Category Archives: Jumping

Check Me Out On TackyTouristPhotos.com

Equator, Jumping, Kenya, Tacky Tourist Photos
a man jumping in the air
Last December I wrote a post about Jumping at the Equator. A friend of mine passed along a link for my post to his friend who has a site called Tacky Tourist Photos. 
At first I was like, thanks… I think! Are my jumping photos really tacky??? 
When I think of my jumping photos- fun, laughter, light heart-ed and interesting come to mind.
I knew that my photos weren’t thought of in a negative way since my friend Jumping Norman, is what I consider, the King of Jumping! (Check out Jumping Norman’s collection of jumping photos on his Facebook page by clicking here)

Anyways, according to Dictionary.com the definition of tacky is:
  • not tasteful or fashionable; dowdy
  • shabby in appearance; shoddy: a tacky, jerry-built housing development
  • crass; cheaply vulgar; tasteless; crude
  • gaudy; flashy; showy

I chatted online for a while with Darren (one of the “curators”) at Tacky Tourist Photos and told him why I was hesitant to have any of my photos on his site. He told me that they consider tacky a good thing and explained how.

Here is the explanation from the Tacky Tourist Photos website:

NOTHING is more nauseating than a valedictorian starting his or her speech by quoting from Webster’s Dictionary — or any dictionary. We know that “tacky” has a negative connotation amongst the dictionary-reading public. But we consider “tacky” to be a good thing. We liken it to “kitschy.” The reason we did not call this project Kitschy Tourist Photos is because it would kill the alliteration.
We love to connect with other travelers not afraid to act a little goofy sometimes and who do not take themselves too seriously.

While looking over the Tacky Tourist Photos site I  laughed quite a bit. I figured that some of my jumping photos would be a good fit there.

Check out my picture (shown above) and the post about it on Tacky Tourist Photos HERE

Driving (and Jumping) Along the Needles Highway- South Dakota

Custer State Park, Drive, Jumping, Needles Highway, South Dakota
a rocky mountain with trees
There are lots of scenic drives that you can go along in South Dakota. I am usually not a fan of long drives but the roads in SD are in great shape, there are few cars on the road and the scenery is incredible.
a rocky mountain with trees
One of my favorite drives was along the Needles Highway. The highway is 14 miles of curving and winding roads located in Custer State Park. The highlight of driving the highway is viewing the incredible rock formations called “needles”. There are also two narrow rock tunnels that you get to drive through along the way which we enjoyed checking out.
a group of people standing in front of a large rock formation
The Needles Eye
The most famous rock formation along the highway is the Needles Eye. I think the reason for the name is pretty self-explanatory. We stopped for a while to take pictures and really enjoyed the views. This was also the most crowded area that we stopped at.
Right by the Needles Eye there are some other interesting rock formations and one of the two rock tunnels.
a car driving through a tunnel
The tunnel is pretty amazing to see and was a great place for a photo-op. I really liked seeing the cars squeeze through. As you can see, there is only one lane but we never really saw a traffic jam at the tunnel.
a woman pushing a baby in a strollerInvalid request error occurred.

We passed through the second rock tunnel towards the end of our drive.

a road with a tunnel in the middle
Here are a couple of jumping pictures by my favorite (close-up) rock formation along the highway.
a man jumping in the air between large rocksa man jumping in the air between large rocks

Check out the Visit Rapid City page about the Needles Highway HERE

Space Shuttle Enterprise- I missed the flight but saw the boat ride!

Jumping, NYC, ,
a space shuttle on a barge
When the Space Shuttle Enterprise flew to New York from Washington D.C. I was bummed that I didn’t get to see it in person. I had work that morning and by the time I got out, the shuttle had already landed at JFK Airport.
.

I knew that the shuttle would be making it’s way to New Jersey by barge at some point in June before ending up at it’s final stop, The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

a man with a stroller and a baby

Kim, Lucas and I headed to the Belt Parkway walking path to get the chance to see the shuttle make it’s way by barge from the airport to NJ. It just so happens that it would be passing by very close to where we live, under a 10 minute ride in the car. We left early to get a decent parking spot and then waited for the shuttle to float by.

Jumping with the Ultra Marathon Man- Bear Mountain, NY

Jumping, Running,
two men jumping in the air
L-Michael W., R- Dean Karnazes
On May 6 I ran a 5K race at The North Face Endurance Challenge in Bear Mountain, NY.  The event had races of various distances, some up to 50 MILES!
.

Running 50 miles in one day sounds pretty extreme, impossible and crazy to me but once you hear about what Dean Karnazes- The Ultra Marathon Man  has done it will sound like a walk in the park. I first heard about Dean while reading Outside Magazine a few years back. Continue reading Jumping with the Ultra Marathon Man- Bear Mountain, NY →

Jumping by South Point Lighthouse- South Coast, Barbados

Jumping, Trip Reports,
a man jumping in front of a lighthouse
When I read that there were some lighthouses in Barbados, I wanted to try to check a couple out. There were two close to areas we would be visiting and I figured we could try to fit them in.
a red and white lighthouse
South Point Lighthouse is a close drive from the fishing village Oistins, known for it’s
Friday Night Fish Fry. After visiting the Fish Fry, Kim and I figured it would be worth seeing what Oistins was like during the day. We stopped by for a quick visit and then went to find the lighthouse.
 .
Getting to the lighthouse was a bit difficult. To reach it, you need to drive through a residential area which was very confusing. We tried figuring it out on our own but had to pull over to ask a police officer where to go. It did not help that some roads were closed near Oistins.
 .
After missing a few turns along the way, we finally found the lighthouse. The South Point Lighthouse could definitely use some TLC and looks like it’s been neglected for a long time. It is located on government property and it’s doubtful that many tourists come by for a visit. There isn’t much to see or do once you get to the lighthouse so I figured it was the perfect place for a jump!
a side mirror of a car

A Beautiful Beach: Rockley Beach- Barbados

Jumping, Trip Reports,
a beach with blue water and blue sky

I am not really a beach person or the type to lay out to get a tan. While traveling I think there are much better things that can be done with your time.

However, I promised Kim that we would go to the beach while visiting Barbados. We heard that there were lots of beautiful beaches around the island. We planned to use our rental car to visit a few beaches but one of the best ended up being a 10 minute walk from our hotel! Continue reading A Beautiful Beach: Rockley Beach- Barbados →

Why I Started Jumping in Pictures

Jumping,
a group of people dancing on a stage

Budapest, Hungary

I started jumping a few years back when asked if a picture I posted (shown above) on the online travel comunity website- Virtual Tourist could be used for a collection being made of jumping pics.
VT member Jumping Norman has a massive collection of jumping pictures. Some he takes but most are sent to him from people living all over the world. After checking out some of his pictures I thought it would be fun to start jumping, mainly when traveling.
Jumping pictures are a lot of fun to take and you definitely end up with some interesting shots.