The end of tourism?

Alaskans didn’t come here for the crowds. People come here looking for quiet, peace, and beautiful wild country. Unfortunately, the well known places have been overwhelmed with busloads of cruise passengers. Those of us that grew up here have seen the deterioration in the tourist spots.

Even in Denali, where access to the interior of the park along the single park road has only been by bus since the 1970s, has deteriorated over the years because the buses are (or were) hourly. When cruise lines started cancelling, the National Park Service opened the road to private vehicles.

Because of Alaska’s 14 day quarantine we have had few Outside tourists, so this year Alaskans are having a rare chance to see Denali as I did back in the 60s, when you could stop to have a 2 hour lunch and photo shoot and no cars would go by.

Places like Denali, Glacier Bay, and Misty Fjords are all close to the limit for retaining wilderness characteristics because of visitor impact. Thank goodness having to drive several thousand miles to get here (or having to take a boat or fly here, as in much of Alaska, including where I live) keeps the hordes that long ago overwhelmed Yosemite an other western parks away. I’m so glad I visited Yosemite and Yellowstone back in the 60s. I thought they were crowded then, and I wouldn’t want to visit either now.

We really are loving these places to death. I do want to visit Aus, but won’t go to Uluru not only to respect aboriginal beliefs but because it’s now too popular. Friends who recently walked the Spanish Santiago pilgrimage told how crowded it was. And I’m glad my parents had a chance to visit the Galapagos back in the 70s before adventure cruising became a thing, but I’m not going there.

I have a long travel bucket list, but I suspect that like many others, I’ll have to be content with beautiful 4K aerial drone videos on my video wall in my 90s. Why did I wait until my 30s to start traveling overseas?

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Don’t you just love it when some magazine article describes someplace as a “hidden gem” or an “undiscovered paradise”? Talk about wrecking something.

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Now food tours are a thing. Our favorite local eateries were full of groups last summer ordering the tour sample menu while local workers are just trying to grab a quick lunch.

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I hate the overuse of the word secret. It’s the most misused word in the English language.

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If people know, it’s not a secret! :secret: :secret: :secret: :secret: :secret: :secret:

Yes, I looked up the study and read it. It isn’t really different than what has been noted in the past. They delved into it when they cleaned that cruise ship. They found evidence of the virus all over the place but it wasn’t thought to viable. The virus leaves a trace where it’s been but as it sits around it degrades and becomes the proverbial “shell of itself”.

Washing with soap also degrades the virus to a point that it’s not effective, just more quickly than letting it sit. Ultimately, most disinfectants do the same thing - they destroy it making it no longer effective, but it doesn’t disappear.

And when they give estimates about how long it “survives” on different surfaces (e.g. on plastic for 24 hours), it may be technically surviving but it is losing strength (viability) the whole time. So, touching virus that’s been on plastic for 10 minutes is really bad, but touching it 10 hours later is not as bad because it’s degrading.

And if you wash your hands/don’t touch your face, it doesn’t really matter either way :wink: (let’s all take a moment to be grateful for it not entering through the folds of our skin :wink:

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I actually think that

might have “secret” beat for that award :grin:

Well, I hate to say it but I’ll have to secretly disagree with you.

Do you mean like literally :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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Or as my little sister used to say, “Rilly and Trooolie?”

My Mexican son-in-law, who grew up in East L.A., says “For reals?”

I grew up in East Austin and I say “For reals”. Awww, the generation divide :wink:

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One real, two reals? Seems like a strange word to pluralize :slight_smile:

Yeah, you’ll never understand us kids :rofl:

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