Heartbreak! I have zero pictures from my Rehoboth Beach trip the weekend of July 12th in which I had my 3rd big adventure of the year. A confluence of events confounded me at every step! The best I can offer is a paragraph or two about the weekend and then some graphics I’ve been working on to rate my adventures. Here we go.

There was a lot of ice cream this weekend but the one that stands out was at The Ice Cream Store just off the boardwalk. They have over 100 flavors and I had to try their Devil’s Breath Carolina Reaper Pepper. Just to try it you have to sign a waiver. It’s just a stupid gimmick but damn that’s hot! My eyes started to water and I quickly begged for the young lady to bring me their Coconut Almond Chip in a cone. It wasn’t until halfway through the cone that the burning stopped and as soon as I finished, the heat flared back up. That was some hot ass ice cream!

I’m a huge fan of old timey photos. Dress me up in period costumes and tint me in sepia and I’m a happy hobo! I looked through the award winning photo book at the place in Rehoboth and debated what I wanted. I didn’t want the standard cowboy shot as I did that when I was 20. Look how adorable I was! We were the cutest gang in the Ol’ West.

I wanted something semi-original, which their books suggested they could do. I wanted Dr. Jen and I as the adventurers we are! Maybe Indiana Jones types searching through crypts or Victorian Era Egyptologists in pith helmets! We finally settled on a shot in front of a covered wagon on the prairie dressed as frontier people. Tough explorer types ready to eke out a hard living! Of course they didn’t have the green screen shot they advertised in several photos. They didn’t have some of the clothing we wanted. Essentially they just wanted us to shut up and take the shot shown above. For $40 I wasn’t into it. I left really disappointed.

We also rode the great Haunted House ride on the boardwalk twice! The second time we knew where the camera was and had a pose picked out. Sadly my face got blocked and it was just a weird angle. Again not worth the jacked up cost for 1 photo.

The big adventure was parasailing! As anyone who has read all of this blog knows, I have a pretty big fear of heights. I rarely let that stop me but it definitely gives me pause in doing some things. When I tell people about my 40 adventures they always ask if I’m going to skydive. That’s the line I won’t cross. But I did parasail! There was a fantastic family on the boat with us and they took all kinds of photos and videos of Jen and I taking off, flying about, and landing! Great! Except she never sent them to us or got the email address wrong.

Any who, we enjoyed our room on the beach (even getting locked on the balcony), swimming in the gross ocean, Grotto’s pizza, and thrashers fries. It was a great weekend, I just wish I had some photographic evidence.

Graphics! A lot of people have asked me what constitutes an adventure. More importantly how do I decide if one is big enough to be my monthly adventure vs. one of the other, smaller 28. Typically my answer is “Whatever I decide, jerk weed!” But then I started questioning myself and decided to make an adventure rubric! Each activity is being rated based on 7 categories and must have a score higher than 11 to be considered an adventure and must be 22 or higher to be considered a big adventure. Basically I have to turn it up to 11.

The categories and ranking are very subjective but I don’t have any better way to do this. Here are the 7 categories and roughly how I will grade them. I will give out zero scores if necessary.

Fear

1. Kids might be scared.
2. It’s exciting!
3. I’m a bit hesitant to do this.
4. Difficult for me and/or may hinder other people.
5. Pushing my limits completely.

Danger

1. I could always trip on my pigeon toes.
2. I could get a splinter or tick.
3. Hopefully I’m not too clumsy or I might hurt something.
4. Reasonable expectation I’m going to get a small injury.
5. A serious injury is not unthinkable.

Difficulty

1. That was easy!
2. I got my steps in for the day.
3. I’m glad I’m in moderate shape.
4. I’m a bit sore and could use a nap.
5. Mentally/physically draining/taxing.

Fun

1. I don’t regret doing that.
2. Good times, I hope I remember them.
3. I’ll recommend that to a friend.
4. What a riot!
5. Balls, I need to do that again!

Cost

1. No big deal.
2. I have that much in my wallet right now.
3. I could do this again but I need to wait until next paycheck.
4. Not something I can do all the time but it’s a nice treat!
5. Ouch, that hurt my savings.

Novelty

1. I’ve done this before, but it’s still novel/original.
2. Common enough activity, but new to me.
3. A couple of my friends might have tried this.
4. Only the few, the proud, and the stupid do these things.
5. No one I know knew/believed this was really a thing.

Distance/Time

1. Around the corner.
2. About an hour of travel and an hour or two of activity.
3. Over an hour or travel and/or total 5 hour excursion.
4. Entire day dedicated to the adventure.
5. Multiple day excursion.

So how have my 3 big trips added up?

I feel this doesn’t need much justification. I ranked the danger a little higher because you are working with large animals which can occasionally be unpredictable. These horses are well trained but they could step on a foot by accident. At a score of 25 it works as a solid, large adventure.

Likewise the Green Mountain Challenge made it in there with 25 points. I could have upped the fun or danger score but I was playing it conservative. There were enough muddy hikes and the mountain climb that could have ended in an injury but I mostly felt safe. Likewise we had loads of fun that weekend but I’m just rating the challenge itself.

Lastly is parasailing. I ranked danger at a 2 because even though it’s safe, there are chances of gear pinching or scraping you. Fear is a big 5 for me because of that pesky loathing of heights. I was hit or miss with distance/time. I did turn the event into a weekend but I could have easily done a day trip. In the end, I went with the 4. Another one that scores a 25!

Hope you enjoyed my no-photo adventure. Don’t worry, next month’s will be super exciting and I hope to have some great pictures and videos.

UPDATED 7/29/19: Updated to add novelty as a category and increase the score needed to be a big adventure from 20 to 22.