My backyard is not (necessarily) your backyard, yet adventures are there when you look for them.  Recently, as you may or may not know, I sold off my house and am on a journey to creating a location-independent business.  My literal backyard for many, many years was a suburb of New York City.  Working in Manhattan made that energetic, never-sleeping place also my backyard where I could find many exciting adventures.  When I helped clients in North Dakota and mid-New Jersey, where access to so many different opportunities is not as vast, I realized my perspective on “adventure in your backyard” needed expanding!

To be clear, my view on saying “adventure in your backyard” is about having a mindset versus taking daring actions.  As I like to call it, an Adventure Attitude.  I believe it’s about how you look at life, over the things you do.

Playing Tourist in her home state

Continuing our journey from Massachusetts, New York to Michigan, then through Wisconsin, Missouri and Kansas – we stopped to visit friends in Colorado.  (For more on the first part of our grand adventure, check out “Roadside Attractions – Following What Makes You Laugh” ) 

The first friend we went to see lived just outside of Denver.  We’ve known each other for decades, even though we lost touch for a few years (while we were busy raising kids) and reconnected during one of her trips back east.  Alison is one of my inspirations for living a life filled with laughter.

Along with our partners, we set out for exploration of this beautiful area.  Using the Roadside America app, we went to a few spots they’d never checked out.  They also took us to a few spots they adore.  We went to the town called Golden, and – after dipping our feet in the cold river where pioneers once panned for gold – we came across a race-car sponsored block party.  My heart sang when Alison turned to me and said:

“I love being a tourist in my home state!”

Her partner, Greg, has lived and explored this area for decades.  While hiking up the trail to see Buffalo Bill’s grave, he told me about a book he and his friends take turns reading out loud that is about considering the pine tree.  As he described the book, it felt like an understated message of being mindful, of meditation and ultimately appreciating the moment. I feel like this will be my one of my new mantras:

After viewing a spectacular sunset at the top of the mountain (and seeing Buffalo Bill’s grave in the dark, after the park was closed) we descended back down the trail.  Greg turned to me and said

“I’m so glad you said YES!” 

Yes, to exploring fun places. Another Yes, to pushing on when turned away at the gate.  Yes, to going on to the next thing when the places we wanted to visit were closed.  And Yes, to just generally being open to exploring and having laughs and grand surprises along the way.  This made all the difference in having adventures with them in their backyard, in their home state.

“We’re not lost, we’re on an Adventure”

When we told Todd, a friend we met at Burning Man years earlier, that we were going to check out land owned by my partner’s family, he responded that his second home was just “over the mountains” from there!  We took him on his offer to meet at his home in Buena Vista, CO and use it as a base to explore.  Who knows, maybe this land would be our future home. 

Todd’s backyard is much different than the one we had in New York- with mountain views, a bubbling creek to sit by and watch hummingbirds, and deer that hung out nearby munching grass or cooling in the shade.  Todd’s energy is contagious.  His excitement of having us (and calling me the “Adventure Queen”) made everything seem playful.  Even when I set up my desktop to work on business (location independence being fully tested!) felt light-hearted.

If I had concern about lack of adventure not being near a major city, Todd made sure to change my opinion!  We went to see a local band play, and zipped up front to dance.  The band, after their last set, invited us to some party the next day!  The river had a new feature that allows people to paddle board surf in one spot.  (Apparently, when the river gets low, they can add rocks to change the flow pattern).  Kayakers of all ages also honed their skills.  In other parts around the county were the river raft trips.  Mountain bike paths also had day hikers checking out nature. One way to create an adventure attitude is to try new things – and this small town offered plenty of opportunities.

To add an element of exploration, Todd decided we should drive through the mountains (through National Park areas) instead of around.  He wasn’t 100% sure what the dirt road would be like, as he had never taken this route.  After about a mile, he hesitated.  By then our GPS wasn’t working, and we relied on paper maps.  However, the signs along the road were not maintained that well.  With encouragement, and the chant of “we’re not lost, we’re on an adventure!” we kept driving. 

We drove for about 10 miles until the road became impassible for his van.  Stopping to enjoy some craft chocolate (another adventure, where I learned that storing chocolate in my backpack in the car, where temps wildly varied through the trip, can impact the freshness of the cocoa bar), we turned around and drove back to the paved highway.

Our adventurous detour didn’t take that much time out of the overall drive.  But we had more fun than if we had gone the regular route.  Knowing how to deal with being lost, even if on purpose, is a good skill to have!

Asking people I don’t know

At a Mexican restaurant, in what felt like a desolate stretch, I asked the waiter how he liked his work.  I had presumed that his life might be tough, serving such ‘Americanized’ Mexican food.  I suppose New York City had spoiled me with such a wide choice of well-made Mexican dishes, that I snobbishly assumed that anything less than “authentic” must offend people who either come from Mexico or descend from there. 

The waiter surprised me with how he loves the small town, how everyone knows each other and watches out for one another.  His adventure is making tacos at home (and he proudly let us know he owns his house).  He also (quietly) let us know he was slowly integrating better food onto the menu, such as his proudly made tacos.

Vernal, UT

In a small town just past Dinosaur, CO in Utah we stopped in a town called Vernal to take a photo of a funny pink dinosaur.  There we met a mom with her kids, who were hunting around.  She told me they were on an adventure hunting for painted rocks.  This adventure, aside from the potential promotional reward from a local nursery, taught the kids how to look for clues, to spark their curiosity around the areas they were hunting, and to think outside themselves (‘how would another person think of places that would be good hiding spots?’)  An advantage of having kids often is that you get-if you choose- to play alongside them, bringing out your own inner child.

At a restaurant, up in the mountains, the waitress at a camping lodge told us that Vernal started a few years ago printing pamphlets for day hikes.  Those have been her source of adventures.  She loves discovering natural arches as well as random dinosaur foot prints.

Twin Falls, ID

We stopped by Twin Falls – the “Niagara of the West” in search of a memorial to Evel Knievel (his story here, in case you don’t remember! https://www.smithsonianchannel.com/videos/evel-knievels-famous-snake-river-canyon-jump/27151 )  While walking a path near the Perrine Bridge, a woman stopped us and asked if they had missed “them.”  We then learned that BASE jumpers were going to jump off the bridge in 10-20 minutes. 

I asked this mom and her tween girls – what do you do for adventure?  The elder girl answered “shop at Walmart” and the mom started going into tourist ideas of what WE could do… It was interesting to learn that shopping is their big source of fun, as they owned a farm and there’s much work to be done.  Somehow, I don’t think she realized she had brought her daughters on an adventure to see the BASE jumpers.  The girls clearly had their imagination sparked, and the mom was clearly lit up too.  I did speak with one of the BASE jumpers, and he’s definitely an adrenaline junkie, and not in his own backyard…

What I’ve learned so far

For the past 11 years I’ve been learning and creating my adventure attitude toward life. I had to discover what I found fun, and the key concepts for self-growth that not just helped me, but also helps so many others.  I still have more to learn about how people can work with what they have to shift their mindset, yet – it doesn’t really matter where you live.  It is all in how you look at life and what you choose for ways to make life fun.  I am enjoying discovering and learning about other people’s backyards, and what they consider adventure.  The teacher is the student.