Adventures add interest to life. There have been so many times that a trip or experience I was on would have been just ok if an adventure had not occurred.
Adventures are unlooked for and often unwanted in the moment, but invariably, they provide the best stories and some of the happiest memories that one can have. There is a sense of trepidation and even panic as you approach the unknown with adventures lurking. There is a sense of joy, of amusement, of stress, of loss, of discovery, of wonder while they are happening. There is a sense of accomplishment, learning, and victory as you come out, and they enhance your memories to the point that you can still remember minute details of the adventure years or even decades after it occurs. Adventures may be big or small, each having its own profound effect on you. Some of the great adventures I have had include (spoilers for adventures I will post, and no, they are in neither chronological nor posting order):
In which I go four wheeling in a bus
In which life happens and also death
In which I go to the deserted valley
In which I literally throw my keys and identity at a stranger
In which I end up in Bethlehem and Carthage on the wrong continent
In which I run a personal record 13 years after the fact
In which we camp in a lake
In which I turn off my scooter with a Swiss Army knife
In which nothing quite connects in Grand Junction
In which she grabs my ears
In which the dog pulls me up Mt. Wrightson
In which we sneak into the reggae festival
In which everything is a bird
In which the temple is haunted
In which fun facts and sensory overload
In which we didn’t bring our haboob gear and mom must take the path of darkness
In which we follow the landlady on a bike through traffic
In which I dance in a cloak and Russian hat at the Torino Olympics
In which I live 19k from the Promised Land
In which I sing “Past the Point of No Return” at the top of a mountain race
In which I date a felon
In which we scale an ice cascade
In which the raft holds just enough
In which we traverse the knife ridge
In which I have a master’s degree in scooter driving
In which the Love river is full
In which I race a typhoon down the mountain on a scooter
In which I have the least quarantine-y quarantine.
In which they let me on the plane in a pandemic.
In which Tom Cruise becomes Ryan Gosling
In which we chase Kevin the bird around the school
In which we hitch hike
In which there is Japanese medication
In which I end up on the wrong train
In which the next train comes before this train
In which I get caught the one time I really did stamp my ticket
In which they should be passing me about now (night race)
In which we are on the Road to Nowhere, the Road to Many Things
In which Philadelphia is on the fastest route to Tennessee
In which I hide under my bed as a grown up
In which the tourist map leads through a psychological ward
In which I find myself buying 8 pairs of identical running shorts
In which we are not allowed to walk counterclockwise
In which magic becomes the big club
In which I bike to a choir concert in a tux with a 42 inch rapier
In which Italians need to have their intimissi on the way home
In which I accidentally hike 13 miles
In which I almost literally run into lava
In which we’re good at naming things
In which we drink holy water
In which dangerous things are unexpectedly cute
In which the cab driver extorts the person he hit
In which the van door falls off
In which we visit fort hamburger
In which hamburger is not for breakfast
In which we are pushed out of the way by the president’s security
In which I am stuck in the silly outfit
In which we spy on China
In which he walks through the Circus Maximus with a French flag
In which I experience reverse culture shock
In which I navigate by camera display and hiking stick
In which night sledding does not work out
In which forget everything and learn Latin, and you’ll know everything…er, sort of.
In which I geek out at the top of Mona Kea
In which airport security fails big time (secret p)
In which I am searched everywhere
In which we were going to go to Colorado but end up in San Francisco instead
In which poison oak
In which we go “canyoneering” and chasing vortices.
In which we actually manage to beat my brother at wrestling
In which we get stuck in the middle of the great plains and learn the evilest of card games
In which I have a Chandler at the tailor moment
In which I run down a mountain in a typhoon
In which I don’t want to be round (the proper use of shorts’ pockets)
In which children chant my name
In which I am a foreigner all the time
In which Spain feels like Italy
In which I am flash-mobbed
In which I don’t actually know any true names
In which I stumble into the congressional gardens of Italy
In which everyone drools over the bass soloist and the tenors step in
In which I am saved under a bridge
In which we charter a bus
In which Acutane is a “depressant”
In which Eddy Izzard
In which its not a secret I try to hide
In which we cross a river with a hungry crocodile
In which we ski to Swiss Army knives and chocolate
In which I tell the drama club they have to undo whatever I try
In which I am in High School!?
