My Adventures!

BY RICH KIRKHAM

What do you think of when you hear the word ADVENTURE?  What comes to mind?  Thrill seeking? Bush whacking? Dare deviling? Yes, I suppose all those things are forms of adventure.  But in broader, more inclusive terms each life is an adventure and adventure is life.  One's life adventures or stories,  when complied and connected to one's  accomplishments, crisis and tragedies, form the life story that we each leave behind to our posterity.  

Adventure is in the eye of the beholder.   Adventure is what you make of every choice put before you in life.  Do you take the common road or the road less traveled?  Do you have adventures to share?  

Here is a list of some of my favorite adventures and hopefully some of them will inspire you!

1. Surviving a plane crash

2. Riding a bike on the Great Wall of China

3. Seeing the pyramids of Egypt from the back of a camel 

4. Floating in the Dead Sea covered in mud

5. Serving a mission to the Guarani Indians in the jungles of Paraguay

6. Seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa at Midnight

7. Participating in a Sevu Sevu ceremony in Fiji

8. Exploring Mayan Ruins in the Yucatan

9.  Drift diving along the coast of Cozumel, Mexico

10. Riding across Ireland on a bicycle

11. Swimming in the sacred cenote at Ek Balam, Yucutan, Mexico

12. Watching a Toyota automobile being built in Toyota City, Japan

13. Backpacking through the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho

14. Surviving  an airplane crash

15. Holding my firstborn son for the first time

16. Holding my first grandson for the first time

17. Dancing Tango in Argentina

18. Cycling "The Way of St. James" Pilgrimage route through Spain

19. Fishing piranha off a floating house raft on the Amazon River

20. Walking through a slave plantation in the deep South, Jonesboro, Georgia

21. Riding the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh, PA

22. Attending mass at the Church of Holy Sepulture  in Jerusalem Holy Land

23. Eating Beijing Duck in Beijing, China

24. Scuba diving with giant turtles in Hawaii

25. Sleeping in an underground in a volcanic vent

26. Reading the Bible in Hebrew

27. Visit the ancestral home of Sacajawea & retracing the steps of Lewis & Clark

28. Watching giant electrical turbines spin inside Hoover Dam, 

29. Witnessing the cherry blossom season in Japan

30. Climbing  the giant rocks at City of Rocks, Idaho

31. Eating 'carne asado' with long lost friends at a 40-year reunion celebration in Lambare, Paraguay 

32. Riding a double decker bus in London

33. Visiting Golgotha and the burial sepulture of Jesus, Jerusalem

34. Parasailing in Cancun, Mexico

35. Watching Mayan Indians play Pok-A-Tok on a ball court in Mexico

36. Visiting the burial sites at Mountain Meadows & Bear River Massacres

37. Exploring the mound-building cultures in Europe, Korea, Mexico, Africa, and USA.

38. Witnessing the sacrifice of a lamb at a Samaritan Passover Sacrifice on Mt. Gerizim in the West Bank, Israel

39. Crossing London Bridge in Havasu, Arizona

40. Surviving a typhoon near Mt. Fuji volcano, Japan

41. Gazing into the Sacred well at Chichen Itza, Mexico

42. Selecting 5  stones from the brook in the Valley of Elah where David slew Goliath

43. Soaking in a natural hot springs near the Continental Divide 

44. Resting my head on a granite stone in a Jjimjilbang (찜질방 public bathhouse) in Seoul, Korea

45. Watching a cock sacrifice at the Mayan ruins in Guatemala

46.  Spelunking through a volcanic lava tube near Craters of the Moon National Park, Idaho

47. Photographing the rice terraces in Banaue, Philippines

48. Celebrating Russian Orthodox Easter in the Ukraine

49. Visiting Corregidor island by canoe and sighting down barrels of the World War II guns placements 

50. Crossing through the Panama Canal

51. Watching 15 Chinese Acrobats ride 1 bicycle in China

52. Visiting cousins at my ancestral home in Stewarton, Scotland

53. Riding the Bullet Train through Japan

54. Kayaking the Salmon River in Idaho

55. Discover my Great Grandfather's homestead cabin in Ebla, Idaho

56. Getting mugged while wandering through the Old City of Jerusalem

57. Watching Israeli KFIR pilots practice bombing raids in the valley of Armageddon

58. Fly fishing in the Copper Basin of Idaho’s primitive area

59. Burning incense at the Golden Shrine in Kyoto

60. Retracing the trail of the Bataan Death March, Corregidor to Cabanatuan, Philippines

61. Starting an outdoor advertising business

62. Seeing the mummies of the Pharaohs in Cairo, Egypt 

63. Canoeing down the Snake River in Idaho

64. Strolling the streets of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China

65. Cruising the Caribbean for free on a luxury cruise liner

66. Snowmobiling in the Idaho wilderness on the shortest day of the year

67. Testing the solstice theory at Stonehenge, England

68. Publishing a book

69. Singing chants in the Bell Caves of Beit Guvrin, Israel

