A New Style of Adventure

I have searched for adventure my whole life. Building hang gliders with my cousins, traveling Africa, trying to talk my friends into running off to Alaska to work on a fishing line, were just a few of my desperate attempts at finding adventure. There was a point that my friends compared me to a drifting leaf in a typhoon, just catching the wind wherever it took me.

I would act like I had a plan and it would change the next week when something more exciting came up. Maybe that is the way every single guy is, but my wife knows that things haven’t changed too much. But I can honestly say that I have a much better idea of what adventure is now more than I ever did before. Jenn and I make sure we have at least a couple every week

Drop everything and do it now

I found out early in my marriage that Jenn was just as adventurous as me. She just knew how to do it in everyday life and I struggled with that. She would run up to complete strangers and start talking to them about life and the adventure would start.

Jenn is that train conductor yelling, “all-aboard!” but unlike the train conductor who does it 3 times to make sure people are waking up off the benches, she does it once and expects you to be on the train. Anyone who has done a spur of the moment trip to California, Idaho, or even Germany, knows exactly what I’m talking about.

And, if you’re not ready for adventure it’s better to lie low when Jenn is around.  Even on our honeymoon she took us deep into a Mexican Villa just to find pure vanilla extract and a local beach that none of the tourists knew about. She has an innate ability to find stuff like that but then we end up having to find our way out and that isn’t always easy. 

Using this picture we matched one of the houses we passed and found the road back to the Mexican beach. Apparently Jenn started using this tactic in Prague when she and Mandy got lost and used pictures to find their way back.

In November we pulled off the longest road trip of my life with no preplanning at all–Utah to Purdue. We packed as fast as we could and put Russell in the back. 23 hours later we had made it to Missouri and were ready to go up to Indiana.

It just so happened that the evening as we were driving up to West Lafayette there were 70+ tornadoes in the area. None of the street lights were working and we wondered if I would be able to even meet with any professors there.  In fact, it was called one of the "deadliest and most violent tornado outbreak on record" by Weather Underground.

We learned several things from the trip:

1. Purdue was not our cup-o-tea
2. Jenn has a hard time sharing blankets in the car (I pretty much had freezer burn on my upper crack de derier)
3.  We never run out things to talk about
 

If you are itching to see a place, just tell Jenn. She will most likely work things out and go there with you as long as she can bring me and Jack along as well.

What Lies Behind the scenes

You may not see a hundred pictures from our adventures but we sure do have stories about people and places. I learned fast that the things you find behind the scenes can be absolutely enchanting and twice as exciting.

Jenn is all about living in the moment and enjoying what is around. We have our own special “swamp spot” at Utah lake–I know, I know…Pretty dang romantic right?

We oftentimes decide to have an adventure and then later end up getting caught up somewhere completely different.

Last minute hike with Jack, decided upon after running a last minute 5k

 

Unpredictability

Having an unpredictable companion with you makes everyplace an adventure.

Jenn at the Refugee Ward

I was pleasantly surprised when she suggested and all in to going to the Refugee ward in Salt Lake– that lasted most of the summer until she admitted that while she enjoyed getting to know people and the culture she missed being able to participate fully in class and learn too; Sunday school was in Swahili and Lingala.

After making friends with a refugee family on a walk, they invited Jenn over to learn how to cook some cultural dishes. Even though I spoke their native language it was clear Jenn was the connection.

We both find the most adventure comes after she ends up getting herself stuck in situations like that. It becomes a wonderful story in the end but going through it can be absolutely hilarious.

Another way to see her unpredictable side is through dares.  I’m careful what I dare Jenn to do because I’m pretty sure she’ll do most anything, especially if she knows it will surprise me. She is really a kid in that sense.

 

Jenn at Yellowstone

After seeing a big buffalo I coaxed Jenn, “I dare you to touch that bison.”

“Ok.” She replied as she opened the door, took a picture and was about to walk over to the buffalo. I had to yank her back in the car because I realized she was serious. She later told her Dad, while introducing me, about the dare... Let’s just say it didn’t bode well for me.

Infamous bison

Jenn at Texas Roadhouse

“I will tell you what I thought when I first saw you if you yell yeeeeehaaaa at the top of your lungs in front of all of these respectable people.”  5 minutes later, the game was on!  She hollered at the top of her lungs and several people about fell off of their seats.

It felt like all of Texas Roadhouse went quiet for a few seconds and just stared.  She cooly took another sip of water and said “you were saying...” I was pretty dang proud of that girl.

The funny thing is I embarrass the heck out of Jenn at sporting events like a couple nights ago as I yelled “kakaaaa! KAKAAA!” in support of the Mighty Maple Mountain Eagle’s volleyball game. I’m one of those loud-mouth fans–even when I don’t know the team. I look at sporting events as a license to yell and let loose. And if you give me an inch, I will take it a mile.

 

Improvise with Attitude and Style

Adventure is all about improvising in the moment. When we were going to my cousin’s wedding, I realized that there was only one parking spot anywhere near the Bountiful temple. I had to parallel park right next a dag-gum behemoth iceberg. When I finally had everything perfect, I realized Jenn was not going to get out any time soon.

Instead of pulling out of the parking spot Jenn just told me to drag her out through my side. She was 8 months pregnant and was asking me to pull her out by her arms. She just laid there limp like a damsel in distress with a bulging stomach. I started pulling and just about busted a gut laughing as her stomach bumped into everything on the way out (including the horn).

Straight faced she coxed me to pull harder.

When I finally pulled her out she laid there limp as a noodle as cars drove by wondering why I was pulling a dead pregnant ladies body out of the car.

Now that is improvising with style!

 

Sign your companion up for something

I've signed Jenn up for timeshare meeting where we were promised a free flight and cruise and ended up getting nothing but a good laugh.

I get Jenn to try new exotic foods all the time, and if you know my wife, she'll spit food out as fast as she puts it in if she doesn't like it. But over the last year I've watched my wife swallow more questionable food, food I'd even spit out, just to show me she can and will.

Laughing, loving, and living is all an adventure. I have come to realize you don’t have to go far to find it. But if you want an adventure…you need to be strong willed, willing to try new things, be ready to drop everything and just go. But most of all you need a companion who is absolutely up for it all!