Birthday Bungy!





My sister really enjoyed my bungy videos from New Zealand and was convinced that she would do it some day, too. I decided that "some day" would be sooner than she expected and, as a birthday present, told her it was time for her to put her money where her mouth was. We gathered up six fellow victims and headed down to southern Washington to jump off the "highest bungy bridge in America."

Being the birthday girl, Kelsey was nominated as the first jumper. It's set up so you do two jumps in a row. You dive off the first time, get pulled back up, and then you immediately jump off backwards for your second jump. I was a little concerned when they started strapping my sister in, she didn't look like she really wanted to do this. And I was even more concerned when they pulled her up after the first jump, it looked like she was to start crying. Thanksfully, she was very happy afterwards and is already ready to go again.

Note: if you watch the video of her jumping, you'll her a lot of screaming. Kelsey is responsible for the first, short, high-pitched scream you hear. After that everything is drowned out by the two girls who were standing next to me. There were absolutely terrified for Kelsey. I really should have panned over to them instead of trying to follow Kelsey, they were quite a site. I think one of them (I won't name any names) might have peed a little during that jump. Good times all around.

There are a few more pictures online, but nothing too special. We've got some professional pictures being sent over, they should be much better.

Oh, and of course my sister videoed my jumps as well. Since I was the "seasoned veteran," I was nominated to go last. I managed to keep things in control for the most part. The first jump was great, but the second jump (jumping backwards) scared the hell out of me. If you listen to the two videos (below) carefully, you'll notice a subtle, but distinct, change in scream. The scream in my first jump is a "I'm the man, this is awesome!" scream. Jump two starts off the same way but quickly changes to an "Oh my god I'm going to die!" scream. I think you can hear the jump master making fun of me on that one as well.

Seattle: metronatural





The city of Seattle just unveiled a new tourism slogan, "metronatural." After stomaching the initial shocking stats (16 months in development and with a $200,000 budget) and trying to figure out exactly why metronatural sounds so... well just wrong, I've decided that while the slogan is horrible, it was really close to be good. I don't know what good is, but Seattle really is a city in touch with nature. How many cities do you know have this view? And it was definitely time to replace the old slogan, which looked something like: @L (that's supposed to be an eyeball before the @ symbol).

And speaking of Costa Rica, I've decided I don't really want to sit around and write about it. Always look forward, never backward. And I got to tell my favorite story already, everything else is the same old beautiful wildlife and exotic animals. I should have some new trips lined up soon. In the mean time I'll see how much fun I can stumble into during my break back up in the northwest. For example, I'm taking my sister bungy jumping this weekend! That will certainly be interesting...

Seattle: On Vacation





Now that I'm "home" everyone keeps asking, "what's been your most favorite place to visit so far?" My standard answer has been New Zealand, which was truly beautiful. I keep telling everyone how much it reminds me of Washington: green, mountainous, lush forests... All that good stuff. But being back in Seattle (after being away for over two years) I realize that yes, New Zealand is beautiful, but it's got nothing on Seattle. I've always loved Seattle (as everyone from California already knows, I act as an unofficial Seattle ambassador down there), but had forgotten about the small details that make this area special. Like today, an unexpectedly warm, sunny day with clear blue skies in the middle of October. Sadly my vocabulary won't do it justice, it's really something you need to experience first hand.

So Seattle and New Zealand are now running neck and neck for the "#1 place I've been in the last three months." Of course, if anyone asks me I'll still say New Zealand. If nothing else, it's a better conversation started. And now back to Costa Rica.

¿Habla Inglés?

Having just spent two months in New Zealand and Australia, I felt pretty confident that I'd be able to handle a short trip to Costa Rica with ease. Landing in San Jose, Costa Rica I (belatedly) realized there was one detail I had completely overlooked: I don't speak Spanish. I'm obviously not the first person to run into this problem, but after two months of traveling I was expecting to feel like I was back in my element. But it's been a long since I've been surrounded by an entirely foreign language. Fortunately Costa Rica is tourist friendly and it's pretty easy to get around with just a couple key phrases.

