Tourist or Adventourist?

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When thinking of either your best interaction with our living world or your favorite memory of one, or perhaps just what you would envision as the best way to see the world which do you prefer?

~Be part of an organized group (Tour)..those in which you stroll through or are driven or taken about having items pointed out or readily viewable.

~Venture out on your own to see what you will see and finding something on your own, or just enjoying that you tried to see something wonderful.

~Combination of interesting facts given and being set out to see what you can find. Having your head filled with the facts you can go forth with the needed information and have a greater thrill at finding things on your own.

~Watch from your window and enjoy the view, either because you no longer have the drive to climb the mountain, the ability, or the interest.

~Sit on the couch hoping to catch a good view cuz why go find what you can sit back and just enjoy.

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I have always chipped right in where ever I could. Be it harvesting rice on Bali. Lugging orange crates in Morocco, fishing with the locals off the southern tip of India , harvesting asparagus in New Zealand or picking Olives on Crete. It's these moments where I have laboured and shared that I had my best time and the most fun.

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So, Algis what you're saying is that sleeves rolled up in and about with the locals is the best way for you to get enjoyment from your natural surroundings?
I can understand that, it has its positive points.

Im torn between straight out adventure and a combination of adven/tour as I have climbed into a car for a drive and ended up hikiing through the mountains, and I also enjoy very much getting as much information as possible with the freedom to go out and adventure on my own as well.

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I have the best of both worlds, actually.
I live on an island, my home is less than
a mile from the beach, so that anytime I
want to enjoy the beauty of nature, it is
right there, waiting on me to go and look,
take a walk, look for sharks teeth and sand
dollars, and then when it is disgustingly hot.
I LOVE to go touristing to the Smoky Mtn Natl
Park. They have no showers, and your scalp
gets numb from the freezing water washing
your hair..but they do have bathrooms,
and they don't allow those darned HUGE
moterhomes to run their generators after
10PM Thank you God! I love to wake up
in the middle of the night, listen to the
night sounds - listen to the water splashing
along in the river next door - and if I can
get a full moon with that- I have died and
went to heaven. I used to be able to hike
all over that park. Now,if I can hike around
a 1 mile trail, and I am doing something.
I THINK that I would love to live somewhere
out in the wildlands, about 5 - 10 miles from
my nearest neighbor. I am a recluse of sorts.
But my health tells me, don't you dare.
I went to Mexico last year & wound up in
the hospital. This year I went to S.Carolina
(Lake Murray area) & wound up in the
hospital-emergency appendix burst AND
inflammatory bowel disease.Now THIS was
a rural county hospital. So I would be in one
heck of a fix if I couldn't get myself to a
hospital wouldn't I? I love to combine both
because I have innately within me - a set
of places which I have always wanted to
visit, as long as I can remember. To France,
but not to Paris. To England, but not to
just London, To wild woods in Germany,
wild mountains in Switzerland. To Tibet
To the places of ancient civilizations.Yes,
I think that dreams and longings are the
most intimate and natural stuff of life.

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hnh, I go for a hike or walk. Which option does that fall under?

oh, got it, adventure.... I see I'm in good company.

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Sigh

I don't feel safe enough to hike by myself anymore.

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That sucks, li'l k.

pd, whoa! Nice.

I'm a wimpy wimp about traveling these days. Went with the sozlet to Seattle last summer (2001) and it was painful, I'm tellin' ya. Pre-kiddo, travelled a fair amount, alone preferred. (Have been known to punch owners of wandering hands in European countries.) That's a little different from alone in the wilderness, though, which I used to do every chance I got -- I think I'd be nervous about that now, too.

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It does suck Soz. I dunno if I'm being careful or paranoid.

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I really think it's a country-city thing. I grew up in the country, so open space is just open space for me. But I've dated a couple of city girls (one for many years now) with whom I tried to share open space, and for them open space is filled with nameless, faceless terrors -- bears and coyotes and serial killers and whatnot. Damn the media.

Funny thing is, now that I've been living in cities for a few years, I notice that I'm starting to think, in wee tiny ways, in the same manner. Not sure if it's the city of the discretion of adulthood (ha!) which is doing it, though. I can't bring myself to drive like I used to, either.

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I feel just fine about wandering around in the middle of nowhere as long is there is another person. Even if it's another woman. But, camping over-night stills freaks me out a bit. I haven't done that in years.

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Adulthood. I was just thinking the same thing. I'm a city girl who has been rather reckless for most of her (my, whatever) life, and am getting less and less so. I've done many solo wilderness trips, many more with a few friends, never worried about nothin'. Well, mosquitoes pissed me off. But now, I do. Could be media, I guess, but I think it's advanced age. (How old are you, anyway, pd? I thought I saw something about under 30, but if you were 13 for the '82 Brewer's season...)

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Sense of mortality - and for you Soz, you've got a helpless little dependent

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True, true. Makes a difference.

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Nah, I was 13 for the '88 Dodgers season. I don't have a calculator, though, so I can't give you a good answer at the moment...

I'm thinking the sozlet's got something to do with it.

I did have a particularly reckless year (serious car wreck, misdiagnosed spinal fracture from a mountainbiking mishap, broken ankle and ver-lucky-not-to-be-crushed in a worksite accident, misjudged water availability on a solo backcountry trek) after which the decision-making got a little more sound -- but a hell of a lot more boring. I'm too young to live forever, damn it...

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He's a mere babe!

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why thanks!

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I have become more fearful - is this aging? Or just conditioned learning to all the fear messages in our culture? Probably both.

I have climbed way beyond the tree line in the High Sierras, jumped out of airplances, scuba-dived (dove?) off of Cozumel, skiied beyond my limits, and stared deeply into the soil in my garden. Total immersion is the only way to go, whether it be a culture, or a physical environment.

However, that didn't stop me from learning as much as I could about what I was proposing to do before the fact. When visiting a new culture, I would want to learn as much as I could about that culture, its history, its psyche, its day to day problems. Clearly, for me then, a combination of adventure and tourism (which can't be the right word) is preferred.

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sumacamus -

where in the high sierras? that's where i grew up, my old stomping ground.

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If I had a detailed map, I might be able to reconstruct, or rather, recognize some of the names, but all I have is a state by state road atlas, which isn't adquate. And it was almost 40 years ago. But we had a wonderful time, slept in the snow in August at the end of a high lake of snowmelt. The granite boulders, and shale, made for a tough climb, but doable. It was wonderful. If I remember correctly, it was in the northern part of the range, but I may be wrong about that. But not near major tourist areas.

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