New Toys!

           Guys like their toys and I’m no exception.  Today I got to test out two of my relatively new toys.  One I got for Christmas and the other was a purchase I made a month or two ago.  The purchase I’m referring to is non-other than “The Bomber” (my ATV).  The other toy is my GoPro Hero2.  I imagine I’ll have plenty more Adventures with these two babies!  But that’s in the future.  As for today it was more of a test run. 

            I had a little difficulty starting “The Bomber” up today since she had been sitting around in the cold for a while.  But I eventually got her going.  As soon as I did, I attached my Hero2 to the front rack.  Once it was secured I peeled out.  I had a nearby trail in mind. 

At first I went the wrong way and came to a dead end, then consulted google maps.  Once I knew where I was going I head up the road.  Thankfully “The Bomber” is street legal so I don’t have to tow her to trails, I can just drive if they are close enough.  Once I got to my destination I discovered that the trail was closed for off road vehicles.  You’ll see in the video that there is a locked metal poll.  Disappointed I had to come up with some other place to go.  I decided go with Soldier’s Pass, which was a nearby trail that I had been on when my family visited.  We took that  trail on a rented RZR.  That was a previous post.  I thought it best to pick a trail I was already familiar with. 

The video shows how I got there from uptown Sedona.  The trail is actually pretty short.  It didn’t take me too long to go to the end.  This was a good thing though because I’m still not sure exactly how much gas “The Bomber” goes through, and to be quite honest, I don’t know that I trust the gas gauge all that much either (don’t worry mom, I had an extra gas tank strapped on the back).  On my way out you’ll see I saw some people wearing a Charger’s shirt so I stopped and asked them if they were from San Diego.  They told me that they had just moved to Flagstaff.  I couldn’t talk long since there was a jeep coming the other direction and I had to get out of his way.  They mentioned that there was a big game on this afternoon.  Come to think of it, it’s actually on right now (turning on the TV now).  So I head out and my SD card actually ran out just as I got back to the street.  I clearly need more and larger memory cards. 

Watch the Video Here

            I hope you enjoyed it, with time my videos will only get better.  As always keep the spirit of Adventure alive!

Recap

There’s really no excuse for the lack of posts lately other than laziness.  I’ve had a few Adventures that I should have blogged about but just didn’t feel like spending the time or energy writing about.  Here are a couple highlights:

Doe Mountain with the family:

Mingus Mountain hike:

That's my kind of burger! (The Grind in Phoenix, AZ)

Devil’s Bridge! 

            Devil’s Bridge and Doe Mountain are local to Sedona, while Mingus Mountain is the mountain that overlooks Cottonwood and is about a half hour drive from Sedona proper.  So that was my lame excuse for a re-cap of the last couple weeks.  Maybe it’s not so lame, the pictures are practically the best part anyway. 

            In other news, I’m now a little more than a quarter of a century years old (yikes!).  I plan on doing some Adventuring tomorrow with some of my new toys.  I won’t make any promises, but it should be good (or at least interesting). 

Keep Adventuring (even if I don’t)!

The Bomber

       The latest addition to my Adventure gear takes the form of a four-wheeled monster, which I have dubbed “The Bomber”.  I anticipate that it will facilitate many stories and Adventures in the years to come.  Here is just a sneak peak at my beauty.  I can’t wait to really take it out! 

Keep alive the Spirit of Adventure!

Craft Sale

            Unfortunately, I’ve been busy with work and battling the sickies so I haven’t had much to speak of recently.  However, today Sedona Rouge put on a small craft fair in their porte-cochère.  They had a Christmas tree, Santa Claus, apple cider and of course several tables set up for craft sales.  I had to check it out.  The crafts didn’t really catch my fancy; they were geared toward a more feminine clientele.  But I’m glad I went, if only snag a photo of my coworkers with Santa (one dressed in full elf attire). 

 Yours truly with St. Nick (sorry for crushing your leg). 