After a few days in the country I found myself picking things up a little more quickly. It's strange how much you can glean from a conversation even if you can't understand the language. Based on where people are standing, who they're talking to, body language, and the occasional familiar sounding word I was able to get a good idea of what other people were talking about.

Unfortunately that understanding didn't translate so well when it came time to respond. As soon as someone started speaking at me, my brain would immediately freeze up. Sometimes I would understand their question, but wouldn't be able to formulate a coherent response (even if that response involved correctly choosing between "si" or "gracias"). Other times each word sounded familiar, but the question didn't quite add up for some reason. The vocal highlight came late one night on our way back from a turtle beach walk (more on that later). Everyone was saying thanks and good night to each other. Happy to blend into the chorus I called out "buonas nachos!" It's so close to "buonas noches", and yet oh so far away. I had already started walking away as I was speaking, so I really didn't have time to correct myself. I keep telling myself that no one else heard me, but I've got a feeling that I was on the receiving end of many, many jokes later that night.

Home (Again)!

Well I've successfully survived another vacation. Costa Rica was beautiful and, as promised, I didn't have any time (or desire) to write any stories while I was down there. But I'm back with a few good stories and a few pictures. Actually a "few" pictures seems generous, I didn't really use my camera at all. If you take a look through my measly collection I'm sure you'll agree I should have been a little more trigger happy. But I was too busy enjoying my vacation to try and take pictures of it. Anyway, I said I've got a few stories to tell, so I'll get on with that.

Perma-Vacation!





So when does returning home actually feel like a vacation? When "home" is a temporary stop between two other vacations. :) I've just spent a week in Seattle and, although I've been busy, it's been vacation-busy, not a back-home-busy. Hanging out with friends, playing golf and tennis, and generally unwinding is not how I'm usually greeted after a vacation. I mean the only reason I even ended up unpacking was so that I could start packing back up for Costa Rica (and I use "unpacking" in a very loose sense here -- everything is in a heap in my room).

But as much as I've enjoyed Seattle, it's time to get back on a plane. I'm spending a little over a week down in Costa Rica and it's going to be busy. If things go according to plan I'll be seeing San Jose, the Arenal Volcano, the Monteverde Cloud Forest, and the Osa peninsula, a remote location on the Pacific coast. It's the middle of the green season so it's going to be wet, hot and humid, but I can't wait. Plus I've got my sister's handy Costa Rican Spanish phrase book from her trip here a few years ago so I should pretty much just blend in with the locals. :)

I have no idea if I'll be able to upload pictures and stories while I'm down there. I won't have as much leisure time as I did in New Zealand and I don't want to waste it on the Internet (well maybe just a little bit...). But fun will be had, pictures will be taken, and legends will be born (in my mind at least). And it'll all make it's way back up here at some point.

Next stop: San Jose, Costa Rica!

Bungy!









Like the sky diving video, I think these are much more entertaining with a running commentary. But that's not going to happen, so here's a quick run down of each jump. The Kawarau Bridge is the oldest permanent bungy site in the world (the bridge was built just for bungy jumping). It's 141 foot (43 meter) drop, with an optional "splash landing" in the river. I opted to just get my hands wet. I wish I had done more, but I was too freaked out to think correctly. The second jump is the Nevis Highwire. At 440 feet (134 meters), it's one of the highest jumps in the world. It's about 8.5 seconds of freefall which, as you can see, translates to a long time on the first trip down.

Embrace The Fear





Up next is my sky diving adventure with NZone, complete with cheesy camera work and bad sound track. It's not a total loss, though. If you looked at the pictures you may have noticed that my face gets a little funky as I first fall out of the plane. But they don't capture the moment the same way that a slo-mo camera in my face does. It's hard to tell if I'm having fun or trying not to throw up. In reality I guess it was a little of both.

Under the Sea!





In case you haven't heard, Disney has unlocked the vault and is re-releasing The Little Mermaid in all its two disk splendor. To celebrate the occasion I too am opening up the DVD vaults, starting with stunning video of me slowly chasing a sting ray along the bottom of the ocean. It's not much to look at, but you get to hear me breath like Darth Vader.