what do we enjoy?

From Rugh's Are We There Yet? The Golden Age of American Family Vacations

"The tensions between preservation, profit, and polarity meant that family vacationers experienced the national wilderness with all its hazards, including boiling thermal features, steep canyons, swift-moving rivers, and hungry bears."  p. 138

Writing about the mid-20th century she describes something that may no longer be the case.  Certainly concerns about safety and liability have combined to reconstruct some aspects of the wilderness and make it less hazardous.  Each time I have traveled with students to other parts of the world we notice that natural and historic sites have more hazards, or perhaps better fewer safety features, than we are accustom to and expect in the USA. 

What does this tell us?  Are Americans more concerned about safety than other people?  Is danger and risk less important to our sense of enjoyment and fun?  Do we only enjoy the wilderness when it has been domesticated?  Obviously there are many, many Americans who engage in risky, dangerous adventures in the wilderness; what I'm asking about here is the experience and expectation of the masses who drive into national parks, eat in the restaurants run by concessionaires, and stay in the lodging provided there.  How are their expectations best described and what more general observations can be based on them?