I’ve been pondering how adventurous I am lately. I’ve had my moments, but they weren’t big ones and a lot of them occurred when I was younger. When I see those lists on social media that are about have you done these things, I usually score pretty high. Trust me, I wish I didn’t have to mark yes to: have you been in an ambulance.
Most of my adventures are things like seeing a sign for the Ozarks and deciding on a whim to go for a couple of days instead of back to college to study. Or deciding at midnight that it was a good idea to drive ninety miles to go have breakfast at an IHop. We made it within thirty miles when one person in the car decided they had to get back for a seven-thirty class so we turned around. (The person fell asleep and didn’t go to her class!)
I’ve never been one for thrill rides. The Tilt-a-Whirl is too much for me. Although, I made an exception to go on a Rock-O-Plane ride at the county fair because a cute boy asked me to in ninth grade. And I did finally (in my fifties) go on a roller coaster that did one loop. I went on it twice and trust me, that was more than enough. Looping is not for me.
I went hitchhiking once with two friends in the small college town where I went to college. The guy who picked us up was from a small town fourteen miles from our hometown. He drove us approximately a mile. (Sorry, mom!)
I’ve ridden on motorcycles, gone on long road trips with friends, moved to a lot of places I didn’t want to, and have survived hurricanes, tornados, floods, and earthquakes. Most of it kicking and muttering under my breath instead of screaming. The moves all ended in meeting the most wonderful people.
Getting published was a big adventure. You have to psych yourself up for a lot of rejection from agents and publishers. I had years of rejections before Tagged for Death hit the shelves ten years ago. You have to prepare yourself for the bad reviews and the people who write to tell you there was a comma out of place on page 126. (But those are balanced by all the good notes and reviews!)
So why am I rambling on about this? Because if all has gone as planned, I’m currently on the Gold Coast of Australia at an Ultimate Frisbee World Championship tournament. Wait – you went all the way to Australia for Ultimate Frisbee? No. We were planning to go to see our friend Christine and her sons this summer. One of her sons just happened to have a tournament so why not go?! We’ve watched him play for the last two years here in the States. And, if all has gone well, we’ve already been to Perth and taken a train across Australia back to Sydney.
Readers: Are you adventurous? Do you have a favorite adventure? Update: below are a few pictures from our trip.
The Wickeds 
I have had fairly adventurous life too including traveling alone in Japan and in Mali, living in Brazil when I was 17 for a year, hitchhiking during college and after and traveling a lot. I still like to travel these days, but it has to be more comfortable and definitely no more hitchhiking!
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Cheers to you, Sherry! I’m not overly adventurous. When the kids were young, we did a fair amount of camping and hiking. A Thanksgiving weekend spent on the Appalachian Trail was pretty cool. A few years back, Nancy and I went to New York. Going to the top of the Empire State Building and stepping outside onto the observation deck was enough adventure for me!
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Seems I’ve gotten more adventurist the older I get. Never been on a motorcycle much less buy one until late 50’s. My last adventure was taking a extended helicopter ride (have this fear of heights mine you) over British Columbia/Alaska seeing everything from glaciers, volcano and several species of critters. Who would have thought – I loved it!
Through all my adventures and increasing age is that I would rather try something and say nope not for me than to miss out on seeing or doing something I might actually end up loving. Life’s too short to hesitate on a great adventure!
2clowns at arkansas dot net
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Am I adventurous?
No.
I pretty much have a day by day routine that varies only a tiny bit. I like my routines and don’t seek out opportunities for grand adventures. I’d rather just go to work and go home with detours for Trivia Night and an afternoon at the comic shop. Or a concert.
Maybe that’s tied to not having the money to do things I might want to do. I’m sure if budget wasn’t an issue, I might be a might more adventurous in life.
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Lovely pictures. In college, three friends and I decided to road trip from Olean, NY to Milwaukee, WI for a basketball game (our team lost). I’m not good with time over the time zone break – but it was a LOT of driving and very little sleep. But we were all in our early 20s.
Nowadays, my adventures are more local – like trying a new restaurant or the like.
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Thank you for today’s post, Sherry! I have been following your fab posts of your trip to Australia on Facebook, and am so glad you are having a blast! Being in the airline business and now the travel business all my life, I have been an adventurer all my life, and have countless adventure stories to tell, but won’t bore everybody here today:-) Amazing adventures include a jungle canoe, tiger viewing at night and elephant safari in Chitwan National Park in Nepal, a thrilling high speed boat ride UNDER Iguassu Falls in Brazil, dunebuggy riding in the desert of Dubai, visiting a headhunter village in the jungles of Peru, watching the sunrise at dawn from behind Angkor Wat in Cambodia, being chased by a rhino in Tanzania (our jeep won that time… 🙂 just to name a few. I mave been so abundantly blessed! Safe travels, y’all…it is the best investment you could ever do for yourself! JOY! Luis at ole dot travel
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Great photos!
Yes, I fall on the side of adventure. All it took was for me to decide I might be afraid of something and wham. I made myself do it – jump from planes, check. Jump from boats, check. Go to Jamaica without a passport because I was at the airport, check. Talk my way back into the US after spending three weeks in Jamaica living on a beach in a palm frond hut, check. Negril was beautiful in those days. You get the picture!
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I’m adventurous in some ways, I guess. I do like roller coasters. And I’ve done some ziplining. But I’m also someone who needs a week’s advanced notice to be spontaneous.
Hope you’re enjoying some great ultimate!
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I’ve always been somewhat adventurous. In my mid 50’s I was invited to go skydiving. So much fun. In our late 60’s we decided to get another boat because it was so enjoyable in our younger years. We bought a 31 foot cabin cruiser. Being retired it was so much more delightful than trying to cram boating into a weekend. And we met some of the nicest boaters.
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I certainly have been adventurous in my life. Not quite up to Luis, but I did go ziplining at 73. In my 27 trips to Peru, I did several difficult treks, spent nights in a tent in the rain forest, white water rafted, slid down a mountain on my belly when my toe hold broke off, crossed Lake Titicaca at night in a very leaky boat, and lots of other things. Then there was helping to sail a tall ship and climbing the ratlines to the top (I’m not very good with heights), riding the lead elephant in a circus, and crossing the country by myself never sleeping in a hotel, but always in my car. These are just the highlights. And I did all of these things starting in my late 30s and still continue to look for adventure. I plan on dying from wearing out, not rusting out.
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I love thinking of you in Australia on an adventure, Sherry! I think that being adventurous can take many forms. I have traveled to Brazil and to China, which are both quite a way from home. But, my adventurousness takes the form more often of everyday risks. I am happy to throw big parties with themes that are beyond my skills. I love to push myself to try running, painting, speaking Portuguese without formal instruction, undertaking home renovations I had no business trying. Most recently I’ve been pushing myself into adventurous places with my writing.
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We started to take cruises which we never did before. This was in 2022/23 at the end of the pandemic and it was better than expected. We have now been to New Zealand, Greece, Barcelona, Rome, going to Iceland and Tokyo and possibly off to Britanny next year and then 3 trips in 2026 where we go from Miami to Los Angels, another one from Los Angeles to Vancouver and then the last one from Seattle to Alaska. We have been to different places in Europe when my husband was working but since we retired having more fun. We figure we are not getting younger and our health is good and so out having fun while we can still enjoy it.
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