Preparing for an Adventure Vacation

Adventure!! Just the sound of it makes me always giddy like a child! An adventure vacation is something I look forward to as a prize of hard work. 

Exploring Antelope Canyon, Page, Arizona

Why do I love adventure vacation? 

Adventure a lot of the times gives us "ohhh-ahhh"- when we connect what we had learned previously from reading or from school to what we see and experience. But what is more fascinating for me is the, "hmmmm, why is that????????" part of adventure, where so much questions are framed in our minds. We talked about it, we discoursed about it, and we would go back home searching for answers to our queries. If we could not find answers, it's time to set up an EXPERIMENT about it, if doable. An adventure in nature brings "WONDER". 

Now, how do we make most of our adventure vacation so that we go home inspired, stronger, and maybe wanting more?

I know, some of us pride about "little planning" vacation, or "spur of the moment" vacation, or being spontaneous. Somehow, I was kind of like that also before, when our vacations were still more about city and resorts. It's easier to play it by ear when you are going to a place with almost everything in it. Until...... the great outdoors lured us into "adventure vacation". 

When we slowly transitioned into adventure vacation 2007, I must admit we were so much a newbie that we made a lot of mistakes. Thankfully, those mistakes were not bigger than our love for wandering that they did not stop us from exploring our natural world. Instead, they were mistakes that made us learn and made us more equipped for the next one, giving us more fun.

Here are some of the adventure vacation preparation tips that we have learned through the years.

1. Research for the best hikes that cater more to your interest.

Do you prefer challenging hikes? Or do you prefer easy hikes? Or do you have no preference whether it is easy or challenging as long as it is super awesome and scenic? Know which kind you would enjoy more. When you know your limits and interests, it is easy to search and prepare for it.

For us, it is about the scenic wonders. 

South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

We do not look down on easy hikes. 

We do not coward away from challenging hikes either because we know we could prepare for it.

It's about, "I really want to experience grandeur of nature there!" How do we know we wanted to experience the place?  Haha, by reading and watching featured places in National Geographic and other Outdoor magazines/channels.

Once we have found out the places we wanted to explore, we search for more detailed description, such as: mileage, change in elevation, type of terrain, weather, environment conditions, challenges, etc. Knowing a little bit some possibilities of what we will be into, we prepare for them. We prepare physically ( if it is challenging), mentally and emotionally ( if it is VERY CHALLENGING, as there are some hikes which are more mentally and emotionally challenging than physically challenging), spiritually ( praying for safety ), and materially ( appropriate clothing and gears). 

2. Plan your itinerary.

Planning for your itinerary will prepare you for full fun exploration of the place. That is when you will know the gears to bring, such as ice trekkers if trail is hard and icy, waterproof hiking shoes if hiking on watery or snowy conditions, what layered clothing are necessary and much more. Adventure is so much fun, only if you come prepared for the elements. 

Harding Icefield Trail, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska

3. Choose the right car and car rental company.

Once you have prepared for an itinerary and have done research on the kind of road conditions and terrain, it is best to choose the right car to rent and car rental company. Does the terrain need high clearance vehicle? Does it need 4-wheel drive? Does the car rental company allows unpaved road driving?  Does the car rental company allows for drop-off at a different airport if flying out airport is different? Are you a big family, maybe you need a rental caravan? There are many factors to consider,  and only you will know these factors from advance research and careful planning. There are many car rental companies, but there may only be a few that would serve your needs. Click here to check some of the options that may fit your self-drive holiday needs.

4. Check for more interesting places that could be your scenic stop-over on your way to your major activities.

If you love scenic wonders and is into taking pictures like us, this is a must! :) You simply do not want to miss scenic wonders that though may not be part of your major adventure activities, but is perfect for a place to get awe and wonder.

Mono Lake South Tufa State Reserve, Lee Vining, California

Beloved Partner on Road Trips

Fallen Leaves and Reflection

It was not my idea to come up with the above design. After hiking, I was pleased to see how nature wonderfully decorated our car. Before clearing the leaves, I took a remembrance of how nature gave us a pleasant surprise that time.  This car is our beloved partner when taking road trips outside of city.

Crusing on Desert's Dirt Road, Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA

We love to explore our wonderful world, and a lot of the times, these hidden gems would require cruising on rough roads, unpaved roads, off road, soft sand, snow, and what else.

Crusing on Snowy Mountain Road, Mt. Laguna, San Diego County, CA

Though in the city, we prefer to ride the sedan because it consumes less gas, but the comfort provided by SUVs on rough, unpaved and off roads allow us to see more of these many hidden gems.

