Not Our Finest Moments

[Not our finest moments: The above photo shows me eating a s’more while BLM camping in Utah, could I be messier?]

With 2011 coming to an end and everyone doing yearly reviews I thought I too would look back on the year. This is not a serious post but it could be; you can learn more from your mistakes than your accomplishments and the three videos I’ve included below show some of the sillier things Renee and I did on our recent road trip across the United States and Canada. These are not our finest moments, but I hope they give you a laugh and allow you to finish 2011 with a smile on your face.

Travellers are not always the all knowledgeable super humans that most people think us to be. European travellers for instance introduced various animal and plant species to New Zealand in the 1800’s which had disastrous effects on New Zealand’s fragile native species.

Fortunately we did not introduce any alien species to Zion National Park, I merely look idiotic as I try and track down an owl in this video. It was hilarious fun at the time, even after we concluded it wasn’t an owl at all but just a frog/toad. Certainly not one of our ‘finest moments’.

 

For our second humorous video, to add even more humility to this blog I’ve got the clip we recorded while driving through the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel to exit Zion National Park. We’re at first shocked by how dark the tunnel is before we realise we’re still wearing our sunglasses, duh! Not our finest moment. In our defence we’d climbed Angels Landing that morning, so we were tired.

 

Lastly Renee filmed this video of me showering in a sprinkler system in a Walmart car park in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Showers can be hard to come by when you’re living in a camper van, but on this particular occasion it wasn’t so much as I was dirty but just too hot. The temperature was 105 Fahrenheit plus (40+ degrees) and humidity would have been close to 100%. It was unbearable, and then, like a saviour the sprinkler system on the grass verge next to our van turned on. Of course I had no idea how long it would last for, but I quickly got wet, then shampooed my hair, then rinsed it off – all the time expecting to see some Walmart security guard heading over at any moment. Showering in a Walmart sprinkler system, not our finest moments but its funny how these things can really make a trip memorable.

 

What silly things have you done which have actually ended up being your most memorable moments from a trip? What have been your ‘not so fine moments of 2011’? 

 

Want to see more of our Great North American Road Trip?
– The Plan
– Map showing Posts by Location

Don’t forget to interact with Sam’s Playground on Facebook & Twitter @SamKynmanCole.

Comments

  1. Sam, I absolutely loved the overview in this post. =) These video clips show such varied moments of your travels! The owl sounds you made were classic! =)

    One of my most memorable moments of 2011 was the trip my partner, Roy, and I took deeper into the Andes. I picked flowers, chased animals, cooked squash in the ground, and hiked to town an hour away. It really reminded me of the simple life that I’ve been searching for. =)

    • Thanks for your comment Samantha, your trip to the Andes does sound very memorable. Down to earth and meaningful 🙂

  2. Love the videos! Even though I spent most of the year outside Canada my most memorable time was snorkeling with beluga whales, I think I may try to learn to scuba now.