Wow. How do I even get my mind around this idea? I’m a dad. I have to sit down every time I think about it. This has got to be the most exciting thought I have ever dwelt on. A little boy is coming out of our love story…quite literally out of Ann! Only God […]
I wrote the song “Let’s go on an Adventure, Ann” as a Christmas present to Ann last year. We decided to bring the song to life by making it into a music video during a recent trip to British Columbia, Canada last August. Destroy Nate Allen sang and produced the song…and did a great job! […]
One evening last spring, Ann and I ran into a friendly National Geographic photographer while waltzing along the boardwalk that follows the Huangpujiang River in Shanghai. He gave me pointers on how to better capture the brilliant Shanghai lights, and we learned that this guy had been all over the world. He talked about New […]
One of the best parts about living in Colorado Springs is having the Garden of the Gods practically in our backyard. When we were living in our cabin, rent only cost us 400 bucks a month, but we felt like we were millionaires. When we walked out the front door, we could smell the mountain […]
Seeing a new extraordinary place for the first time is a wonderful experience. If it requires a bit of struggle to get there, it is almost always worth it. And if you have to struggle with someone that you love most, the experience will take your breath away. That’s why Ann and I work so hard […]
The morning sky is overcast and grey, but despite the drop in temperature, I still feel sweaty in my bright orange jumpsuit and helmet. I anxiously review the sequence of the dive flow in my head – “exit, get stable, find Aaron…” – when the gust from the door opening shatters my train of thought. […]
I let out a loud grunt as I pulled on the jumars with all my weight. The haul bags hardly moved. The hardest part about wall climbing is hauling all your gear up, and even though I had set up a mechanical advantage (three feet of pulling equals one foot of lifting), it was still tough. Since we were planning […]
Joe had his first article published by Shout! Outdoor Lifestyle Magazine earlier this month. We hope you enjoy hearing about the beginning of our love story! “Joe, the rope is stuck!” I hear over the two-way radio clipped to my harness. My heart sinks. We chatter back and forth and I realize that someone is […]
“Watch me here!” I yelled. The moves were hard, and the desert sun left me soaked in sweat that kept bleeding sunscreen into my eyes. I was uncomfortably stemming across the two walls of the chimney. I tried to spit the dirt out of my mouth but I could still feel the grains of sand […]
China is one of the most beautiful, unique, fun, friendly, and safe places to travel. Ann and I ate tasty food, saw brilliant sites, made friendships that we will forever cherish, and experienced each other in a completely new environment. I felt like our hearts grew and our love deepened. We both learned a lot […]
One afternoon in Yangshuo, Joe and I decided it was time to rent a tandem bicycle. We had been looking at them for a week and joked about taking one out, but now it was time to try something new. And I am so glad we did! Now, these tandem bikes aren’t your average rentals. […]
It worked out perfectly that Ann and I were in Texas this last week at the same time that my brother, wife, and kids were. We jumped at the opportunity to get a day with Ida, Ana, and Emmett. What a blast it was climbing around with them, exploring, and getting a little wet while […]
One of our local Chinese friends told us that there are at least 20,000 karst mountains in Yangshuo. I saw that number again as I was aimlessly paging through a magazine one night at dinner. I assumed that it was an exaggeration until we spent a day exploring the countryside on bikes. The area of […]
When we arrived in Guilin at the beginning of March our Chinese friend Stephanie, who works as an English tour guide, emphatically told Joe and I to visit the Longji rice terraces near Longsheng. She promised we wouldn’t regret it. From what I’d seen of the place in pictures her suggestions were definitely justified, but […]
Last week Ann and I took a bamboo raft down the Yulong River. It was a spectacular, scenic, and relaxing time with just the two us and our guide slowly floating down the meandering river. It gave us some time to talk and shoot a few pictures. When we reached the bottom of the river we […]