            Here’s a question, why are craft sales always so girly?  I want to see a manly craft sale!  Maybe one that sells hand crafted swords or weapons.  Or there are guys selling their home brewed beer or spirits.  And maybe there’s a guy who makes things out of leather, like holsters or hats or hell, even full on jackets!  Or there’s this old guy who sells ancient maps with great promise.  This sounds just like a seaside marketplace in the 1700’s.  Maybe I have pirates on the mind.  Anyway, somebody please steal this idea!  Manly craft sales need to happen! I don’t even care if I get credit; just make it real.  BUT DO NOT FORGET TO INVITE ME! 

See you at the sale!  Arrgghh!

Family, Turkey and the Beginning of Something Great!

           Once again, it’s been too long since my last post and for that I apologize.  I have been keeping myself very busy.  Between my family visiting, Thanksgiving, work and just trying to relax on my days off, blogging hasn’t been the first thing on my mind.  So let’s recap a few of the highlights. 

            As I mentioned, my family came out to Sedona.  It was fantastic seeing them (a little overwhelming at times) but fantastic non-the-less.  This was the first time I had seen them since I left Sunny San Diego.  We toured the local towns, ate at fancy restaurants and bought souvenirs.  But, by far the most excited thing that we did was rent a RZR (Pronounced Razor) from Sedona ATV & Buggy Rental.  For those of you who don’t know, Sedona ATV & Buggy Rental rents out ATV’s, RZR’s, Buggies and Tomcars to people who want a little Adventure in their lives.  You pick your vehicle, they give you a map and instructions on the recommend routes to take and after that you’re on your own.  It’s a self-guided tour of Sedona and it is bad-ass! 

            We choose a four-seated RZR.  Our route took us through some trails off Soldiers Pass Road then up Schnebly Hill Road.   We got some great pictures off Soliders Pass Road but Schnebly Hill Road was where things got really interesting.  If you took Schnebly all the way it would take you from the 179 to the 17 freeway. For our purposes we just drove to the peak and back.  There is an incredible elevation gain when driving up Schnebly, so it got cold real fast.  Oh yeah, did I mention that it was drizzling the entire time we were driving around.  Yeah, it was definitely what I put down in my book as Adventure.  It was my first time driving a RZR and it was love at first sight.  My family and I had such a great time out there I would highly recommend doing this on a trip out to Sedona.  Damn, want to go again!  Here are some pictures from out Journey:

I also enjoyed this excellent Belgian with my father (not when we were driving obviously).  Straffe Hendrik Heritage 2012.  It says on the bottle that it was a quadruple ale, but I was told it was a Belgian.

            Another thing that I find odd about Sedona is that there is a tradition of going out to a restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner instead of staying home.  Or at least it’s a tradition for the restaurant I work at and the 197 people who had dinner that night.  I had never heard of such a thing before I moved here.  But what did this mean for me?  Working all day (literally).  It was pretty intense.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, in fact I think I strive under stress, but I was exhausted after that then working 7 days in a row.  My family did not stay long enough to celebrate Thanksgiving with me, which was fine since I was working anyway.  But I did however get to have a Thanksgiving dinner with a dear friend of mine from SDSU and her family.  I had an absolute blast! 

            And now it’s December.  And it’s the 4^th already.  The 4^th doesn’t have any particular significance; I merely bring it up because this month is going by too fast.  I want to savor every last second of this month!   December is a holy month in the book of Wayne.  Allow me to enlighten you.  Not only does it hold Jesus’ birthday (aka, Christmas: the best holiday ever) it also holds my birthday!  Also the 21^st of December is the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year (bring on the night!).  And it gets even better, December (at least for us in the northern hemisphere) usually means it’s getting cold outside!  Some people even get beautiful snow!  (I’m not going to lie, I love how San Diego is hassle free when it comes to snow, but it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to visit it.)  December is also the last month of the year, which is cool (pun intended) because it’s the finale!  It’s like the ending to a great movie and then everyone celebrates the coming of a sequel.  New years celebration takes place partially in December, which just makes me thing of women in black dresses, champagne, fireworks and shiny stuff (absolutely sexy!).  December also reminds of the greatest hero ever, BATMAN!  Because so many Batman storylines have revolved around Christmas I can’t help (and neither should you) but associate the dark knight with Christmas and by extension December.  Need I say more? 

