Tag: adventure

Camping

ackley4167Leave a comment

I’ve never really been a fan of camping, even when I was little. If I was told I was going camping with family or friends, I would dread it until the day came. When I was little I enjoyed shopping, and being in Los Angeles. I usually ate at good places, and I always went to see a movie at the Grove. I never grew up with the aspect of camping. I don’t think it’s the actual idea of camping; a big part of it is hiking. That makes me sound like I’m not an active person, but I am; it’s just hiking. The feeling of being drenched in sweat with no water left. To walking up a mountain steeper than my wall just to see a pretty view, is something I would never want to willingly do. I will never understand the people who wake up and choose to go on a hike in a hundred degree weather.

My school has required camping trips twice a year, and some aren’t so bad while others are really challenging. Backpacking in the Sespe mountains and waking up to having to hike was horrible. We had little food and we had to filter our own water from creeks we found on the way. It was one of the hardest, most traumatizing things I have ever done. It was the first day of the backpacking trip and we were told we were only hiking four miles. We ended up hiking 12. Although camping does make me more grateful for the little things. Like sleeping in my own bed, having running water, showering, good food, and civilization. But waking up in the morning at 5 am trying to hold back tears before going isn’t the best experience. If I wasn’t forced to camp, I would never do it again.

“20170824-crosswinds-camp-amrnps-1” by KatmaiNPS/ pdm 1.0

Death Valley camping trip

fastasianLeave a comment

I just came back from the Death Valley camping trip. It was a backpacking trip that was 4 days and 3 nights. Overall, The trip was fun, except I was sick right before I hopped on the van to start the journey. On the first day, it was mostly travel. On the van ride, we each picked 3 songs and created a playlist; after around 1 hour, everyone was already asleep. We had 1 stop at the gas station throughout the whole ride. We got some snacks and hopped back in the van to continue the journey. The dinner was pasta, but I was sick; I couldn’t taste or smell it, so I couldn’t tell if it was good or bad. It was around 5 degrees Celsius at night, which is around 36 degrees Fahrenheit. On the second day, we hiked with our day packs into this little valley. In the afternoon, we went to this crater from a volcano that had exploded billions of years ago. We played some spike ball inside, which was cool, but the hike back out of the crater was not it. Anyways, the temperature on the second night dropped to -5 degrees Celsius, which is 23 degrees Fahrenheit. On the third day, we backpacked a little without using vans or cars. I had the worst nosebleed on this day; it wouldn’t stop for around 1 hour. I used many tissues and paper towels to stop the blood. With the sickness, it was a terrible experience. However, now that I’m back from the trip. I would have enjoyed the journey more if I wasn’t sick. The views, from the sea salt flats to the rocks, valleys, mountains, and the stars, were unforgettable.

pc: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.utahsadventurefamily.com%2Fubehebe-crater-trail-death-valley%2F&psig=AOvVaw2fCs-ljiQCkePpenX96MMc&ust=1737690530747000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBQQjRxqFwoTCMjmm_P3iosDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE

Dawn patrol

progstenLeave a comment

As you lie there in bed in the midst of some of your deepest sleep, lying comfortable and in contempt, you let your body rest and recover when the alarm you set mere hours ago at 12pm goes off 5 hours later. As you lay there in your dream, being bombarded by the “by the seaside” alarm, when you find the strength to roll over and turn off your alarm, you lay there, your body begging you to go back to sleep and get a good night’s rest for the first time in months, you remember why you wake up in the first place. With barely enough energy how, you get out of your bed still in your pajamas. You go outside into your garage, grab your cold and wet wetsuit and your board, load up the car, head inside for a muffin and a Diet Coke, brush your teeth and finally head out at 5am. The car drive is quiet one. Trying your best to not fall asleep at the wheel, you pop the Diet Coke can open and make the drive to venture. Rolling into the parking lot, you start to feel the energy of the ocean. Stepping out of the car into the cold, opening the trunk to grad the coldest and wettest wetsuit known to man, and forcing yourself to put it on. Despite the cold, you hike out to the beach prepare your body with some light stretches and head out to the water. The first wave hits your feet as you tread amongst the slippery rocks, trying your best not to fall and ding your board. After walking the most painful and annoying walk of your life on the rocks, you manage to get to waist-deep water, where you can start the paddle. As you hear and barely see the first wave coming, you perform a duck dive; as the water submerges your entire body for the first time, the cold hits you like an avalanche, cold and almost breathtaking. As you emerge from the depth under the wave, still in shock, you continue the paddle as the next wave rolls towards you. After repeating the process of duck diving and paddling and getting pushed back you finally make it past the break. Sitting out there on your board, ready for a wave to appear from the darkness, is a feeling unlike another. After time passes and waves roll by, the first light appears, and with it, the waves truly emerge from the dark. As light comes to the sky, if the clouds are just right, some of the most amazing colors emerge, and the sky looks like a fake painting you see in a art gallery. Sitting there on the smooth water with the waves rolling is really the best feeling of your life.

