Living Lifes Great Adventures: February 2015

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Now for something new !

Hey everyone, Today I am excited to announce a new topic for my blogs. I am calling it "Would you try it?". This is where I get to ask you the reader a question and you get answer the question. So many time I am asked the questions.

Now before you start thinking this will be easy, let me explain how it will work. The questions will be about the most unusual, strange or bizarre things I happen to find on the Internet. These question could be just a thought, a picture or even a video. They could be about anything, like food, clothes, unusually built things and even unusual adventures, etc. So, be ready for just about anything.

Just so you know, I already have the first few question ready. My biggest thing is I want to encourage everyone to contribute, I think this could be a lot of fun and every interesting, I think everyone would be interested in hearing what everyone thinks and has to say, I know I do. So when this starts next month lets have some fun and share your thoughts.

My bucket list for Extreme Adventures (Part 2)

http://www.penguin.com.au/puffin/mini-sites/extreme/images/loading_image.jpg

OK everyone here is part 2 of my bucket list for Extreme Adventures. Are you ready ? My second most dangerous thing I want to try is very up close and personnel and I can do it right here in beautiful Colorado. I would say this is at the top of the list, I want to try alligator wrestling". Yes I am crazy and maybe even out of my mind, but how many people do you know that has tried this and even has pictures to show it.

Know before I get started, let me say that the first picture is not mine, but all the others after wards are pictures I took when the family and I visited the "Colorado gator reptile park". These were taken at the alligator Farm in Alamosa Colorado.

A while back the family took a trip to the great sand dunes in southern Colorado, while we were there we found this really cool place called Colorado gator reptile park, it was basically a gator farm. Well on the way out I saw this picture, so I asked about it, what I found out was they offer a 3 to 4 hour class on how to

handle gators for $120 dollars. they said at the end of the class you

get what they call a certificate of insanity showing you completed the class, plus you get a flash drive of all the pictures and videos they took of you.

The way it works is they start you out catching the small gators, then you move up in size

a small amount at a time. By the end of the class they will take a picture of you sitting on the back of an 8 foot gator holding the head up while you kiss him on the tip of his nose, like the picture of the woman at the top of this page. How cool is that?

Now how dangerous is this? Well I asked the owner about it and he said"If you think it's easy and completely safe just take a look at the size and the teeth" Most of the time its safe, but accidents do happen, most it is because they didn't listen.

So, that is my 2 most dangerous adventures on my buck list. The gators are most likely the one I will get to do because of cost, $120 is well in reach of my budget. I think this would be such a rush and I want to do this one so bad, I can't wait. So any takers want to join me on this one? Just remember everyone does the bungee jump thing or jump out of airplanes, but how many can say they handled a 8 foot gator and have pictures to prove it. When I turn comes to do this I will write an article about that "Great Adventure".

Remember: Live life's greatest adventure and those adventures start at the edge of life.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

My bucket list for Extreme Adventures (Part 1)

A while back I had a friend of mine ask me if I could pick two of the most dangerous extreme

adventures to do what would they be. So I decided to share with you what I considered to be the two most dangerous adventures on my bucket list. Now I know most of you would say something like, Bungee jumping, parachuting, mountain climbing, skiing, etc. But, for me I have two that are a bit out of the norm when it comes to extreme adventures, I look for the things that most people have not or would do. So here we go with part 1 of "My bucket list for Extreme Adventures".

The two on my list maybe the same when it comes to danger; one is up close and personal and the other is in a cage in the water. Say Hello to Mr. Shark, that's right I want to swim with the sharks. Now, most you might be thinking you’re out of your mind or your crazy, and maybe your right. But there are not a lot of people that can’t say they did that and that is what I look for, something most people have not done. If you think about it shark diving is not any more dangerous than jumping out of an airplane or jumping off a bridge with nothing more than a giant rubber band tied to your feet. Bottom line is no matter what extreme adventure is that you pick, there is always a risk.

