Ever been on an "adventure?"

[timbarber142]

I love hearing about people's stories of adventure. We don't talk about it enough, but I know we all have stories! I'll start:

 

I went winter camping with my dad and his business partner when I was 15.

We went to a town called Fraser, one of the coldest towns in the nation (with an annual average temperature of 32.5 degrees Fahrenheit.) We camped out on a frozen-over Lake Monarch. Meaning, we literally slept on the ice, which was about 3 feet thick.

We were there during a time of year when the police were pulling people off of the roads to take shelter in roadside buildings because it wasn't safe. We beat the road-blocks by about an hour.

I was 15 years old, carrying 40 pounds of equipment and a bunch of winter gear - we had to break trail through 3 feet of snow in -35 degree weather (windchill made it feel like -45). We hiked for 5 miles before we set up camp. We boiled the snow in a raised kettle to make our food.

 

The landscape of Lake Monarch is in a nestled valley between two sets of hills - but the lake itself is huge. It's like a wind-tunnel in there. And anybody who lives in snowy areas knows that when it snows at night, the entire world lights up - you can see everything as though it were daytime. On the hike over, the 3 of us saw several "snow-devils", the little tornadoes that kick up on flat expanses of windy snow. It was so surreal.

We stayed out there for 4 days, and it's one of the most incredible memories I've ever had in my life.

 

So what about you guys? Ever been on an adventure?

[Hyperion]

Does it cause a fuzz if it has lsd and a jet ski in it?

[Hyperion]

tthe adventure i mean :-D

[wanderbound]

I LOVE ADVENTURE STORIES.

 

I have to say, before I share my own, that your adventure sounds AWESOME.  I have always wanted to ice camp, ice fish, or stay in an ice hotel....  Finland in January is a very real bucket item list for me.  (I blame my childhood in Texas for my fascination with winter... snow never gets old for me.)

 

It sounds like your trip was memorable to say the least! 

 

In 2013 I traveled through Peru, Bolivia and Chile with a friend.  It was a really fantastic trip!  Part of our five week stay was spent with a group tour.  While traveling with our merry band we were trapped in Puno (a little town on Lake Titicaca) during a transit strike;  we were supposed to be moving on to Bolivia, but the transit strike meant that no busses were running.  

 

A lot of restaurants in the area are built with a courtyard or patio surrounded by walls that can be closed up to the outside world, so we holed up in a little bar/restaurant, drinking and playing cards all afternoon while protestors demonstrated on the public streets.  (I got into an excellent discussion with a Welsh girl about Susan Cooper and the Dark is Rising books -- so the company was excellent.)

 

The following day our tour guide chartered a boat (possibly illegally?) to take us and one other group across the lake.  The chop was massive and the boat was tiny, top-heavy with all our backpacks and bags heaped onto the roof ...  I have to say that while I love water and have never been seasick, the ride was terrifying -- mostly because I knew enough about weight distribution on vessels to be scared!

 

We managed to cross Titicaca and hit the opposite shore, where a posse of Peruvian farmers with rowboats waited to ferry our belongings from the boat to the shore -- we created a human chain to haul bags from the rowboats to dry land, then shouldered our bags and hiked up to the border checkpoint and crossed to the van waiting to take us to La Paz.  Nothing bonds a group of travelers like hardship, and we came out of the experience as fast friends.

 

 

Travel is my "thing" and has been for the last 9 years ... I've definitely learned that the the roadbumps in your carefully planned vacation inevitably become the most memorable leg of the trip.  Still, this was one of the most exciting adventures I've ever experienced!!

[Raincloak]

does the trip I'm on now count?

 

I've traveled alone to three countries in the last five weeks (and I'm gunning for another border crossing in a few days).  During that time I've faced train and metro (tube) closures, fairly extreme weather, getting abandoned and locked out in sketchy Paris neighborhoods at 12 am, insect stings, creepy hostelgoers, aggressive merchants, unexpected saints' days, transit strikes, young men cruising for booty, young women cruising for said men, prehistoric pay phones, bossy guards, and unduly inquisitive Spanish grandmothers.

 

I've also admired 16th-century architecture illuminated by the full moon, eaten things I couldn't pronounce (usually tasty), had conversations with people using no common language, prayed in churches dedicated to other people's gods, viewed more famous paintings than you can shake a brush at, photographed the Sun King's jeweled dinnerware, had English cream tea with English ladies in a cottage on the south downs, held a month-old lamb, learned how to order coffee with milk in four languages, used a metal detector to dig for historic treasure (found some rusty car parts 40 years old but sadly no Roman loot), watched the sun rise at a monastery, and tallied candles lit to Mary vs. Jesus (close call, but I think Mary wins).

