Grazing Rites

I’m not sure that I’ve ever understood the fascination with Hawaii. Today I thought to educate myself and when I actually sat down to see what was available it all seemed either beach, underwater, or food related. They have some military and astronomical attractions (apparently they have something like 16 observatories) but by-and-large it seems to be all about beaches, water activities, and food.

Now don’t get me wrong I can see the appeal in a lot of that but I think the level of interest might just have something to do with where you’re from. I’m from a coastal city however with relatively easy access to beaches – I could go lay on a beach this weekend were I so inclined. Okay, well, not THIS weekend, weekend after next. Actually, that’s not a bad idea…

The point is the allure of a pristine beach doesn’t have quite the sway over me that it seems to have over other people. Water activities could be fun but when we’re talking water-based fun I think about water parks and tubing – not scuba diving or snorkeling. I guess part of it is that I’m not a big animal guy, zoos aren’t really my thing – they tend to bore me to be completely honest. I suppose that’s one of the great things about Marine World or Discovery Cove or whatever the Six Flags in Vallejo is calling itself these days – thrills rides and animals so I can be happy and so can any normal people who might happen to come along (it appears my disinterest in animal life puts me in a minority). Frankly it’s a wonder I enjoyed myself at SeaWorld in Orlando as much as I did - I actually want to go back to SeaWorld and not for the rides…how weird is that? Although I WOULD still go on the rides, that’s not the point. But SeaWorld is the exception, not the rule.

So that brings us to the third thing, the food. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not very adventurous when it comes to food. Prior to 2003 I’d never had a quesadilla for example – don’t get me wrong I enjoyed it but I wouldn’t travel for it. I wasn’t completely sold on prawns until I had some at Wolfgang Puck’s in Vegas, now I’m crazy for them. When it comes to food I like the familiar well done or with a slight twist, although when on vacation I do try to have at least one new food, that’s more of a footnote, it’s not why I go.

And what makes Hawaii different from Cancun?

For that matter, why was I so keen to go to Cancun years ago? Was it peer pressure? People at work, specifically Tara and Eleana, had been telling me all about their trips to Cancun and they sounded so great and affordable. Of course when Burton and I came within a hair’s breadth of going I was a different person in different circumstances. The clubbing nightlife in the resort appealed to me much more than it does today, and I was prepared to splurge pretty hard if I recall correctly my spending floor was $1,400 and the ceiling $3,000 - just for me! And that’s not even accounting for 5 years worth of inflation! A spending floor! Like some deals would have somehow been beneath me! Nowadays the prospect of spending more than a grand on anything that doesn’t take me to Europe seems ludicrous. I remember one of the big appealing points of Cancun was the swim-up bar – I’ve never been a big drinker and I drink a lot less now than I did then! Mormons probably indulge more than I do now. The island of golf karts sounded pretty cool as I recall but now I have trouble seeing that as being amusing for very long. Heck, I went on at length about the Coco Bongo and I didn’t even LIKE The Mask!

Is it a matter that I’m older now or is it perhaps just that I’ve travelled more and know myself better? I’ve been to Europe, which was a pretty eye-opening experience with regards to travel. I’ve been to Orlando. I know for $600 I can go ride The Hulk and see Sleuths and touch a dolphin. Compared to that why would I pay $900 to sit on a beach? Back then I just knew that I wanted to go places, have some fun and unique experiences but I didn’t really know what I wanted or would enjoy, not really, not as well as I do now.

I will admit I still have yet to stay at an honest-to-goodness resort, I am still very curious as to what that would be like. The phrases “pool scene” and “social coordinator” are still slight head-scratchers for me.

If I were to make a list of things I wanted to do in Hawaii right now it would probably have like 3 things on it – see Pearl Harbor, an astronomic observatory (and we have one of those where I live too), and maybe parasailing if I could screw up the courage. My list of things to do in Toronto is at LEAST twice as long! Toronto! Hell, Wonderland alone would probably be as much fun.

Now granted at lot of this could just be my ignorance. I know so very little about what Hawaii has to offer. Maybe they have amusement parks and water parks and improv dinner shows and other such amusement but that’s why I’m putting the question out there: What’s the deal with Hawaii?

But what if that’s not the case? What if it’s all lounging around on beaches, underwater adventures, and exotic food? When have you ever seen me search that out in the last 4 years?

Actually I checked and Hawaii has no amusement parks and only one water park. They’ve got a couple Hard Rocks though…

So, folks, why would you want to go to Hawaii?

Update: This makes it look pretty appealling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laDBokx-K0I

This entry was posted on May 26, 2009 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.