A while ago, we did a post about some
of the National Parks you may have never heard of. Not the familiar ones like Glacier or Yellowstone, or even Yosemite. But the ones we think you ought to consider for your next trip are parks
like Nez Perce National Historical Park, a park with some 38 major sites in
Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Montana, and that is chock full of both history and natural beauty. Another is Great Basin National Park in Baker, Nev., with only 85,000 visitors a year that
features some lovely caves like the Lehman Caverns. Another wonderful park where I was recently is the Channel Islands National Park which you can find just off the Coast of California
and provides some of the finest sea kayaking around. All good stuff and worth investigating. Keep your eyes open here
for more on the parks, cause we love em.
Climbing for Jesus…and Buddha, et al.
I spied this post over at a cool new blog I recommend
you check out called The Adventure Blog.
They post that
mounteverest.net features an article worthy of your
attention, in fact the whole world should be aware that different religions can coexist, even at high altitudes. A
group of people from various religions, including an Israeli Jew, a Pakistani Muslim, American Christians, an Indian
Hindu, Buddhist Sherpas, and an atheist bag of dry noodles, will attempt to climb the tallest peak in the world with a
goal to promote peace and understanding amongst humans…and noodles.
The project is called The Everest Peace Project, and it has a catchy, albeit number-addled,
subtitle: "seven countries and five religions". It was founded by an American Buddhist Lance Trumbul,
believes that people from different countries, cultures, and religions can only come together when the temperatures are
sub-zero and the air is so thin that they can’t hurt each other. Just kidding! No, I totally support the project and the
goal. I think it’s great and worthy and smart and cool.
Hats and yarmulkes and turbans and kufis off to
them.
Brown Snow Falls
A rather odd story our of Colorado
that is either a sign of the apocalypse or of the second coming, should the messiah arrive in the form of Willy Wonka.
Or perhaps there are other explanations. Still, here’s what happened.
It seems that in a wide area of
Colorado, snow has been falling that
some people are describing as dark "chocolate brown", and it plopped down in great muddy blobs onto hikers
and skiers alike who were, one would guess, rather surprised. If this happens often, I suppose we’ll all be dreaming of
a brown Christmas. No matter. The obvious explanation, notwithstanding the second coming of Mr. Wonka as mentioned
above, is the high altitude mixing of snow and dust from storms in Arizona.
It is, of course, unusual for
such dust to mingle and fall in Colorado, but there’s nothing to panic about folks. We promise.
Gadling Podcast: Joshua Davis
If you just took a peek at Joshua
Davis’ resume, why, you’d picture him in your head as some kind of fierce warrior journalist, perhaps six and a
half feet tall, strapping, handsome and fearless. In a word: Hemingway-esque. You’d be wrong. At least about the six
and a half foot part. And the strapping part.
You see, Josh Davis, a writer who lives in California, is
actually about five nine and 135 pounds. He wears glasses. And as you will hear, the resemblance to Napoleon Dynamite will not go unnoticed.
So why, you
might ask, would such a person attempt to fight bulls in Spain? Why would he compete in the world arm wrestling
championships (where, I might add, he would actually place…albeit fourth out of four). And why would this guy decide
to take up Sumo wrestling, a sport where if you took a really large Cuisenart, you could frappe Josh into a froth and
pour two of him into the shell of one of his opponents (good analogy? yes/no?).
Anyway, the point is that
here we have a man of the ages, a man of courage and wit and, as you will hear, a dose of wisdom. Is there a screw
loose somewhere? Well you decide. Because, yes, it is time again for another Gadling
podcast, and this time we offer you an interview with author, traveler, outrageous sports enthusiast
Joshua Davis.
Josh is the author of the recently-released book The Underdog : How I Survived the
World’s Most Outlandish Competitions. I read it recently and immediately emailed Josh to ask if he’d talk to
me. He graciously said yes. It is a wonderful read. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll run backwards.
And once you hear Josh tell his story, you’ll buy the book.
Listen to the
podcast
Read the first chapter of The
Underdog
Planning a Belize Adventure
I’m not one for resorts, but prefer instead to stay in cheap, local hotels and/or hostels. Or sometimes, if I can find the right beach or camping area, I’ll pitch a tent and hang out for free…or nearly free, as most camping places don’t charge much. But you might be traveling with a significant other or perhaps you’re just fed up with the rat race and are looking for some creature comforts. Good for you. I can certainly appreciate that.
Well, the good folks over at Luxist have posted about a resort in one place I’d very much like to go: Belize. Sad to say, I’ve never been. Belize is actually one of only a few Latin American countries I’ve never visited, but would love to go, as I hear that it is not only remarkably beautiful, but the diving is said to be superb. Well, if Belize is on the horizon for you, you might check out the Kanantik Resort.
The Belize resort offers adventure-minded travelers who also have a bit of the luxury bug to experience eco-minded adventures with a hefty dose of romance. The cabins are plopped down on a private and secluded beach surrounded by a rainforest. They offer a rather impressive-sonding “Romantic Honeymoon” package that includes a six night all-inclusive stay in an air-conditioned beachfront cabana, three guided adventure tours and daily meals with gourmet dinners that can be served by candlelight on the private veranda of your cabana or on the beach. I suppose I could put my tent away for a week and do this. ;-)