FUCK YEAH TiBITCHES I AM BACK Well I see this place was a fucking rager while I was gone. Spoiler NOT Anyway they don't give me enough vacation time at the jobbie job to go away like that again for a good while so I'll be back here managing the bumpage as usual. I would like to thank the other mods for turning my hatband gay while I was gone, much appreciated. But seriously, though, some interesting threads in my absence that I would not necessarily have picked, including the now-epic "men and women" thread. Anyway it was a great vacation and we did a shit-ton of awesome stuff and it sucks to be back. Among the awesome things I did/saw: Saw and photographed two wild bald eagles grappling in midair over the sea Climbed up to the top of a lighthouse Walked all the way around the rim of a volcano Dug 35 million year old fossils from the earth with my own two hands Took goofy pictures at the filming locations of some of my favorite 80s movies Explored an abandoned fort Saw what's left of a real shipwreck Sat in the front row for an incredible rendition of a Shakespeare play Got to hear a guy sing Civil War-era songs on the 4th of July Toured a working cheese factory And many other small touristy things. Nothing extreme - no base jumping or deep-sea diving - but fun all around. FOCUS: Going on vacation or on travel gives us the opportunity to do/try things that we can't do at home, and even things we might do at home can seem better when we're away. What's the awesomest thing/things you have done while far from home?
I went to http://www.tigertemplethailand.com/ and it was unreal. Being able to walk around with cats that could tear everyone apart at any moment was something I will never forget until the day I forget it...
I herded sheep while riding a sheep. Maybe it doesn't sound awesome, but it was like riding a really retarded pillow that only responded to fear. Seriously though, I got to live on an Australian cattle station and did everything from herd cattle to castrating goats. You really just don't appreciate life until you're ripping off its balls and feeding them to the cattle dogs.
Going to the Salvador Dali museum in Spain while tripping balls on mushrooms was an absolutely unforgettable experience. Also, I know I wasn't a participant, but I did watch the riots in Pakistan after Benazir Bhutto got shot from the roof of my aunts house. It was spellbinding. I've never seen anything like it.
Oh man, where to start? I'm forgetting an absolute stack because I'm at work and don't have my photos with me, but here are a few from FB. Good kitty. At home, it was dreary rain when I took these. Fuck home. Not a huge adventure, but I'd just won about 2k playing poker against drunk Ukrainians. Not pictured - the topless pool. At home, our biggest concert venue sits 17,000 people. Fuck home. And this really doesn't do it justice, but this is from a lunatic place in Laos which has a menu consisting of $5 buckets of cocktails, mushrooms, opium, and basically anything else you could dream of.
You'd be hard pressed to find an Aussie that's been to Thailand that has not been to the tiger temple.
- snow skiing on Mt Hood Memorial Day weekend - eating fresh cherries I picked in an orchard in a random village in the Middle Atlas mountains in Morocco Seriously, though. You were gone?
I lived in Florence, Italy, for a semester and that was the best thing I've ever done while away from home. I didn't do anything extraordinary beyond the normal tourist things, but it was still awesome to live in Italy for 4 months. As I'm sure many here know, it's quite the experience to live in a different area of the world for a time, even if it's just a semester.
Gotta work on your style, dude. Everyone knows skiing is 90% looking like a thug and 10% actual skill.
I walked into a bunch of mountains not speaking the local language and a only vague idea of where I was going. Worked out in the end. Wish I could have done more. For those of you wondering, I hiked from the "Jenner mittelstation" to "stahlhaus". With 40 pounds of backpack, 2000 feet above sea level. I was in decent aerobic shape at the time, but the steep climbs just kicked my ass. Not to mention how hard it is to regulate your temperature when your core is working its hardest and the air temperature is below freezing.
The awesomest thing I've done while away from home is walking the Great Wall, followed by visiting the World Expo in Shanghai and looking out over Paris from the steps of the Basilica de Sacre Couer. In the same vein, the least awesome thing I've done was almost getting extorted and definitely getting groped by Romanians claiming to be policia. Also, Dracula's castle is disappointing. Within the US, I've never been more amazed by nature than when I visited St. Anthony's sand dunes and Arches National Park. Both ridiculously breathtaking.
I went on a solo trip to South America several years ago to hike Machu Picchu and sail in the Galapagos Islands. The whole trip in itself was pretty amazing, but one of my favorite highlights was climing Huayna Picchu to get a bird's eye view of the Machu Picchu ruins. Got a pretty cool pic at the top showing how high the climb is. I'm not much of an adventure person (I've never even been on skis), so this was a pretty big deal for me. 1st pic is me at the top of Huayna Picchu, looking down at the ruins. 2nd pic is taken from the other side of Machu Picchu, with Huayna Picchu in the background.