Navigating Through Big Redwood Tree, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, CA

However, we are not really "off road" people. We fear we have very little idea about car repair and maintenance. Our little knowledge about car maintenance would sometimes stop us to explore some places we really want to see if the driving would become so tough. We are afraid of maybe getting a flat tire if we hit some pointed rocks, among other things. It is good news for us to learn that we can quickly call for help. Let us say for example, we are exploring Dallas and would need an immediate brake job, we can call Dallas auto repair to get quick assistance. Since this car repair company is all over US, providing most common car repairs to almost car makes and models, such as Honda Pilot, Chevrolet Silverado, among others, now, we are gaining a little bit confidence to maybe visit some places we intentionally skipped before because of our fear of having car trouble on the road. Now, maybe, I can look forward to going to Race Track Playa in Death Valley National Park.

Joy Rides

Sunset @ Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego

In two months, we'll have our last free maintenance service for our sedan, after that we will be on our own. One great service we had been enjoying for almost six years now since we bought our car is the $0 maintenance cost for the first four years, and we just paid a little more to buy maintenance for two more years. However, there is no extension of service maintance anymore after the 6th year, that now, we have to be on our own.

Sunset, San Onofre State Beach

Since we intend to keep our car while it still runs efficiently and does not give us any headache, we are now on the process of finding a reliable and less expensive car servicing company. Thankfully, I have heard from a friend in Chicago who recently had the water pump of her ten year old Toyota Corolla replaced at Chicago auto repair. I am glad to know that this car repair and servicing company is all over US, and I can find them in San Diego too. It is great to know we can have this quick and reliable car help, for we intend to have many more joy rides from our car.

Driving Places...Seeing Our Beautiful World At The Backroads

Car Amidst The Sea of Rocks, Alabama Hills, California

You may ask, how did that car get in there? Are they crazy driving through rocks? Well, that's our trusted "backcountry" car and the picture above was taken from a distance looking East. In the picture below, looking West, you will see the narrow dirt road on the left side of the picture and there is a wide dirt pull out for visitors to park.

Alabama Hills, California

For us who loves to experience our beautiful world not only from the main roads, driving along narrow dirt roads is worth it! Most of the time, we don't simply have to drive, we also have to hike to see more of the natural wonders that Earth offers. 

A John Wayne Pose @ Mobius Arch framing Mt Whitney, Alabama Hills, California

Since we love exploring our beautiful world at the backroads, we do not complain about driving on narrow and sometimes rough dirt roads. From the soft soil and sand on the desert,

Monument Valley, Utah

to the winding and snowy roads on the mountains,

we are ready to explore. Our trusted Honda Pilot is more than ready to bring us to places where we would want to be. On city streets where we drive on main roads only, we use a smaller car for gas efficiency. But on road trips where we have to drive through narrow dirt mountain or desert roads, we rely more on the Pilot. There are just instances that we need a high clearance and 4-wheel drive car, where smaller cars could no longer traverse or would no longer be as safe or as comfortable. 

When we were looking for a high clearance car to purchase before, we first carefully read and researched car reviews. Thankfully, researching for different car specifications and finding comprehensive reviews is now easier to find online, such as the one we can find at TheCarConnection.com. After taking into considerations the car reviews, we limited our choices to 4: these were the Honda Pilot, Nissan Xterra, Toyota 4Runner and Toyota Highlander. After test driving our 4 choices, we chose the one that felt most comfortable for us despite driving through bumpy roads and at the same time has better gas efficiency knowing that big cars burn more gas. The Honda Pilot has driven us to many of our wilderness trips and we are very happy with the choice we made. I am glad for the online reviews we found that helped and guided us in making choices.

Now, a friend of mine is in the look-out for a car. Being new to this country, she is somewhat lost with the so many choices she can find and as to what type of car she wanted. I asked her to determine her driving needs first. If she plans to drive only in the city, then, she can look at different sedans. Being new to this country, my friend is very curious with American cars and other cars that are not very common in our country. She first mentioned about Chevy Camaro. However, we learned that though the exterior really looks sporty and impressive, but the interior has more retro looks than exterior and some may be put off by the unique center controls. Next, she asked about Dodge Caliber, so we researched on its features. We have learned from the review of TheCarConnectionReview.com that despite the aggressive appearance of a dodge caliber, it is docile on the road, that the 2.0 and 2.4-liter engines are underpowered and noisy and the over-all handling performance is disappointing. After dodge caliber, we both looked into subraru outback, she was pleased to know from the reviews that the subaru outback is a good looking car inside and out. Now, she still continues to learn more about other cars, despite she is seriously considering a Honda CR-V. I guess, like us before, even if we already have in mind what to buy, we still went through reading different car reviews to learn more about the pros and cons of different cars. For after-all, buying car is not to simply answer our whims, a car is one of our major purchases, and that we have to really carefully research the features and if the car will be able to serve well our needs.