In which I am the freshman
In which these vans flip over, EVERYONE DIES!
In which I actually have a file disappear on a final project
In which a professor wants to clone me
In which initiations never go as planned
In which I visit friends and end up playing host
In which check out this piece of illegal
In which you don’t push me on sexual innuendo
In which I have the once in a lifetime experience eight or nine times
In which we rename our friend
In which I cannot shake and shimmy
In which hearts forge friendships
In which I literally and figuratively go through Hell.
In which the republic of the tree
In which I stay at the home of people whose names I have never heard
In which Fellowship of the Ring is the best sedative
In which I learn the French word for crab
In which I scooter a giant teddy bear halfway across Taiwan
In which I free climb down a cliff with sharp/slippery rocks in the rain
In which I cuss in class
In which I am either 8 or 12
In which Snowmass lives up to its name
In which I help my best friend clean blood off the walls
In which I pet my brother’s face
In which I run to the river
In which the tourist trail leads through an insane asylum
In which I walk around a whole country
In which we find the temple that chained an elder god
In which duct tape holds the chassis of the scooter on
In which I am pick pocketed
In which I give up my identity to a demon disguised as an angel
In which the cab does not lead to a music festival
In which rusty SCUBA skills are observed by everyone
In which they REALLY needed my shoes
In which I perfect the 45-minute tour
In which I shame the bio 181 in Chinese
In which there are god breezes
In which I get a personal escort through the airport of Hong Kong
In which I get a personal escort out of the IFC in Hong Kong
In which I arrive at Heathrow 17 minutes before boarding
In which I actually miss my flight
In which Italian dinner nights
In which I climb a mountain in Romania after reading about meeting a vampire in the mountains of Romania
In which we hide from the Romanian minister of culture
In which the phoenix stares me down
In which I learn to sing tenor loudly
In which I win all the super geek awards
In which cloaks
In which he meets a wizard in the yar
In which I finally get to backpack
In which everyone jumps in the boat at the last moment
In which my adventure buddy is weirdly prophetic
In which the muntjac and I freak each other out
In which I start on black diamonds at Telluride
In which I learn sandpiper-walking
In which my life takes a dramatic turn
In which there is a fateful cup
In which the temple is haunted
In which I sleep in a linen closet
In which I drag myself out of the mountains
In which so many pictures become a video of forming friendship
In which I off-road on a scooter
In which avoidance leads to infinite time loops
In which two people own my heart
In which everything is topsy turvy (Australia)
In which I have award winning speeches and calligraphy
In which I get lost in Rome…again
In which 17 churches
In which my sister and I crack up over prairie dogs
In which I say the same things 32,000 times (and other counting mishaps)
In which the soup has a head (and other travel fails)
In which I change the dissertation requirements
In which 32 Bernini’s
In which it feels so good to visit your heart
In which the nicest person is on the train from Pisa
In which Romania is not far enough from Arizona and Mongolia is so close
In which I ford a river and dash the line
In which I pick a lock in a snowstorm
In which World Cups and Olympics
In which the Republic of the Tree
In which I get in trouble for a friend eating Mexican food
In which fording streams takes FOREVER
In which we end up in a train station overnight
In which I run into lockers on purpose
In which shrooms make friendship
In which I have the best measuring tape
In which you’ll need an H
In which the kender spirit goes perhaps too far
In which she is scum the entire way
In which I get chased out the door by a crush’s father
In which my path is strewn with flowers
In which no one knows who speaks what
In which je me suis perdu
In which I stumble into the red light district
In which we must find THE pair of shoes
In which you want an interview when!?
