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My girlfriend and I were looking for a place to visit on a long weekend in early December. Being in Bangkok, we had lots of cool nearby options. When she told me she hadn’t been to Angkor Wat, I was like, “In that case, we definitely have to have to go.”
In honor of the United States’s National Park Services 100th anniversary on August 25th, Exodus Travels asked me to write about one of my most unique National Park experiences.
I’ve been to my share of national parks. (I also have some great photos from Glacier National Park here).
It was easy to choose what to write about. My winter visit to Yellowstone National Park was one of the most unique outdoors experiences I’ve had.
Yellowstone National Park receives far fewer visitors in the winter than in the summer. I guess that kind of makes sense. The snow makes it less accessible and most families take their vacations in the summer.
“Your wetsuit has some holes in it.” Jacob Kelly told me. “So it’s going to be a little colder for you.”
It was May and we were standing on the banks of the Kananaskis River in the mountains between Calgary and Banff, Canada. The day before it had been snowing. I had finished photographing the surfers for Tourism Calgary and was about to try river surfing in the barely-above-freezing water.
That was not what I wanted to hear.
As the sun went down a high-pitched scream slowly rose from the jungle like a sound-effect from a horror movie. As the ancient ruin darkened, and the scream filled the night, the moist night air felt thick with ghosts.
In June, 2014 I went on an Puerto Vallarta adventure tour run by Vallarta Adventures. I’m always wary of ‘adventure tours’ because they’re usually too tame for my taste. This tour, called the Sea Safari, wasn’t exactly adrenaline-inducing, but is was probably the most fun I had on the entire trip.
A tour guide always plays a big role in making a good experience, and ours was fantastic. I was also very impressed by how socially and environmentally responsible the trip was.
If you’ve followed my blog for any amount of time you know that I’m a passionate snowboarder. Each year I visit numerous resorts (one of the perks of writing the About.com Snowboarding Guide) and do a lot of skiing and snowboarding photography. Here are some of my favorite photos from the past few year in more-or-less chronological order.
This is my brother Ben. We grew up snowboarding together and now he teaches it for a living. He’s way better than I am.
Memes for lovers of madness, adventure, and living well. Feel free to share!
