Herreshoff
Reged: 03/15/03
Posts: 392
Loc: greenwich CT
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As per Mike R's comment on the homogenization of the Caribbean, here's a rather sad story on the same process occuring in Wyoming. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/12/travel/escapes/12JACK.html
I do understand the need for folks to make money - that doesn't make the process any easier to witness (although to me, Jackson's Hole was lost long ago). Fortunately for me, I was a footloose kid in the late 60s and early 70s and saw a lot of places: Crete, Puerto Rico's west coast, Martha's Vineyard, Colorado, before they were mainstreamed. I'd feel sorrier for my own kids if I didn't realize that, just as those who visited my "secret" spots in the 30's wouldn't recognize the same place in the 60's, today's traveller will have their own experiences that their children will envy. Oh well - my rule of thumb is to never re-visit a place after 20 years away-the shock is too great.
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Mike R
Reged: 05/26/03
Posts: 15742
Loc: Stinson Lake - New Hampshire
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at the risk of repeating myself.................
" they called it paradise....I dont know why....you call some place paradise......kiss it goodbye"
Good article......
I too remember the Cape and the Islands when it was heaven on earth.....as well as Key West....wouldn't go back for free now...too painful to see.....and Colorado aint far behind it either.....a ruling was just passed in the town I live in out here to build a strip mall with a Super Safeway...passed by 1%....the developers have promised to make it "fit right in" with a mountain environment....yeah right!.....you can dress a warthog up in a Vera Wang Gown...but its still a wart hog.....
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karma is a beautiful thing at times
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Sandy
Reged: 09/11/03
Posts: 220
Loc: South Philadelphia
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I agree about Key West, Mike ... went downhill fast in the last few years, especially. I was there 10 years ago and it still maintained some characteristic charm. Went last spring with the fiancÈ -- after I bragged to him about it -- and all we saw were college students falling out of the bars on Duvall Street, college students drunk on the catamaran while headed for snorkeling (OK, so were we ... but hell, I'm talking 'bout college kids here), college students drunk at every nice restaurant ... drunken college students overtaking the folks singers at Sloppy Joe's (wait, that was us ... ) a "CVS Coming Soon" sign on the marquee of a beautiful art-deco movie theater ... chains, chains, everywhere ... even though we stayed in a beautiful B&B (The Mermaid and the Alligator) and loved it. The mistake we made was leaving the B&B!
Cheers, Sandy
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South Philly vs. St. Barth -- Hmmm ...
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Mike R
Reged: 05/26/03
Posts: 15742
Loc: Stinson Lake - New Hampshire
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Sandy....yeah Key West rocked way back when....I remember sitting on Duval Street in a little funky bar.....slurpin oysters....drinking beer...it was all so mellow.....now its T Shirt shops..trinket shops....tattoo parlors...and what not...oh well...and Cape Cod was a place where you could find quaint little beach towns....settle into a clam shack and get a pitcher of beer, a bucket of clams and watch the world go by......now there is a three hour wait to experience that alongside a couple of hundred of your favorite friends whom you never met......and you know what??.....when the transformation of both places was begining to take place.......and people noticed it and drew attention to it......they were called overreactors and overly dramatic and "don't worry everything will be fine..relax".. etc etc.......
so thats when I finally said.....screw it...if I cant change it... then Im going to at least make money off it ....
and the wheel goes round and round..................
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karma is a beautiful thing at times
Edited by Mike R (12/12/03 11:56 AM)
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Eric
Reged: 10/07/02
Posts: 679
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I had never been to Key West before so I can't make any comparisons between then & now. However, my wife & I made our 1st visit a couple of Februarys ago for my 40th B-day and had a great time.
As a matter of fact, one of my favorite parts of the trip was drinking beer, eating shrimp & listening to a guy play the guitar at Sloppy Joe's while my wife shopped.
Eric
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Herreshoff
Reged: 03/15/03
Posts: 392
Loc: greenwich CT
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Well, that's kind of the point I originally made. I was in Key West in, I think, 1971, and was later horrified at the changes I observed when I returned with my kids in 1991. But ol' Hemingway would have been just as upset had he made it to 1971. We each discover our own places but, as noted, it's best not to return after 20 years away.
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Island Visitor
Reged: 12/19/02
Posts: 10396
Loc: Retraité
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"It's best not to return after twenty years away"
Probably good advice. I know that many on here have seen major changes in SBH over the last twenty years. So as not to be shocked someday, I vow to go to SBH at least twice a year. That way, the changes will be gradual enough so as not to be a shock to me.
Seems like a good idea to me.
;)
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