Looking out on the run way of San Diego’s International Airport I saw a massive Hawaiian airlines jet loading up, a similar one to the plane I took to Hawaii this summer. This vision of everyday people taking flight over seas reminded me of “America’s western frontier mythology” mentioned in Goewey's essay "Careful, You May Run Out of Planet" (148). Despite the fact that these passengers were about to cover 2500 miles, none of them seemed to look like the rugged Lewis and Clark adventurers depicted in books. The convenience of modern air travel is a testament to the lengths America has come in its search for new frontiers. It only takes five hours for a family on vacation to arrive at a remote corner of the globe in search of a sandy beach and sunny weather. However, this obsession with freedom is only amplified because most tourist in Hawaii are from California, a place that already offers stunning weather and breathtaking beaches. Tourists from california that vacation in Hawaii support the idea that “the expansion of the frontier continues despite facts that suggest there is no where left to go” (155). America and myself included contribute to making up new frontiers because the old frontiers have come too close to resembling home.
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