So how do you dive with sharks without ending up being lunch or a snack for some great white shark? Well every site I have looked at have you diving in a shark cage, however I did find a few where no cage is an option. So what about the Shark cage? Well without getting into all the technical stuff, the simple answer is they are all made of very high grade, very heavy duty aluminum. From everything I have read failure of these cages is rare but has happened, every safety precaution has been taken to make the adventure safe and thrilling. So what if you are not dive certified? I was wandering about this myself because I am not dive certified, but this seems to not be a problem. Once you are in the dive

cage there are three ways to breathe underwater. The first one is if you are certified you can use Scuba gear some dive tours provide this while others you would have to bring your own, you would also use this option if you want to do one of those insane crazy no cage dives. The other option is to use a snorkel, this option the top of the cage rests on the surface of the water allowing you to breath and yet dive under the water for a great view from within the cage. Your last option and to me this is the best one, are the ones where the boat has an air supply system on the deck and runs a hose line to the shark cage. This allows the cage to be submerged and you to remain underwater for however long the dive allows. So basically anyone can experience this great adventure.

So what kinds of sharks could you see on a dive? Notice I did not say “will see”, that’s because the

one thing I saw among all the dive web sites is none of them guarantee that you will see sharks. They all basically said the same thing; there are a lot of different conditions that need to be considered. Some of those things are things like weather, time of day, area, and even sea life. For example, one site said that if there are seals in the area your chances of seeing a shark are small. The types of sharks depend on where you go, in California you could see everything from Makos, blue sharks, leopard sharks and on a rare occasion you might see an angel or horn shark. Some dive boats might even get you in an area where you could see a hammerhead or a while shark. But, the one thing most of the dive boat specializes in is finding the big daddy of them all the Great White. So what sharks might you see depends on a lot of things, but most dive boats from what I’ve read have about a 95% success rate. No matter what or how many you sharks you see it will be an adventure you won’t forget.

Now that you’re excited and so ready to try this adventure, I feel it only fair to tell you a little bad

news “The cost”. Now before you think “Oh great here it comes, I won’t be able to do this” let me say this, do your research, shop and compare, consider what you are getting for the price. I found the average cost in California was anywhere from $850 to $4,000, however I did find a place in Florida that will take you on a shark dive for about $200. The higher priced ones are more like a luxury cruise and dive ship combo, so you really need to ask questions and do your home work and you will want to ask if there are any hidden costs, nothing can ruin a trip faster than to show up for a trip expecting one thing only to find out it was extra.

Well that is the first part of my two part article “My bucket list for Extreme Adventures”. Yes I know it’s crazy and I most likely should have my head examined, but what extreme adventure isn’t crazy or insane? Always remember that one should always try to live life’s greatest adventures and great adventures start at the edge of life.

Look for part two to come out every soon, thanks for reading.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

The Human Hamster

Have you ever wondered what it’s like for a hamster in one of those plastic balls rolling all around and bumping into everything or being kicked all around and being chased by cats or dogs? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be in one of those plastic balls? Just think you could roll all around bumping into things and never get hurt. Well, now you too can be a human hamster in a plastic ball, thanks to a new sport called “Zorbing”.

So what is a Zorb, what is Zorbing? In short it is a large plastic ball, in some cases 10 or 12 feet high in which one or two and in some cases three people get inside of it. Then they go rolling down a long hill. However, now days Zorbing has changed a lot since those early days. Now zorbing can be found everywhere from grassy hills to flat ground to snow covered hills and even on water. Zorbing is quickly becoming a fast growing adventure sport and is starting to show up everywhere in the United States from “Outdoor Gravity Adventure park” in Pigeon Forge, TN to the California coast line.

