A few weeks back, we took our children on a small, Summer adventure. The only requirement for our outing was that it needed to be something different than we’d done before. After a couple of weeks of brainstorming, we’d whittled it down to two finalists: a day at Knott’s Berry Farm (our children had never been) or an afternoon on Catalina Island (twenty-six miles across the sea from where we live). The cost for either adventure was the same.
We went for the floating rock.
Here are five reasons that going to Catalina (or any similar adventure) might be better for your family than going to (just another) amusement park:
1) You’ll feel like you traveled: Catalina Island is, though nowhere near as exhausting, much like a day of travel. We handed over our ticket, crossed a soggy dock, then stepped into a boat that, though it only cruised for a total of twenty-six miles, dropped us in another world, floating in the middle of the sea. Even in small measure, that’s the definition of travel. Spending time in traffic, fighting for decent parking, then rushing inside to hurry up and wait, sounds to me like just another day of living in Southern California.
2) No lines: Regardless of what amusement park you throw your money at, you’re bound to spend much of your time (our most precious resource) shuffling from one line to the next…then waiting. On Catalina, we spent our time doing things, and going places. Even when we were doing nothing, we were looking across the sea at civilization that, from where we stood, could only be pondered.
About the only thing you’re probably daydreaming while waiting in a sweaty line at an amusement park, is for it to move a little faster.
3) A much needed break from the norm: It was rewarding to give our children some different, more enlightening things to see; sights unspoiled, rather than factory assembled. Everywhere I crane my neck at an amusement park, my eyes fall on things recently rolled from an assembly line. Providing our little ones with natural things to look on, and then discussing what they saw, was an invaluable learning experience (for all of us). On Catalina, our children gazed on a landscape built by the indelible architect of nature, that framed houses and boardwalks constructed without masses of traffic in mind.
4) Quiet cleanliness: I don’t know about you, but my everyday world doesn’t have nearly enough of either one. Amusement parks are filled with big, metal behemoths, and screaming, tantrumy children, kicking and crying until they get their way. The prevailing sound on Catalina was the endless rolling of the ocean’s constant whisper. One day there, away from the cacophony of the city, and I felt like I’d been away for a week.
5) A higher grade of memories: Why do we take our camera with us whenever we go on vacation (or outside the house, for some)? Because we want the memories, or at least instantly accessible representations, as though the pictures are proof of how much fun we had. Choosing an outdoor adventure will help to build better memories. By ushering our children out of their usual, and probably tired, environment, and plugging them into something wholly unfamiliar, we give them more to think about, more to question, and something more specific to recall later, rather than allowing one childhood experience to simply bleed into the next.
It doesn’t matter what your adventure is, just think about it.
Don’t do what you think you’re supposed to do, or get caught in the trap of doing what you’ve always done before. Take an adventure with purpose, and ask yourselves ahead of time; would you rather have this:
OR THIS:
Writer Dad
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i would SWIM twenty-six miles just to go on Supreme Scream at Knott’s. and don’t forget about their funnel cake. i would swim 13 miles there just for that. then swim 13 miles back and barf it up on the shore and then get on my hands and knees and lick it up because it would still taste better than any other food on the face of the planet. this post borders on blasphemy. i expect better from you, writerdad.
Bright Boy,
I am glad that you would have the time to be so filthy. You must not have children. And if you believe that regurgitated vomit is the best tasting food on the planet, then you must be living in London.
Note to those living in the UK: Bright Boy does live in London (and isn’t that bright).
I agree.
We don’t do amusement parks anymore.
We love to go on family bike rides that end in a picnic.
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I’m quite envy with you. I’m living in Jakarta and I’m always planning of having some time off and go to places besides mall and amusement park, but that plan never becomes reality.
This article really inspires me, thanks to you WriterDad, I’m finally have the spirit to travel again.
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@ Vered: I can’t wait for my little ones to get old enough for a family bike ride. That sounds like a lot of fun.
@Adrian: Thank you. That is very kind
Another strong vote for Catalina as the finest day out you can have in those parts.
vanderleuns last blog post..Dream Tickets 2008: McCain-Clinton, Obama-Obama
How serene!!!
I know that I always enjoyed camping trips with my family way more than amusement parks. We would get all the way to the front of the line at the amusement park and I would:
A) Get to scared to go on the ride
B) Have to go to the bathroom too bad to get on the ride.
Camping was GREAT! I could run around, fish, make fires, play horseshoes, eat Smores (insanely cheaper than funnel cakes), etc. Plus, the whole world was my urinal.