            I’ll try to be a little more vigilant about keeping up with my posts this month.  Hope you enjoy this month as much as I do and as always keep Adventuring!

The Legend of Posse Ground: A Link to My Past

I apologize for the lack of posts recently dear readers.  On top of being busy at the resort I got sick and was not able to Adventure in my free time.  Instead of exploring the outdoors I explored the libraries of netflix in an effort to “take it easy” (yuck!).  Good news everyone, I’m feeling much better now! 

In other good news, my family is coming out to Sedona to visit me this weekend.  This will be their first chance to actually spend some real time out here, since their last trip was cut short.  So in an effort to clean my place up for them I decided to take my laundry to the Laundromat.  On my way out, for whatever reason, I remember something a friend told me.  They said that up Posse Ground road there was a teen center, which had a skate park.  I thought: why the hell not, let’s check it out!  So like so many of my Adventures, I spontaneously decided to follow some vague directions that I remember hearing about from some local. 

Back in the day my best friend Jesse and I used to be avid skateboarders.  We would go entire summers where we must have skated every single day.  I dare say, we became quite skilled in the art.  But one fateful summer there was a huge accident leaving us both traumatized!  No not really, the truth is that we were just getting too beat up and we found other hobbies that occupied our time, like airsoft.  But I kept a board or two and have occasionally rode here or there. 

So today I decided that I should check out this park and maybe try my hand (or feet) at the park. 

Well here it was, Sedona’s only skate park.  One thing that I love about this park already is that it’s one of these skate-at-your-own-risk type parks.  No supervision, very few rules and the possibility of danger (in opinion the American way).  So jumped on my board and started to shred.  Well, maybe not shred, but had a blast just riding around.  It had been a while since I’ve stood on a board.  Thankfully, my balance has good memory and I was able to enjoy myself with only a few mix-ups.  The only thing that I would have enjoyed more would have been if Jesse could have joined me on this Adventure. 

So if you ever find yourself in Sedona Arizona and you need a place to skate now you know where to go, Posse Ground Skate Park up Posse Ground Road off West State Route 89A.  So I guess I should get back to cleaning since my family is coming in.  Hopefully with their arrival will come more Adventures and of course more blog posts so be looking forward to that in the near future.  Until next time fellow Adventurers do something you haven’t done in a while and see you next time!

This song fit the mood so I threw it in.   

Famous Pizza

After my many Adventures I often find it necessary to hit up the local eatery to unwind, replenish nutrients and maybe knock back a cold one (or three).  Being new to Sedona I haven’t established said spots yet, until now. 

             Famous Pizza is one of the many pizza joints here in small town Sedona (it’s bizarre how many pizza places they have here).  But what makes it stand out you ask?  Excellent pizza, reasonable prices, friendly staff and most importantly the best selection of craft brew in town!  They carry Stone, Oak Creek Brewery, Port Brewing, North Coast, Firestone, Sierra Nevada, Ballast Point, Green Flash, Dog Fish Head, Alesmith and Bear Republic just to name a few.  Being a San Diegan I come from a city with an exploding craft brew culture.  I credit my father and uncle for getting me hooked.  So when I stumbled upon Famous Pizza I flipped my shit!  I thought to myself “thank God I don’t have to go without decent beer here in the desert”!  They have three locations but I have decided to frequent their West Sedona Location: 3190 West State Route 89A Suite 300 Sedona, AZ. 

            Today Famous Pizza untapped two imperial stouts.  One was the Big Bad Baptist from Epic Brewing Co. and the other was from Stone Brewery.  I sampled both and went with Epic.  To accompany my Beer I got a Hawaiian pizza substituting the Canadian bacon for pepperonis.  I finished my beer before my pizza so I decided to follow up the stout with Dog Fish Head’s Palo Santo Marron (which is one of my favorite beers ever!).  So clearly I had a great lunch today. 

Imperial Stout from Epic.

Palo Santo. 

            I am of the opinion that Adventurers need a spot to unwind and tell grand tales and epic exploits.  Hopefully you have such a place. 

Keep life interesting fellow Adventurers!