In my research I found there two types of Zorbs you can ride in. The first on is a dry Zorb, this is one in which you are strapped into a harness, kind of like being glued to the inside wall. This allows you to tumble all around as the Zorb rolls down the hill. One thing is for sure if you get motion sickness or you just ate this may not be for you. There are also Zorbs you are not harnessed into; these Zorbs can be found on flat level ground. The next Zorb you could choose is what they call a “wet” Zorb. This is largely a summer time thing because you are not strapped in but they put twenty gallons of water inside with you. This makes the inside very slick so as you ride it you are always upright (For the most part) but you still tumble around, in some places this one will allow up to three people to ride in it. Everything I’ve read has said this is a lot like being on a long very fast water slide. I think this is the one I would ride, I like being able to see what’s coming, the other I’m just not sure of.

So now you’re strapped into your Zorb, now what? Well if you want just pure out right speed then you just roll down a grassy hill with no turns or bumps, this can be done on snowy hills as well. Another type of track is also a grassy or snowy track, but it has turns as well as small bumps in it. With this type of track you get tossed around a bit more which for some people would be more fun. These types of look a lot like the half pipes that skate boarders ride in except it is made of snow or grass and not concrete. The last track that I found that Zorbs can run on, are what they call flat tracks. These are areas have no hills or bumps of any kind, the only way they move is by the rider walking

inside, just like a hamster odes in those little hamster balls. These tracks are normally on grass, snow and even water. This type of Zorbing normally involves a game of some type in which people normally crash into each other. Some parks that have Zorbing have even set up race tracks in which everyone has to race around a track and try to be the first to cross the finish line. It is not as easy as it sounds, especially if you’re on the water.

Zorbing is a fast growing extreme sport; it seems to be catching on all over the world. So no matter what type of Zorbing you may try it is bound to be a lot of fun. So I would encourage you to get out of the house or away from the office and take your family, friends out and give Zorbing a try. Winter, spring, summer, or fall, anytime is a great time to give Zorbing a try.

Friday, February 6, 2015

The video game "Pong" grows up

When I was a kid, one of the things I use to do a lot was spend time in arcades playing video games and watching my friends play as well. I use to play all kinds of games like Pinball, Donkey Kong, Pacman, Air Hockey, etc. I could spend hours in an arcade as long as the quarters lasted. One of the first games I played and still remember today was a very plain game called “Pong”. It was very plain and very simple, you and another player simply turns a knob which moved a small white line on a black back ground left or right just so you could hit a small white dot into the other players goal, while they moved their little white line left or right to block you and try to hit the dot into your goal, that’s it. Back then that was very cool, but by today’s standards it would be considered very boring.

Well Pong is now all grown up, gone is the small table you sat at or the big machine you stood at, gone are the knobs that moved a small white line. What would you say if I told you, you could now move around and play Pong with your feet? Some of you would look at me and say “What are you talking about?” Well it seems the Swiss have done just that, and they call it “Sport Pong”. Basically

here is how it works, you simply put one reflector pad on each foot then with the help of a computer and a projector the playing area is projected on to the ground and looks very much like the old Pong game. Then you simply kick the little white light into your opponent’s goal while trying to stop him from scoring. Each foot has a small white line and the dot that moves across the ground is a small white dot, all very much like the old pong game, even the sounds when you kick the white dot or when you score is the same sounds that the old Pong game use to have, You can basically play it anywhere. The cool thing is now instead of just standing there or in some cases sitting there and just moving your fingers, you can now move your whole body. Check out the video below.

This would be one game I would love to try, however the down side is at the time I wrote this I could not find any place here in the USA where it is available yet. But, as I was researching on the internet for information on this game I did find other video games that were being turned into what is being called “Real-Life video games”, so I think it won’t be long before it will be found here in the United State. I for one will defiantly try it when it gets here, what about you?

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Are You Up to the Challenge ?

OK, everyone here it is the 2015 "Touch Mudder " Challenge. This is a great way to test yourself, when you run this challenge everyone there is helping everyone to make it to the end, rather you're with a team or there by yourself to test yourself, everyone wants everyone to finish. I saw an interview with the guy who came up with this idea and he said all ages are welcome; they had two people that were in their 80's that did it last year.

So gather your teams, friend, or anyone up to a great time, lots of fun, and challenge yourself. Push yourself to the end and lets see what your made of.