Finding New Adventures

This year as I was searching for Christmas gifts for my family I ran across one for one of the more adventuresome members of a my family, a book called Weird Washington: Your Travel Guide to Washington's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets .  It is a guide to some of the strange places around the state from the troll under the bridge to ancient mysteries like the Kennewick man.

The book opens up new places to explore.  New adventures to have and that is what being an adventurer is all about, seeking out places yet unexplored by you.

The Weird series is not just for Washingtonians there is also Weird Oregon: Your Travel Guide to Oregon's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets and Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide to America's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets.

Finding new adventures can be easy and even interesting in a weird sort of way.  So get out find those places that are a bit different.

Merry Christmas

For those explore/adventurers out there wishing you a very Merry Christ-mas.  May you find grace in the Christ that gave us a Christ-mas.  

Winter Assault on K2

Victor Kozlov - Team Leader

A team of 15 climbers from Russia are making a winter attempt at the summit of K2.  K2 is considered the second most deadly mountain above 8000 meters, for every four who reach the summit one dies in the attempt. This is a summer statistic as no one has made a winter attempt until this year.  This means of the 15 at least three will never return home.  In the winter the temperatures will be twice as cold and the wind twice as fast, making the danger of frostbite and hypothermia even greater, not to mention the increase in danger from avalanche.  

So why do it?  The very real possibility of dying or losing a limb or two just to say you have done it.  This is a chance to get their names in the history books.  To be like Hillary, more likely many will end up like Mallory though, dead and left on the mountain.  

Does this qualify as adventure? Yes, and is it worth it?  Only if you live through it.  

The Swiss Army Box

Most of us have heard of the Swiss Army Knife with its many different elements.  But here is a very cool box which brings a new concept the Swiss Army.  Now you can pack the kitchen sink with you.

A New Water Sport

Normally I would not put something like this on my blog but this just looks like fun.  A flyboard Zapata.  The video is exciting and makes me wish I had and extra $8000 dollars to purchase.

Geocaching by Water

Geocaching is an exciting addition to any adventure, an almost Indiana Jones type of search for the Ark.  The clues are in your GPS and the map printed online.  Geocaching is an X marks the spot search with the prize at the end hidden from the casual observer.  Now a new element is being added to the adventure, kayaking.  

Some of the geocaches are being hidden in places accessible only by boat and being an avid outdoorsman the boat of choice is a non-motored canoe or kayak.  The adventure begins as a day on the water, hopefully in the sun, with an Indiana Jones ending a discovery of the hidden cache.  

I find geocaching fun because I get to see little hidden places around my own town I did not know existed.  And now with the addition of water accessible geocaches I will find new and exciting places to go.

Adventurer Survives on Beer

Clifton Vial of Nome, Alaska decided to go on a little adventure.  He took his Toyota Tacoma down a road to see how far it goes.  I applaud his sense of adventure but he made one mistake, he did not go prepared for the conditions.  

40 miles down the road Clifton slide into a snow drift and got stuck.  With no way out and wearing jeans, tennis shoes, and  a cheap coat he wrapped himself in a fleece bag liner and towels to stay warm and he ate the frozen Coors Light he had in the cab.  

When Clifton did not show up for work his boss called the local constabularies to report him missing.  They did find him, fortunately after 4 days.  His scale also reported great news, he lost 16 pounds.

Here is the moral of the story, always go prepared for the worst case scenario.  It is better to have stuff you never use than not have what you will need to survive.  There is nothing wrong with making due with little, so long as you can actually survive.

The Cows in Texas

The cows are watching in Texas.  He is an example of that.  I have had this experience while kayaking.  I often wonder what the cows are thinking while starring at me (insert your imagination here).  The person taking the footage keeps mooing at the cows which is almost a funny as the cow just standing around starring.