Adventure Travel as Undergraduate Degree

Now, why the heck didn't they have this as a major when I went to school? Arizona's Prescott College is now offering an undergraduate degree in Adventure Education, a discipline that includes courses ranging from Aboriginal Living Skills to Environmental Perspectives and White Water Rafting. Seriously. I would have been much more likely to show up for my 8AM if it had involved kayaking a cool mountain stream rather than analyzing the text of depressed French existentialists. I wonder what the dorms are like -- homemade yurts? Lean-tos? Recycled cast-offs from the architecture school?

Arizona's climate and topography offer a killer location for a variety of adventure disciplines, albeit not my favorite: diving. For that you have to take one of the off-site, south-of-the-border classes that heads to the Gulf of Mexico.

Several other universities -- including Colorado's Fort Lewis College, Idaho State University, and the University of New Hampshire -- offer similar, competing disciplines. I'd consider returning to school if Hawaii would come up with a similar master's program. Hells yeah.

How Green Is Your Destination?

I'm a sucker for quizzes, even though I know from the moment I click the very first improbable multiple-choice answer that I'm going to be disappointed. I'm going to rail against whatever idiot wrote the answer key that declares me so un-green I'm brown or so uneducated about the planet that I might have grown up on Mars.

So I was only slightly perturbed by the 75 I scored on the Sierra Club's recent "How Green Is My Destination?" quiz. How serious can you take a quiz when question 4 suggests that once you get to your destination you should "Go somewhere and stay put"? It's a travel quiz, people, not a stationary quiz. Not only were some of the provided answers questionable, some of the more pertinent answers weren't even on there.

How do you get to your destination? for example. In some parts of the world, it's much more eco-friendly to travel via train -- despite the distance -- than by boat, car, or plane. What about the country or city's penchant for doing green? Supporting sustainable destinations -- not just the hotel or lodging -- is just as important as how far they are, or whether or not you use mass transit once you get there. Conversely, if your transportation methods are questionable but your reason for visiting -- especially with voluntourism on the rise -- is entirely green, that too should be taken into account. But it isn't.

Ten half-assed questions ain't gonna cut it, Sierra Club. But read the quiz anyway, if you're so inclined.


http://www.sierraclub.org/howgreen/destination/

Photos Published in Washington Woman Magazine

After my unforgettable St. Lucia adventure a few months ago, my first photos have been published, alongside Marsha Dubrow's article in Washington Woman. Check 'em out, starting on page 46.

View more photos in my St. Lucia album.

Fucking, Austria

(An oldie but a goodie.)

For once, it's not the Americans who are getting a bad international rap. This time it's the Brits who are making asses of themselves on the continent, namely in Fucking, Austria, a town that has been vandalized many times over by limeys intent on stealing signs.
My favorite part: the sign under the town's name, which begs Fucking visitors "Please, not so fast!"

The newspaper article that appears to have broken the Fucking story a few years back could have used a fact-checker. At least one blogger was smart enough to point out that the headline, "Germans Not Amused," was geographically incorrect. Fucking journalists.

Other great (and not necessarily lewd) town and place names:

• Anus, France (Not to mention same-named towns in Indonesia and The Philippines)
  
• Assawoman, Virginia
  
• Bald Knob, Arkansas
  
• Batman, Turkey
  
• Beaverville, Illinois
  
• Bevis Lake, Washington -- Also known to the US Census Bureau as Butthead Lake
  
• Big Beaver Road (Exit 69 on I-75 in Troy, Michigan. I used to pass this when driving from Ann Arbor to Detroit)
  
• Bloody Dick Peak, Montana -- Elevation 9,817 feet!
  
• Blue Ball, Pennsylvania -- Conveniently located in the same county as Intercourse and Virginville
  
• Condom, France
  
• Gay, Michigan -- Home to the -- you guessed it -- Gay Bar
  
• Gayville, South Dakota
  
• Glasscock County, Texas -- Someone please tell me the etymology of this one.
  
• Hell, Michigan
  
• Long Dong, China
  
• Mount Blowhard, Queensland (Australia)
  
• Petting, Germany
  
• Seman, Alabama
  
• Shades of Death Road
  
• Thong, Kent (UK)
  
• Three Cocks, Wales
  
• Weener, Germany
  
• Willacoochee, Georgia
  

I was going to try to make this list as comprehensive as I could, but it looks as if I could go on forever. Feel free to comment with your own favorites.

BTW, I'm only including names I can verify. I've seen websites citing such choice destinations as Cockland, Ohio; Hot Coffee, Missouri; Cockintake, Staffordshire (UK); and Maggie's Nipples, Wyoming, but either Google maps and Wikipedia have decided to collectively deny their existence, or the town visitors bureaus have thoughtfully voted to change their names. If you add a name, please try to include a verifiable link. Thanks!