In which three days of mountain climbing is really a day hike on a nice day
In which rage
In which I am actually, truly freaked out
In which we encounter campfire tea
In which I will eat Umbrian air bread
In which I am ignored
In which I am stuck in the reeds rowing from Dracula’s tomb
In which we have hot dog tea
In which Saw Mountain is aptly named
In which there is little caramel in church tiles
In which I must keep my breath tranquil, and the trails don’t walk well
In which I have a cup of vanilla extract and then drop the glass 7 feet
In which I have to find the hidden police station
In which diving across the room to win nertz is totally normal
In which I play the role of Death at a triathlon
In which I find the best measuring tape ever
In which I cover my birthday dinner
In which duck!
In which I find all the snakes
In which I am apparently famous
In which I accidentally end up on the dreamiest dream vacation
In which I am a Master of Science (come from America)
In which we narrowly escape the flash flood
In which I own a small part of Venice
In which the half-marathon is the “fun run”
In which stalking a monk doesn’t work at all (trips to find Reggie)
In which she literally jumps out of the car to scare a pigeon
In which we dance in a typhoon and the car is dry the next day
In which we ferry a bus
In which Spain has the best public hot springs
In which train politics are complicated
In which the entire city is topsy turvy (La Paz Metro
In which he surprises me with arches
In which I pet my brother
In which the phone either has charge or minutes, not both
In which hamburgers are for breakfast
In which I get a phone call from Chile but no emails arrive
In which the forger has a wolf
In which you can choose two: notes, words, choreography
In which I have to find the hidden police station
In which I can shout down 100 fifth graders
In which people working in information booths don’t seem to know anything
In which I memorize the periodic table of elements
In which we emulate the romans with testing barriers
In which time is relative and there ain’t no rest for the wicked
In which it only takes fifteen minutes for the white-boy Hawaiian tan
In which I stash a stove at the Honolulu International Airport
In which I am the master of over-thinking
In which I drive across the country in a pandemic
In which we go to the biggest ski resort in the world
In which I run up and down the Isla del Sol to find my laptop
In which they, blindfolded, navigate a field of rocks in Latin
In which we camp sitting up
In which the highest is the first
In which we are trapped in the middle of the Atacama Desert
In which I run up a mountain in a new state
In which the cat is out of the bag
In which I say “Andiamo” and walk out on my class
In which fantasy living clashes with those in “the real world”
In which I beat all of the class back to school
In which I give up
In which 31 at 31
In which there are new fixations
In which I intentionally choose hot and sunny trails.
In which my sister and I bask in a cesspool
In which there is spectator jump-starting
In which my kindle may need to go on a field trip
In which they do not get to cut the line
In which my first date is in a Tux
In which I dash to graduate
In which I’ve met not only Apollo, but also Odin, and now Thor
In which I walk in with my face and passport and get a job
In which I am the teacher on the board
In which I teach from shotgun
In which I forget my mom’s retirement party
In which Sun Valley is Snowy and the Rainiest spot is Sunny
In which there is NOT a bomb on the interstate
In Which I Become My Own Barista
In Which Vaccine Flu Turns to Trail Runs
In which we get six bath mats
In which Buc-ee’s
In which my sun charm lets a rocket launch
In which Key West is straight out of a dystopian novel
In which sharks are mesmerizing
In which pride dolphins
In which we do futon Olympic trials
In which the manatees are right there
In which bees store pollen
In which Nederland is different to Netherland because of the spelling
In which I do laundry in a new state
In which we hunt methane
In which Farview
In which I cry for my second haircut
In which I end up at five national parks in a weekend
In which I climb Texas’ tallest in the moonlight
In which north of Pontchartrain knows where it is
In which I circumambulate Pando
In which I’d rather drive than bake
In which I end up driving across the country in a pandemic again
In which I stop chaperoning dances after being covered in and cleaning up student blood repeatedly
In which they actually negotiate
In which Oke means water
In which the distinction between land and sea gets really blurred
In which a kid collapses in front of me
In which I am the Drowner of Hope
In which I undergo apotheosis
In which they get spirit-pop tarts
In which I give kisses for weeks
In which I haggle for all the things I DON’T want
In which I give my parents allowance
In which I bathe in a river
In which I pivot to quarantining in my car