This is my perspective on surfing in the morning. Also, I imagine this being said while talking to someone who has never gone surfing before and telling them about what surfing is like, but the speaker is too excited to really describe it exactly how they want to. Also after they would say something like “you just have to exspeince it to get it”

PC: https://res.cloudinary.com/manawa/image/upload/f_auto,c_limit,w_3840,q_auto/articles/3104/surfing-wipeout

Summer Adventure

graypenguinLeave a comment

This summer was very fulfilling and gave me the opportunity to learn more about nature. I worked as a tour guide in the mangroves. Mangroves are a wonderful place. A mangrove is an entire tree that grows in brackish water where fresh water from the river and salt water from the ocean mix. I did not know that mangroves are good for the global environment until I worked there this summer. Mangroves can absorb about twice as much carbon dioxide as ordinary trees. However, in recent years, they have been dying due to global warming. Therefore, I decided to pick up seeds and plant them to regenerate mangroves. I also taught these activities to elementary school students as part of their education, creating an opportunity to connect the town with the environment. I also gave tours not only to Japanese but also to foreign tourists. These tours allowed me to see a world I had never seen before. I felt that being able to speak two languages would be a great weapon for me in the future. I also learned how wonderful it is to connect with people. By talking to nearly 20 new people every day, I was able to make many new discoveries. I believe that these will be great assets for me in my future life.Lastly, by canoeing every day, I was able to grow not only mentally but also in muscle.I hope that many people around the world will come to know about mangroves in the future.

pc: me

Traveling

leapingwaterLeave a comment

This summer, I traveled somewhere that I had never been before. Being in an entirely new place was incredible to me. The sites. The sounds. The people. The culture. The overall difference in atmosphere from where I usually am was a major shift for me. I absolutely loved everything. Everywhere I went, from something as simple as (i know it sounds funny) an alleyway to something major like a landmark was so amazing to see. Traveling far away from what I am familiar with was nothing short of life changing. I am so grateful for my time there, as I did not want to leave once my time had come. I hope that I can return there some day in the near future. This location truly was the most gorgeous place I have ever visited. The part of my trip that really made it special was spending time with my friend. We made so many memories together that I will cherish forever. “Home” is not always a place, but a person.

pc: me

Traveling Around

fishfaceshawtyLeave a comment

Oh the places we’ll go 

Oh the places we’ll see 

Oh the treasures you’ll bring back to me

We bring a piece of back home

From sea to shining sea

Our domestic adventures

Up the coast to the mysterious monterey bay

To the salt flats of Utah

Whether it’s the Rocky Steps in the old capital of the country

Up down, and all around we’ll go

Back to your old home

Showing us your favorite spots and how the city has changed

Or visiting a family friend

Our journey is nowhere near the end

We go where you take us

We go back home to Rome

To explore Venice

Just a drive from Salzburg

To hear the Sound of Music

The forests in China

The Pandas sitting in peace

The terracotta warriors from an ancient time

The towering buildings from shanghai to New York

Your adventures in the costa rican jungle

To mine in la Sagrada Familia

And exploring the glaciers and black sand of Iceland

No matter where we go we bring a piece back home

Wanderlust

maydaygaskarthLeave a comment

I want to study abroad.

I don’t mean in the literal sense of going with a program affiliated with my college. Not for a set period of time with a specific set of courses.

I want to get on a plane and leave. Travel to beautiful destinations around the world I decide to go to right before I get there. I want to study the ancient artwork in museums and the architecture of the untouched, historical buildings. I want to go to small concert venues and listen to local music, but also try all the food the country has to offer without being a picky eater.

I want to meet the people who live there and leave being friends with them or at least leave knowing a part of their story even if I never see them again.

There’s a feeling called sonder: a sudden realization that each passerby has a life as vivid as your own with their own experiences, quirks, and interests. I don’t want to know they have them; I want to live them.

I want to be a tourist in the streets someone has grown up in their whole life, but, soon, find myself a local even only for a couple nights. I want to go to a small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant that I may never return to, but is someone’s favorite place to go every night. I’ll learn a few words in every language of the countries I visit, a language that might be someone’s only language that I now have a very small understanding of.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org

When I went to Prague and Vienna over spring break, my favorite part was the free time in the cities. Though we were always in the tourist areas, I sometimes caught a glimpse of what life was like for the people who actually lived there every time I walked into an ice cream shop or passed someone on the streets heading to work.

