Adventures of The-Ginge
I grew up in the country in Wisconsin and there is a whole lot of nothing to do there, that's why I moved here and most of the people back there are alcoholics. I was lucky enough to have family that loved to travel and go see cool stuff! I grew up outside, I could ski before I could ride a bike, and my Dad introduced me to all the dangerous stuff my Mom will never hear the full story about. My Mom almost had a heart attack when I tripped on top of Horsetooth Rock up in Fort Collins and I was like 20 feet from the edge of anything. Right about then I was thinking "I better not tell her about how steep of a drop Longs Peak was". I already told her what I was doing when I had to stay in ICU for a week during college, and she didn't like that I was training for a half Ironman in a blizzard. I might have overdone that one a little, but I still got 3rd place and like 3 months worth of supplements in the race!
I am always looking to see what I can do and what I can see. When I go on hikes I'm like a dog with ADHD, but I don't look for squirrels... normally, I look for what I think might be a cool view or a great challenge. It's hard to beat the feeling you get when you climb a mountain since 2am and finally get to the top. Your tired, out of breath, and hungry, but then it's like time stops and all of that goes away and you forget to breathe. You are finally on flat ground and drop your pack, there is no wind or clouds in sight and you just feel like Superman taking in the sun. When you finally get back to Earth and take a look around you get all dizzy because you just spent the last 8 hours looking at the ground so you don't trip and your eyes aren't used to seeing that far away, but that just makes it even cooler! I used to take pictures of all the cool stuff I see when I travel so I could show people that don't get the chance to see the kind of stuff that I do but when I go back to look at the picture, it's just a picture. The FEELING of the view isn't there and it's just one of those things that you can't just tell someone about, from the outside you don't understand it and from the inside you can't explain it! It's not just the view either, it's the work you put into it, it's the stuff you saw along the way, the stories and friends you made.
Every time you get that euphoric moment, you change a little. The first time I really found that out on a large scale was when my Dad took me to Yosemite National Park. It was a little weird that time though because it wasn't a quick thing like usual, it took a few days. I was of course climbing everything in sight to get a cool view, mountains, redwood trees, I climbed it all. When we were hiking through the Giant Sequoias in Yosemite is when it really kicked in. Between some of the largest mountain faces in America, the largest and oldest trees on Earth, and people of all shapes and sizes from around the world to visit is where I figured it out. I was just a small speck of dust among giants, and it was freeing to feel how large the world really is and it just pushed me more! There is so much more to explore than I ever thought!
~Adventure List~
- Australia: Dangerous creatures, The Great Barrier Reef, surfing, and probably a bad sunburn!
- Germany: To check out my German heritage, Oktoberfest, and the Alps!
- Japan: Mountains on the Ocean, Japanese food and culture, some of the best skiing in the world!
I grew up in the country in Wisconsin and there is a whole lot of nothing to do there, that's why I moved here and most of the people back there are alcoholics. I was lucky enough to have family that loved to travel and go see cool stuff! I grew up outside, I could ski before I could ride a bike, and my Dad introduced me to all the dangerous stuff my Mom will never hear the full story about. My Mom almost had a heart attack when I tripped on top of Horsetooth Rock up in Fort Collins and I was like 20 feet from the edge of anything. Right about then I was thinking "I better not tell her about how steep of a drop Longs Peak was". I already told her what I was doing when I had to stay in ICU for a week during college, and she didn't like that I was training for a half Ironman in a blizzard. I might have overdone that one a little, but I still got 3rd place and like 3 months worth of supplements in the race!
I am always looking to see what I can do and what I can see. When I go on hikes I'm like a dog with ADHD, but I don't look for squirrels... normally, I look for what I think might be a cool view or a great challenge. It's hard to beat the feeling you get when you climb a mountain since 2am and finally get to the top. Your tired, out of breath, and hungry, but then it's like time stops and all of that goes away and you forget to breathe. You are finally on flat ground and drop your pack, there is no wind or clouds in sight and you just feel like Superman taking in the sun. When you finally get back to Earth and take a look around you get all dizzy because you just spent the last 8 hours looking at the ground so you don't trip and your eyes aren't used to seeing that far away, but that just makes it even cooler! I used to take pictures of all the cool stuff I see when I travel so I could show people that don't get the chance to see the kind of stuff that I do but when I go back to look at the picture, it's just a picture. The FEELING of the view isn't there and it's just one of those things that you can't just tell someone about, from the outside you don't understand it and from the inside you can't explain it! It's not just the view either, it's the work you put into it, it's the stuff you saw along the way, the stories and friends you made.
Every time you get that euphoric moment, you change a little. The first time I really found that out on a large scale was when my Dad took me to Yosemite National Park. It was a little weird that time though because it wasn't a quick thing like usual, it took a few days. I was of course climbing everything in sight to get a cool view, mountains, redwood trees, I climbed it all. When we were hiking through the Giant Sequoias in Yosemite is when it really kicked in. Between some of the largest mountain faces in America, the largest and oldest trees on Earth, and people of all shapes and sizes from around the world to visit is where I figured it out. I was just a small speck of dust among giants, and it was freeing to feel how large the world really is and it just pushed me more! There is so much more to explore than I ever thought!