Thailand SCUBA Liveaboard Experience: Day #1

Wake up, dive #1, eat breakfast, dive #2, eat lunch dive #3, snack, dive #4, dinner and beers, go to sleep, and repeat. This pretty much sums up the average day on a liveaboard dive boat. As you can imagine, the purpose of liveaboard is to dive as much as possible from sun-up to sun-down, and even sometimes at night! And even though my wife, Courtney, has been diving for 20 years, this was both of our first experiences on a liveaboard dive boat, and to add to this, it was going to be off the coast of Phuket, Thailand …

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First Overnight Rafting Trip Through Ruby Horsethief Canyon on the Colorado River

The Ruby Horsethief section of the Colorado river runs from the desert town of Fruita, Colorado, putting in at the Loma Boat Ramp, travels 25 miles down river through the stunning desert canyons, into Utah, and eventually to the take out at the Westwater boat ramp. This was our first overnight trip on a river, requiring more planning, more gear, more beer, and honestly a bit more stress. Yet, it only a few miles on the river to realize this trip was going to be one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had in the desert. Logistics to Run …

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Trip to the Island of Tahiti Trip (Part 2)

If you’re just reading this post, you’ll want to know a few things.  My wife and I chose Tahiti for our big trip this year, not for the over-the-water bungalows (because we can’t afford them), but because of it’s tropical beauty that we’d seen in so many photos. And, the flight to this middle-of-nowhere island was going to be as expensive and long as flying to the Caribbean for us flying out of Utah. Easiest decision ever! The plan for this trip was to spend a few days on the island of Tahiti, then spend the remaining week of our …

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Trip to the Island of Tahiti (Part 1)

When you close your eyes (after you’re done reading this description, of course),  and you picture a tropics paradise in the middle of the ocean, with palm trees dipping their roots into the the ocean. An ocean that is so clear and blue, that you can see hundreds of fish swimming around pristine, vibrant coral reefs. And on that island, are thousand-foot mountain peaks covered with a dense green, jungle with waterfalls spilling over the edge. Can you picture it? Now, could you imagine a place like that existing, or is it just a figment of your imagination? Well, lucky …

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Essay: My Fascination with Flying

Flying, in my opinion, is truly one of the most fascinating experiences. There hasn’t been a single flight, dating back to my first trip on an airplane when I was in the 4th grade, to my countless work trips, that I didn’t get a childish excitement at takeoff. Despite spending my entire career in the aerospace industry, making components that currently fly in commercial and military planes, the physical act of flying still amazes me. But why? Why, after all these years, has this joy not faded? Commercial flight is the closest that humans will ever get to teleportation. What …

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Floating Markets, Orchid Farms, and Exploring Bangkok | Thailand Trip

After exploring the city of Bangkok for an entire day and night by ourselves, the following day we planned to do a few tours. This AirBnB Experience was of a floating market and an orchid farm just outside of the city. This was our chance to experience local foods and fruits brought to market by farmers, and a guide to experience everything we wanted to try and eat. Not only for the food, but we were excited to finally get to see and ride on the traditional Thai Longtail Boats that are inexorably tied to the way Thai people, still …

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Renting Polaris SxS to go Off-Roading in Hurricane, Utah | Video

Flying down a rocky dirt trail a high speed, letting the suspension absorb every drop and bump with ease is a feeling like no other, compared to your normal truck. So the end of March, my wife’s parents came out to Utah to visit and we rented a Polaris side-by-side to go off-roading in Hurricane, UT! Having visited the area plenty times to go mountain biking, we had no idea a sand dune mountain existed like this. We were able to rip around on the incredible Polaris for hours and hours, and it never got old. Getting to experience long …

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Exploring Bangkok’s Chinatown | Video

After 26 hours of traveling to Thailand, we finally reached our hotel in Bangkok! After wandering around Chinatown and Bangkok for the day, all that travel was completely worth it! We explored the tremendously busy weekend markets, wandered through critter-filled parks, and capped off our day walking up and down the streets of Chinatown to experience the world famous street food scene. We tried as many foods as we possibly could, but we only scratched the surface of what Bangkok has to offer. The city itself was so busy and chaotic, we’d experienced nothing like it in America or anywhere else. But for how hectic the Bangkok was, it was shockingly friendly and easily accessible! Here is a video from just our first day in Bangkok on our 14 day trip! Later in the trip we made it down to the beaches of Phuket and even experienced life on a liveaboard dive boat for a few days! Thailand was unforgettable.

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Cabin Life: Snowiest Year in Utah History (600+ inches of Snow) What Was It Like?

600+ inches of snow in a single winter. Even after living through all 90+ days with snowfall, I still can’t believe it. That’s 50 feet of total snowfall that we’ve received at the cabin since it started accumulating in October and it never stopped. To show for it, our driveway is lined with 12+ foot snowbanks and mounds of snow around the house climb up to our second story, covering the windows. We can walk directly off our second story deck right onto the snow. We could even walk (ski) right off our roof.  Our neighborhood plow truck quickly became …

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Salt Lake vs Park City | Where to Live for the Best Outdoor Adventures | Rock Climbing (Part 5)

It’s no secret that Salt Lake City mountains are home to some of the best, most accessible rock climbing routes in the United States, and possibly the world. You can find yourself surrounded by endless boulders, exhausting sport routes, and towering big walls, just 20 minutes from town. Can the same be said about Park City, well the answer is pretty simple, not really. People that live in Salt Lake City believe that Park City is just another suburb of Salt Lake. The locals that live in Park City know that’s simply not true. And so it goes, the endless …

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