Hello lovelies,

Do you remember our You Are Remarkable adventure? Well, because we think that YAR is one of the most beautiful websites on this great big world wide web, we thought we would let you know that You Are Remarkable has released a book!!! It’s full of sugar, magic dust, and beautiful, beautiful words. Check it out!

THE book.

Hello friendly types!

Liz Adventure here… once more, we’ve let things slide. It’s tough when you’re on the road, so to speak. I’m 4 months into my journey and still loving every moment of it. I’m back in England at the moment, just got in after a long couple of days of travel from Morocco.

I’ll be on the move all over the UK for the next month, but as the UK is home base, it will be much easier to be a better blogger. I’m also behind on my Miss Adventure travel blog!! I hope to get caught up by the weekend, and then I can give ABC Adventures some love.

Also, I’ve been writing more lately, and I entered a writing competition that you can find here. I’d love for you to check it out, and if you dig it, you should vote for me! But only if you like it, of course!

Mmmm, what else to tell??? Brian Adventure is also well, but busy like a mad man with school. We haven’t forgotten about you lovelies though, and we hope you haven’t forgotten about us.

I’ve said if before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but if you want to give us a hand, send in your adventures! lizadventure@gmail.com

<3 babies

This adventure was submitted by our lovely reader, Andrea!

Go and remove a garden gnome from its regular dwelling and take him for a delightful journey. Remember to replace the little fella once all is said and done and you’ve all had your fun. Maybe borrow your gnome for an extended period of time and send photos back to the anxious owners? You know, Amelie style (One of my favorite films, by the way. A character to my own heart).

Anyhow, here’s what Andrea has to say about the adventure! “Alright, so I’ve attached some photos of our gnome-napping adventure and the vacation that Little Franky was fortunate enough to have taken. It looks like he had an outstanding time!”

In a tunnel, at the playground, I’m assuming.

Definitely hanging out at the playground.

Swings? YES. We wholeheartedly approve of such antics.

The gnome has made a porcelain friend!

Lovely.

All in all, it looks like everyone must have had a lot of fun on this adventure; the instigators as well as the gnome.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: If you have been on any adventure that you’ve documented, send it in and we’ll put it up! Even if it’s a repeat of an adventure we’ve already got up on the site, we’d love to put your post up. If you’re interested, send in your pictures, with a little something written about your fun time to (lizadventure@gmail.com). Help us make ABC Adventures more user-interactive!!!

If you’re lucky, you’ve got a Science Center/Museum nearby. If you’re really lucky, then it’s totally awesome. But come on, who are we kidding… it’s science, so they’d have to work pretty hard to make is bad. So, we are lucky enough to have a totally sweet Science Center in downtown Phoenix. So, on one magical Sunday, a group of us headed down there, and as our luck would have it, they had A LEGO EXHIBIT!!!! AND IT WAS AWESOME (which really goes without saying).
The first floor housed an exhibit all about the body, and there was a wheelchair race (pictured below!)! They had an exhibit about sound, complete with iron fragments that DANCED to music. Don’t worry, there’s a video below. There was also an exhibit about nature and the elements, but really, the best part was the Lego exhibit. I played with legos SO much as a kid, and they will always have a brick shaped piece of my heart.
In short, we gives this a thumbs up as a worthwhile way to spend a few hours. It’s educational, fun, and won’t break the bank!
Do you have a Science Center or Museum nearby? If so, tell us about it! What’s your favorite exhibit?

Wheelchair races!

The dancing iron! You could pick from 4 different songs!

I wore this around for longer than necessary. And by that I mean, I wore this around for the perfect amount of time, and every second of it was awesome.

We are huge advocates of supporting the arts, whether it by attending a local museum or art show, an open mic night, or in this case, going to a show/concert. Can you imagine anything better than going to your local dive venue, cramming yourself in too close for comfort with a mass of strangers, and sweating the night away while belting out some of your favorite tunes in harmony with the band and said mass of strangers? OK, maybe it’s not everyone’s idea of a great night, but I think it sounds absolutely fantastic, and consequently make it a point to do it regularly. This experience is highly enhanced when you’ve got good friends to go with, but by no means let this deter you from going to catch a good show. You can always meet new people, because, hey, you know you’ve got something in common– you’ve both got superb taste in music. I prefer to go with friends, but have no problem going to a show by myself… I figure, if it’s a band I want to see, at some point, I’m going to be pissed that I didn’t go… So, the moral of the story is get yourself out to a show and dance your ass off, ya hear?

