2012: A Year of Small and Big Adventures

This article summarizes my adventures in 2012.

It is the time of the year when a lot of us (bloggers included) start to think about all the new memories the year brought.

I must recognize I struggled a bit putting together a post recounting “my favorite destinations, countries or adventures (involving extreme sports or locales).”  I didn’t want to do something chronological either (stating what I did every month).

You know me.  One of the mottos of this blog is the following: “You don’t have to travel far or spend a lot of money to have a great adventure.”  Keeping that thought in mind, I just opened a Word document and started to write some of the “firsts” I experienced during the year.  Most of them are local.  I didn’t even have to drive 100 miles from my house.

I am very happy with the result.  Seeing it from this perspective, I have to affirm 2012 was an exciting year.  For you, what were some of the years “firsts” (close or far, big or small?)

New Adventures

• Walked the Skywalk
• Hiked in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada
• Saw the Endeavor Shuttle doing its last flight
• Visited the Endeavor in its new house (California Science Center)
• Fed ostriches and emus
• Tried my first fish taco in Ensenada
• Ate my way around Little Tokyo
• Walked under a massive waterfall (craziest adventure of the year)

Enjoying the water

• Ate snails in coconut milk in Little Saigon (Orange County)
• Had morning glory salad (it was so good I still think about it) in Thai Town (Hollywood)
• Took a photo in Bubblegum Alley (San Luis Obispo)
• Visited a new country (Honduras)
• Had a close encounter with elephant seals
• Ate chapulines in Oaxaca
• Had the most expensive meal (in term of portions) of the year in Little India (Artesia)
• Were lucky enough to enter for free to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on my birthday

Skywalk at the Grand Canyon West

• Bathe in a river after more than 15 years (Kern River)
• Had my two first encounters with snakes in the wild
• Went on safari (sorta, went to the San Diego Safari Park)
• Completed a river tubing trip while holding two babies
• Went to 6 archeological sites (two in Honduras and four in Mexico)
• Visited a castle (Hearst) and a Roman villa (Getty)
• Had a blast trying dishes made with foraged ingredients
• Admired volcanoes in El Salvador and Mexico

• And rowed in a volcanic lake too (Yojoa Lake in Honduras)
• Visited various interesting exhibitions (Titanic in Las Vegas, Terracotta Warriors in Bowers Museum, and Cleopatra in California Science Center)
• Attended my first air show (and saw the Blue Angels flying)
• Fell and got a big cut in a foreign country (it still hurts)
• Hiked more than 5 miles in El Salvador’s El Imposible National Park and most of my friends think I am making the story
• Visited the oldest living city in America (Cholula)
• Went whale watching and saw about 10 fin whales

Me at the top of Cerro El Leon

Visited for the first time the following sites and cities

• Grand Canyon
• Venice Canals
• Old Pasadena
• Coronado Island, San Diego
• Channel Islands National Park (Anacapa)
• Laguna Beach
• San  Luis Obispo
• Paso Robles
• Solvang
• Morro Bay
• Cayucos
• San Simeon
• Cambria
• Carpinteria
• Kern

City Hall

Country visited for the first time in 2012

• Honduras

Countries I returned to

• Mexico (visited three new states: Tlaxcala, Puebla and Oaxaca)
• El Salvador

Color in the alley

Doest’ look bad, right?  How does your list look?

One last word? Go out and explore.  You don’t know what is waiting for you around the corner. What did you do in 2012?

P.S. Remember to read my end of the year thanks if you haven’t done so.