This world is so big. There’s so many countries to explore and I don’t know if I’ll even get close to covering half of it, but it’s also so small. It’s a ten hour plane ride across the Atlantic and a simple text message to talk to someone across the globe. It’s both incredible and horrifying, but I can’t wait to explore it all.

Bucketlist

maydaygaskarthLeave a comment

There’s so many things to do when life is so short, but here’s a list of thirty things I want to do at some point in my life.

  1. Study abroad.
  2. Go train-hopping through Europe.
  3. Sing on stage during “Time Bomb” with All Time Low.
  4. Volunteer at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand.
  5. Snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef.
  6. Cliff dive.
  7. Go skydiving.
  8. Write a song.
  9. Solve a mystery.
  10. Go to a college football game.
  11. See Phantom of the Opera.
  12. Get my driver’s license.
  13. Jump four feet on a horse.
  14. Start a meme.
  15. Go to Tomorrowland/Nocturnal Wonderland.
  16. Go on an African Safari.
  17. Get a tattoo.
  18. Fall in love.
  19. Graduate from law school.
  20. Go down a black diamond slope snowboarding (successfully).
  21. Go to a masquerade ball.
  22. Live in New York City.
  23. Learn a third language.
  24. Go on a road trip across the country.
  25. Sit on someone’s shoulders during a concert.
  26. Become flexible.
  27. Learn how to ice skate.
  28. Get a dog.
  29. Write a book.
  30. Do karaoke in public.

Photo Credit: dazesummit.com

The Deadly Truth About Love

maydaygaskarthLeave a comment

I’m not necessarily a person who trusts easily. It takes me a long time to open up to someone, to let them know what goes through my mind or what makes me tick, what makes me happy or sad. But somehow, I manage to put all my trust into a creature who could kill me if they truly wanted to.

I don’t consider myself a daredevil. In fact, I have irrational fears of even the smallest spiders in my room. People question how I manage to be brave enough to get on a 1500 pound horse and ride around an arena galloping over jumps with no anxiety, and honestly I don’t know. The sport is dangerous. Just last year, my roommate had broken her back falling off a horse, and I’ve been close to falling onto a boulder when my horse bucked me out of the dressage arena.

Even then, this didn’t phase me at all. I brushed off the dust, laughed it off, and got back on with no problems. My trust with my horse was still secure even though my luck could’ve been way worse.

Photo Credit: Pinterest

For the past year, since my back surgery, I was constantly warned that one wrong fall would potentially break my back and leave me hospitalized for weeks with the chance I wouldn’t be allowed to ride for a long time.

But I still took the risk, and it’s because my love for the sport was stronger than my fear of pain and injury. Every day I still ride, and every day the fact that horseback riding is considered one of the most dangerous sports in the world barely passes through my mind as I work with my horse.

But that’s the thing about anything everyone loves. Everything is deadly to us in some way and form, and that same exact thing gives some of us life. So horseback riding may be dangerous, but I feel like others can agree with me when I say a rider’s love for their horse is worth devoting their time and trust into these animals despite the threat that floats through the air every day someone steps into an arena.

A World of Adventure

maydaygaskarthLeave a comment

Sometimes I contemplate whether or not after high school I should take a gap year. There’s so many things to learn by simply traveling and exploring, and I wonder if there’s too many possible adventures to simply get done in a life time. I can’t imagine them all as I’m stuck in school doing essays, endless math problems, and projects, but I hope.

As much as I picture myself being an ambitious law student in the heart of New York City, I begin to stalk the traveler pages of Instagram who share their passions to the world, and wonder how life like that would be. To take life one step at a time without a care in the world about the future. To travel freely, explore different cultures, or learn for mere enjoyment rather than cramming in information for a final exam.

I’ve had the privilege to travel before. From galloping horses through Ireland’s terrain to swimming with stingrays in the Cayman Islands, highlights of my life have always included traveling. But if I’m honest with myself, I probably won’t become one of those people who are in a new country every week, and that’s okay, but there are two things I know I want to do before I die.

  1. Backpacking through Europe. This has always been on the top of my bucket list. I just want to go with a group of friends traveling city to city via train, bike ride through Amsterdam, go to the art museums in France, or swim in the oceans of Greece. There’s so many opportunities in Europe that there wouldn’t need to be a full agenda to make the trip enjoyable.

Photo Credit: weheartit.com

2. A horseback riding safari through Africa. I didn’t even know this was a thing until a couple months ago, but it’s been on my mind ever since. I’ve always wanted to go on an African safari, but being able to do it on horseback would make it ten times better. Just picturing galloping through the Savannas near the zebras and the antelope under the bright sun, it seems to surreal to be true, but it is.

These are just two things out of a dozen. The world is so big that exploring every inch of it in such a short time seems impossible. But I want to make sure that I discover as much of it as I can.