Adventure

From the New American Webster Dictionary:

adventure: 1, a remarkable occurrence; a noteworthy event. 2, activity of a hazardous or exciting nature.

I do it for both. Adventure keeps the mind and body sharp. Romance keeps the soul happy…

-activity of a hazardous or exciting nature
" No one (unless it be some journalist) will dispute the statement that " blessed be the exploring expedition the story of which is monotonous" If everything is well managed, if there are no miscalculations or mistakes then the things that happen are only the things that you expect to happen, and for which you are ready and with which you can therefore deal" -Vilhjalmur Stefansson

I personally am with Stefansson, I would rather keep my fingers and toes and keep out of the papers and go home with nothing but sweet memorys.

Addendum :
-let me give a preemptive HYOH, for the PC crowd who are terrified that others can't recognize when people are expressing an opinion.
I and the people I quote are using the term Adventure in its truest and highest sense, not the debased popular usage found in marketing where going to the Olive Garden is an "adventure"

I prefer Roald Amundsen's point of view. I'd always heard that he said
"Incompetent explorers have adventures. I have experiences"

But all I can find online right now is
"Adventure is just bad planning."

But even obsessive planers can end up with adventures. I was getting my permit checked by a BWCAW wilderness ranger once. "Where ya headed?" he asked. "Down Sterling Creek into the Sundial lake PMA" I said. The reply was a single raised eyebrow that Clint Eastwood would have been proud of and the words "That could be an adventure".

It was! I hope to repeat that route as an experience some day, planning on 2-3 relaxed days instead of the single day we had in our plan.

"Incompetent explorers have adventures. I have experiences"

I like that one, simple and to the point. I'll remember it.

It all sounds like semantics to me. I have experiences all day long, 24/7. To me an adventure is something exciting and out of the ordinary day-to-day hum drum. Adventures need not involve any significant danger…like many of my dreams. Pure adventure, no danger as long as I wake up! Other adventures include searching for mountain parrots, diving into a deep blue river, jet boating, bungy jumping and sleeping in a snow cave (to name but a few). The most dangerous thing I do on a regular basis is drive a car or bike to work, and I don't consider those to be an adventure.

I have experiences all day long, I have out of the ordinary day to day hum-drum experiences when I head to the mountains.
I have adventures when I do something stupid.

The etymology of the word says that it started out meaning chance, fortune, luck from the French word that meant a thing about to happen. Eventually it took on a sense of risk, danger or peril and now it's just a novel, exciting incident.

I'm pretty easy to amuse, so for me a great adventure can include setting out on a new route through a familiar land and can include turning back because we couldn't make the goal.

"a novel, exciting incident."

That would be my use of the word too. It does not indicate to me that poor planning or danger is involved. Amongst my group of adventurous friends, we have a different phrase for what it sounds like the others are referring to. We talk about trips that are fun…then ask if that was "little "f" fun or BIG "F" FUN"? The second kind of Fun is to be avoided ;)

> I prefer Roald Amundsen's point of view. I'd always heard that he said
> "Incompetent explorers have adventures. I have experiences"

Presumably he said that before vanishing into the polar wilderness.

You can decide how much risk you take, with a variety of penalties for decreasing it. However even the most competent person can't eliminate it. Not even on a stroll down to the shops.

Presumably he said that before vanishing into the polar wilderness.

Amundsen disappeared in 1928 while using an airplane on a SAR mission.

It is somewhat ironic that he was lost in that way after so much success using much more "primitive" technology.

Ouch, that kind of hurts old Raold's quote. Whenever I think about experiences, I think about the old saying about judgement – good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of experience comes from bad judgement.

My tutor for avalanche safety said at the start of the course: "If you want to avoid avalanches, stay out of the mountains". He was the most knowledgable person I ever met on NZ avalanche hazards, how to read the weather and everything to stay safe and avoid 'adventures'. He died several years later in an avalanche. Sometimes s**t happens despite the best planning.

" Being thoroughly alive to the truth of this principal, I am also thoroughly ashamed of owning up to such adventures as we have had for they always reflect either on me, or the companions whom I have chosen, and therefore on me indirectly.
By keeping steadily in view the two maximums, "better safe than sorry" and" do in Rome…" Dr. Anderson and I managed to conduct for nearly five years a satisfactorily monotonous expedition and one the interest of which, so far as it has any interest, is in having attained the results which we set out to attain.
But we did have some adventures, and the star part of one of them fell to me, August 16….-Vilhjalmur Stefansson

like I stated in my addendum, We are using the word in the original literary sense and not the watered down casual use of the word, but people conveniently ignored that.
It you want an adventure I also added HYOH.
I recommend the books by Jon Krakauer – "Into the Wild" and "Into Thin Air". if you want an old fashioned Adventure story.

I wouldn't want to hike with a totally reckless person. But on the other hand, I wouldn't want to hike with "adventure-is-a-sign-of-incompetence" Vilhjalmur Stefansson either!

To me, happiness in life is striking a balance.

Hey Ben, have you set off on your big adventure yet?

Hi Ashley:

No, the big trip isn't till April…

Oh yeah, I got mixed up with the other trip you were doing beforehand. Lucky bugger. ;-)

mispost sorry…