70. Crushing my Lincoln Continental in a car crusher 

71. Bonding with a Rotary GSE team (Group Study Exchange) in Argentina

72. Flying over ancient Acre Israel in a two seat airplane with Bassam Halabi 

73. Leaving a written prayer in Western Temple Wall, Jerusalem

74. Riding a snowmobile across a frozen lake in Island Park, Idaho

75. Burning burning candles to the Virgin Mary in the Church of the Dormition, Old City Jerusalem   

76.  Rafting the white water in the world's deepest gorge - Hells Canyon, Idaho 

77. Fishing for Marlin off the coast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 

78. Exploring the underwater cliffs off St. Lucia Island, Caribbean

79. Eating Thanksgiving dinner on the rim of an active volcano in Hawaii

80. Exploring  ice caves in Idaho 

81. Trolling for fish in a boat with my dad on the American Falls reservoir, Idaho

82. Boarding an old Landing Craft with my father who spent 3 years aboard LCI222 during World War II

83. Crossing the equator and the International Date Line on the same day

84. Setting my watch in Greenwich England

85. Visiting the tombs of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Hebron, Israel

86. Driving a Model T the "Oakley Days Parade" in honor of my Great Grandfather, Oakely Idaho

87. White water rafting through Hells Canyon, Idaho

88. Listening to fiddle and penny whistle players in the streets of Temple Bar, Dublin

89.  Diving the ship wreck SS Stavronikita in Barbados, Caribbean

90. Watching a Shakespearian play in Stratford upon Avon

91. Gazing over the Sea of Galilee from Mt. Arbel in Israel

92. Exploring the Chesterfield ghost town near Soda Springs, Idaho

93. Listening to serenades played on bandoneons in Argentina

94. Solo flying in a plane for the first time over the Utah desert

95. Body sledging down a glacier on Mt. Timpanogos, Utah

96. Riding the EuroRail train through every country in Europe

97. Visiting the Eiffel Tower in France and the Space Needle in Seattle

98. Attending an Indian Wedding Ceremony on Suva, Fiji

99. Catching crocodiles on the Amazon River at night in Manaus, Brazil

100. Following the Jordan River from Galilee to the Dead Sea and baptizing my son there

101. Retracing the steps of the Civil Rights March through Birmingham Alabama

102. Shopping in Ginza District of Tokyo, Japan

103. Searching for amethyst geodes in Uruguay

104. Building a house completely out of concrete

105. Smiling back at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, Paris

106. Eating freshly-baked bread in my grandmother's kitchen

107. Witnessing Danza de Los Voladores in Cozumel, Mexico (Descending Pole Dancers) 

108. Climbing the narrow switch-back trail to the summit of Masada, Israel

109. Looking up at the Spirit of St. Louis airplane in the Smithsonian Institute 

110. Shopping at an authentic pulperia in the campo of Argentina

111. Sitting in a seat below President Lincoln's box in the Ford Theater, Washington D.C. 

112. Wading 1/4 mile through the ancient water conduit of Hezekiah, beneath Jerusalem

113. Having a grandson born on my birthday

114. Climbing through the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in Qumran, Israel

115. Drenching myself with mist rising from both Iguazu  and Niagara Falls

116.  Cliff diving in Acapulco, Mexico

117. Riding folding mopeds around Israel

118. Diving into the Lion's Den on Viti Levu, Fiji

119. Pinning the Eagle Scout rank on all four of my sons

120. Hiking 50 miles through the primitive area to Old Faithful at age 12

121. Following the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha in Jerusalem

122. Exploring Tel Megido, Jezreel Valley, Israel. 

123. Discovering Great Grandfather's name carved in a rock cliff in St. George, Utah

124. Completing the 'Galena Grind Bike Chase' to Galena Summit, Central, Idaho

125. Cycling the Jesus Trail from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee

126. Motorhoming with grandkids in the Grandpa-mobile

127. Eating Milanesa at the Plaza del Sol in Montevideo, Uruguay 

128. Witnessing a total solar eclipse with my entire family in Idaho Falls, Idaho

129. Riding horses in the Campo of Colonel Suarez, Argentina 

130. Visiting the birthplace of Doc Holiday

131. Watching Guarani Indian craftsmen make handmade  jewelry in the jungles of Paraguay

132. Experiencing the gaucho culture at a traditional Argentine rodeo

133. Meeting a Mormon Prophet at age 17

134. Visiting the burial place of Martin Luther King

135. Surviving the midnight ferry from Bohol to Cebu, Philippines

136. Exploring  graffiti art in the streets of Buenos Aires and Belfast

137. Eating a old-country Welsh meal with 5th cousins in Wales

138. Peering down into the coal mine near where my 3rd Great Grandfather perished in Dudley, England

139. Walking the flight path of the first manned flight in Kitty Hawk, NC

140. Visiting the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta, Georgia

141. Ascending the Mayan temple pyramid at Ek Balam, Yucatan, Mexico