 

So far, I'm still in one piece with most of my sanity and some of my funds.  I'm having a good time.  Every day I have new puzzles to solve and new wonders to marvel at.  It's great.

[Oramac]

Wow.  After reading this I feel like I haven't done shit.  Probably because I haven't.  The best I have was a trip to Philmont Scout Ranch for an ~80 mile hike around/over the mountains there.  

 

Guess I need to save some cash and hit the road.  

[timbarber142]

That's the spirit!
There's been a pretty big lack of traditional "adventure" in my life lately - although I just completed 2 years of marriage and my baby boy is over a year old.
 

I guess I mostly think of it in terms of "keeping outside of my comfort zone." I feel like the love of comfort might be my generation's defining failure.

 

So, you know - as long as you're challenging yourself and doing things that scare you, I'd say you're on the right track!

[PixieKitten]

Mine's gonna sound pretty weak, but I couldn't call it anything other than an adventure!

A couple of weeks ago, I broke up with my boyfriend of 5 and a half years. I still loved him, but he was controlling and manipulative and the reason my depression has come back full force.. I wasn't allowed to have friends or go anywhere or do anything.. it was toxic.

 

So, a couple of days after, I woke up at 4 in the morning with an idea. Let's go somewhere. Just me myself and I, no one to ask permission, just pick somewhere and have a day doing things youve never done before.

Half 6 in the morning and I'm walking to the train station. Half 7 and I'm on a train heading 100 miles away. DAY TRIP TO LONDON!!!

 

With nothing but Google maps to guide me(and a fear of taxis I wasn't quite ready to conquer), I walked from Paddington station to the zoo. I walked from the zoo to the Natural History Museum. I passed the Albert Memorial, and Madame Tussauds. I strolled through Hyde Park AND Regents Park. I attempted (on three seperate occassions) to get on the Underground but it was busy and the maps were confusing and every time I went in there my anxiety just went 'nope', but I tried dammit. I had an amazing day and by the time I was back on the train I felt like a completely different person.

 

Bonus nerd point: I'd posted a vague facebook status proclaiming I was about to do something impulsive and possibly stupid. My friend called me asking what I was doing and in my best Bilbo voice I cried:

'I'M GOING.. ON AN.. ADVENTURE!!'

 

 

Best day of 2015. So far.

[Raincloak]

glad you had a good time!  Those "be a tourist" days are great days.

[Rurik Harrgath]

Strictly speaking, not really.  No.

 

I've hardly even traveled much.  Once to Cuba, and I've barely even seen much of what my own country has to offer.  But that's all going to change in the next couple of years.

 

Lately I've been hugely interested/inspired by games like Tomb Raider and Uncharted as well as the perennial offerings like Indiana Jones and some of the survival-minded shows on television that I peruse from time to time.  So this current challenge I introduced a side quest focusing on survival abilities and bushcraft skills.  For my next challenge I'm presently working on a self-guided curriculum to build on those survival/bushcraft skills and take them to Level 2, as well as beginning some Parkour training and archaeology study to bring my life as closely in line with the ideal as possible.

 

This summer I have a couple of major day hikes planned to build on what I've already learned.  Then I'm off to England and Scotland in September, and I'm planning a big trip for my 30th birthday next autumn.  Somewhere exotic and adventurous, a locale similar to one of the adventure games I love so much.  Maybe I'll have an adventure story to share in the days to come!

[timbarber142]

PixieKitten, that's amazing. What an awesome thing! I'd sure as heck call that an adventure - what a way to celebrate making a difficult decision for your own good!! May your happy days continue!

Rurik the Ranger, the stuff that sticks out to me in all of your posts is how consistent you are in the stuff you enjoy. It's so cool that you're thinking of things in these terms, that you're being successful, and that you're really living a life that pretty much everyone would consider "adventurous." It takes a lot of work and you're an inspiration.

[Rurik Harrgath]

Rurik the Ranger, the stuff that sticks out to me in all of your posts is how consistent you are in the stuff you enjoy. It's so cool that you're thinking of things in these terms, that you're being successful, and that you're really living a life that pretty much everyone would consider "adventurous." It takes a lot of work and you're an inspiration.

 

Why, thank you for those kind words, timbarber142!  I don't know that I set out to necessarily inspire anyone specifically, but I'm glad that the lifestyle I've embarked upon and the journey to it are in some small part inspiring on their own.  If anything I think I would like to see more people embrace their geeky interests and use those as a platform to leap forward into new activities and hobbies, kind of like I have done.

 

It's infectiously enjoyable to workout while imagining you're the hero of your favorite video game!