been looking at some rural tourism sites and most of the activities don't expect much out of visitors except eating, sleeping, and looking,or don't forget a pool so kids have something to do, which says something about the typical view of what constitutes a family vacation.
Here is this rural area with miles upon miles of uncrowded vistas disected by grass and gravel roads just waiting for bicyclists, but no mention of active creation of your own entertainment. Put the family on bicycles. Go for a walk.
Come on rural areas sharpen up your hosting skills, put out a country welcome and get people involved, there must be 100s of projects that need doing that teach skills and are fun if you have the right attitude, such as: tree planting, song bird banding, planting wild flowers, bird watching & identification, fence mending, weed pulling, picking sweet corn, gardening, building shelters, ...
Sorry suckers, we are not consumers. We don't want to attend, "festivals throughout the year feature demonstrations that show how things were done down on the farm in the good ol' days" when there is a countryside out there to explore, people to get to know, and lakes to wade.
Shut off the TV, forget the boring professional sports teams with the beer sponsors, get out of air conditioning, get up early and take a ride down a country lane. Believe me it beats the heck out of knocking a ball in a cup. Warning, there's no coming back.
Oh yeah. Don't confuse bicycles with something that needs a motor, petroleum fuel, and noise to make an impression. The only thing a motorcycle shares with a bicycle is that both have 2 wheels, after that the routes diverge. Read Robert Frost.
Here is this rural area with miles upon miles of uncrowded vistas disected by grass and gravel roads just waiting for bicyclists, but no mention of active creation of your own entertainment. Put the family on bicycles. Go for a walk.
Come on rural areas sharpen up your hosting skills, put out a country welcome and get people involved, there must be 100s of projects that need doing that teach skills and are fun if you have the right attitude, such as: tree planting, song bird banding, planting wild flowers, bird watching & identification, fence mending, weed pulling, picking sweet corn, gardening, building shelters, ...
Sorry suckers, we are not consumers. We don't want to attend, "festivals throughout the year feature demonstrations that show how things were done down on the farm in the good ol' days" when there is a countryside out there to explore, people to get to know, and lakes to wade.
Shut off the TV, forget the boring professional sports teams with the beer sponsors, get out of air conditioning, get up early and take a ride down a country lane. Believe me it beats the heck out of knocking a ball in a cup. Warning, there's no coming back.
Oh yeah. Don't confuse bicycles with something that needs a motor, petroleum fuel, and noise to make an impression. The only thing a motorcycle shares with a bicycle is that both have 2 wheels, after that the routes diverge. Read Robert Frost.
Labels: bicycle, fun, gravel, prairie
