Posts Tagged ‘adventure’
I didn’t know it was possible to fall in love with a place. Yes, I had seen cities, oceans, towns, rocks and mountain tops that made me smile and even drool a little, but Moab is different. I am in love with Moab the way you would love a person. My stomach flutters and I hold back smiles every time I type out the word. Yeah, it’s that bad. I don’t think I’ve ever had this big of a crush.
From the top of a boulder that I just climbed, I look out and up at how the bright blue sky lines the rock faces and creates a sharp red edge. Borders and outlines mesh together in some places, like when mountains get blueish and fuzzy with distance, but not here. In Moab, you can see exactly where rock ends and sky begins. They add beauty and drama to each other, but they do not mesh, they only snuggle up close at the places they touch.
I immediately know that this is the place I want to lead the climbing and yoga retreat I’ve been dreaming about for the past year. Of course Moab makes me want to climb, but it also makes me crave yoga like no other place I’ve been. I decide that people need to see this.
A few weeks, hours of research, and emails later, I’m on the phone with Steph Davis, and she is helping me with the details of the trip. Because she is a sweetheart/badass, she has agreed to lead an afternoon of climbing on the retreat, and this makes me giddy in the same way Moab does. As we hang up the phone it hits me that this trip is happening. I smile.
Join me and Steph Davis for the adventure of a lifetime. Spend your days climbing, practicing yoga, trail running, mountain biking, and rafting. Come back to camp to find a freshly cooked meal prepared by our local chef, and sleep under the full moon. For five days, we will live in the wild. Prepare to never want to leave. Can’t say I didn’t warn you.
For retreat details visit solyogatrips.com/trips/moab-yoga and for more on Steph Davis visit prAna.com/ambassadors
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Functional Apparel for the Unconventional Spirit
Team GearJunkie/YogaSlackers (made up of YogaSlacker teachers Jason Magness, Paul Cassedy, Chelsey Magness, and Daniel Staudigel) took third place in the recent Patagonia Expedition Race. Dubbed the “Last Wild Race”, and arguably one of the hardest tests of human endurance on the planet, the event pits 20 international teams against each other and the wilds of Chilean Patagonia in a non-stop adventure that includes mountain biking, big ocean paddling, running, mountaineering, and trekking across some of the most intense un-tracked wilderness that the world has to offer. The team had several setbacks, including serious injuries and a near race ending fall into a river during a blizzard on the last day. The team was thrilled to be on the podium for a second year (they came in 2nd last year), amidst the strongest field of teams ever for the race – with representatives from France, Russia, Denmark, New Zealand, Croatia, Brazil, Finland, and South Africa all coming to race. The British squad won the race, with the Japanese team coming in second. “It was team member Paul Cassedy’s first big race,” commented captain Jason Magness, “and we couldn’t have been more impressed with him.”
Slacker Sam Salwei joined Team Four Continents at the last moment, scrambling to amass the required gear and rearrange his schedule to allow him to race. The team made a strong showing (much due to Sam’s impromptu leadership), but dropped out 100km short of the finish due to an injury of one of the team.
The wild places in Patagonia seem to call to us, year after year, despite their harshness. This video is simply a glimpse into realm of raw beauty. The howling wind and trickling brooks meld together to sing a siren’s song that keeps us coming back. Truth be told, I am already dreaming of next year… Thanks to all our family, friends, teammates, supporters and sponsors that make our incredible explorations possible, and in turn help preserve these amazing places. Long live Patagonia.
For more info on the race visit www.patagonianexpeditionrace.com, or visit the team page on GearJunkie.com or the Adventure page on Yogaslackers.com More videos and gear review coming soon.
~Yogaslackers, prAna Ambassadors
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Functional Apparel for the Unconventional Spirit
I’ve been blessed to travel (A LOT) thanks to study abroad programs, fellowships, a travel career, and a dogged determination to see as much of the world as I can on a backpacker’s budget. The love of travel comes from my mom. She’s always been an adventurer, piling us in the car for a summer road trip to the coast or a camp out at the lake.
She even made simple events, like a day at the local fair, into an adventure, bringing all the enthusiasm of a toddler’s first taste of ice cream to each experience. She shared with me a love of animals, interesting food, and the excitement of trying new things. Nothing was dull or mundane in our house.
Despite her passion for new experiences, my mom had never traveled much overseas. Her one experience was a reluctant trip to Germany, following my dad who had decided, without consulting her, to move there and learn the language. This wasn’t my mom’s kind of travel as they pretty much stayed in Berlin, tried to stay employed, and worked diligently to avoid being evicted during a time when Americans were not exactly appreciated by locals who resented the US occupation. Sans a quick weekend trip to Paris, she spent 5 years in Europe and never saw much more than her own neighborhood.
So, it was with great pleasure that I was blessed by a recent Wheel of Fortune win to be able to take my mom on an overseas adventure that I knew she would appreciate. I decided to take her and my two oldest kids to one of the most magical places I had ever visited, on a trip to the Galapagos Islands.
They weren’t disappointed….
”This is the best place ever” my 5 year old son, Matthew, enthused on the first full day there as he sat at the edge of the ship pool, stuffing popcorn in by the fistfuls to replace energy lost during our active morning hike. In less than 24 hours in the islands, we had already seen blue footed boobies, frigate birds, Sally Lightfoot crabs, iguanas, finches, lizards, and more sea lions than on the caves of the Oregon coast!
My 7 year old daughter, Hailey, a budding photographer, had used up a full memory card clicking wildlife photos and videos of playful sea lions hamming it up for the visitors. Even my son got in on the photography act, taking at least 100 photos of his new Power Ranger posed in various scenic locales across Ecuador and the Galapagos.
As if watching the wildlife were not impressive enough, we were further thrilled to strap on snorkeling gear and glimpse the incredible underwater world of the Galapagos. We saw dozens of colorful fish, eels and corals, and then were awed by a group of 30 golden rays lazily meandering only inches away.
While I snorkeled, the kids splashed endlessly in the surf and collected hundreds of intricate, colorful shells. Hailey recorded her finds in a series of beautiful photos and then left the shells in a mosaic on the sand for the next visitors to appreciate.
In our short stay, we had been thrilled by the wildlife time and time again. We watched with fascination as the albatross performed a complex courtship ritual and laughed at the male frigate birds who ballooned out their red chests to attract females. We marveled at the group of Galapagos sharks that surrounded our ship one moonlit night and were given a farewell wave by a pod of dolphins that visited us on our way to the last island.
On our final day there, we visited one of the few towns in the Galapagos on the island of San Cristobal. In most places of the world, it seems that humans are pushing wildlife out of their habitats, encroaching on their lands and changing the way that native creatures have lived for thousands of years. In San Cristobal, we had an entertaining glimpse of the reverse. Sea lions seemed to have taken over the town, lounging on park benches and sprawling across sidewalks. In an ironic twist, they had even taken over the playground, sleeping in the slides just under the “Caution, Only Children” signs. Ah, only in the Galapagos!
As we said goodbye to these magical islands, my daughter’s words summed up this once in a lifetime three -generational experience “Mom, this is better than heaven probably”.
Perhaps so… either way, I’m excited to have two new adventurers in the family!
~Mary Curry, Adventure Life
Adventure Life provides authentic adventure travel to our world’s legendary locations. Combining award-winning operating standards with exceptional itineraries, our trips are carefully designed to experience the best of the region, while allowing flexibility for the unexpected and unpredictable that make each trip unique. For more info visit adventure-life.com and facebook.com/adventurelife.