These pictures are from The Thermals show at The Rhythm Room, some months ago.

Ash and Madeline enjoying the Thermals!

Ash and Anthony. Ash is being rude, but it’s a funny picture, so I decided to include it still.

Ash is rude, again. Fran is sassy… what’s new?

Who’s your favorite live band?

Photobooths are one of my favorite things in the entire world. This is no exaggeration. I have SO many strips, and I love to give photobooth strips instead of or included in cards, for all sorts of things! They’re great for birthdays, Mother’s day, Father’s day, Christmas, Wednesdays, any days ending in y, actually… I think you get my point.
We at The Adventure HQ highly recommend going and taking photobooth pictures for a well needed dose of good, ridiculous fun.
If you don’t know where your nearest booth is, this website is a FANTASTIC resource to find out. If you don’t have one near you… then, I am truly, deeply sorry, and you should probably call up your local political representative to have them take well needed action about this absolute travesty.
Without further ado: some of our strips. I’ll admit that we’d all had a bit to drink…

Chances are that wherever in the world you live, there is something really awesome to see or do that is (at least somewhat) unique to that location. You know… the sort of thing that a guidebook would tell you to go and see, if you were in from out of town. So, this adventure is going to suggest exactly that. Pretend you’re in from out of town, and go pick up a guidebook to your city/state/country/locale/whatever. Find something that you really like the sound of, that you’ve never bothered with before because ‘you know… you live there, and you’ll see it one day’ and GO AND EXPLORE IT.
I travel a lot, and a couple of years ago, I went to Boston to visit a college roommate. I came home thinking, “Wow! There was so much cool stuff to see, and I bet that the people living there don’t even bother with that sort of thing… just because they LIVE there.” And then came this epiphany. “Oh shit. (Pardon my French) I bet I do that too. I bet that there’s tons of cool stuff to see in Arizona that I’ve never even bothered with.”
And sure enough… there was. Arizona may not be rich in history, say, when compared to the East Coast, but it’s beautiful, and full of amazing scenery, old mining towns, ghost towns, and magical places to explore.
Right now I’m in Europe, but I live by my guidebook (and Wikitravel). God, I’m such a tourist. But really, without it, I already would have missed out on some really worthwhile experiences and places.
So. Go play tourist; get yourself a guidebook, and use it to explore the great unknown.

Here is my guidebook that I’m operating on for the next… forever.

I’m off to Bratislava in a couple of days, and will certainly be counting on my trusty guidebook to tell me what’s what.

OK. So, I am going to end this update with an apology. We’ve been absolutely terrible bloggers, and trust me, we feel horrible about it. It’s been MUCH harder than we anticipated with Brian and I apart. However, on the train today, I spent some time writing some well needed updates, that will be released over the next few weeks… so, that’s something to look forward to!

And, if you’d like… you can read about what I’m up to around Europe. It’s not exactly a replacement for the ABC updates, but it’s something? Anyhow, if you want a look, it’s here.

Cause that’s what I’m doing right now. It’s wonderful.

Liz Adventure is doing it too, but she’s in no state to stop me from defiling her wonderful bit of wonder that is this Website.

~ash ponders.

abc alone.

Stay up and watch the sunrise. There is something so magical about this… every time i happens. I will never be able to see enough sunrises– they will never get old. The best part is when you’ve stayed up all night and this is your reward for doing so. It’s a delightful experience to share with a friend… and summer time is the perfect time to squeeze in some sunrises.

It’s tough to take a good picture when your camera’s on long exposure and you’ve got shaky hands

I love dawn. It’s like the whole world is being born anew.

Hiking. It’s awesome. Go with a friend and you get to spend the whole time talking (or panting if you’re not the fittest of fit… see: Liz Adventure). You get to see spetacular views and feel damn good about yourself because you took the time to get some exercise.

The view of where we went hiking

And here is a super cool lizard!

Pretty flowers along the way!

At the top of the hike, we got to “Wind Cave,” where I spotted a bee-hive built into the rock!

And another pretty view!

Go explore the natural wonder your locale has to offer! It’s lots of fun, just remember to bring enough water!