Tag Archives: sports
Fear Conquering & Roller Derby
“Mom. You are going to get owned.”
My, how the tables have turned. I’m not going to lie, I was getting a bit of pleasure out of worrying The Spawn.
The reason for their concern was not without merit — I was about to attend Roller Derby Camp. Or as the Killamazoo Derby Darlins call it, a “Fresh Meat Event”.
In our never-ending quest to find quirky things to do… CONTINUE READING >>
Veronica (aka Helln Hotflash) Does Roller Derby
enlarge video
Veronica becomes “Helln Hotflash” and embeds herself with the Killamazoo Derby Darlins — not quite the brightest move for a “woman of a certain age”! She survived – barely – and it wasn’t until… CONTINUE READING >>
Fear Conquering & Snow Skiing
Learning to ski at my age had me worrying about things that a younger person might not have.
What if I plummet over a cliff, break my hip, and die from complications a week later? What if I take a blow to the back of my head from one of those chair ride thingies and end up like an amnesia-riddled soap opera character? What if I end up like Sonny Bono and that horrible tree? What if?
But as a committed GypsyNester, it is my duty to step out of my comfort zone and… CONTINUE READING >>
Fear Conquering & Paragliding in Lima, Peru
Yup, you read that right!Veronica takes on her biggest challenge yet – strapped on to a parachute high above the beach cliffs of Lima, Peru!
And it’s… CONTINUE READING >>
Veronica’s Hysterical Paragliding Antics
Veronica: I feel like we’re sideways, are we sideways? Pilot George: No. We are fine. We are going in very slow. Veronica: What? It doesn’t feel slow. (petrified laugh) No. Ayhhhhhh… CONTINUE READING >>
Life’s a Beach
Life’s a beach. In Florida that little pun takes on some real meaning. Of The Sunshine State’s twelve hundred miles of coastline, over half is covered by beautiful sandy beaches.We are big fans of the seashore, so much so that we spent almost a decade on a… CONTINUE READING >>
Fear Conquering & Scuba Diving
Learning to scuba dive has been a long dormant dream of mine. I’m a water person, a good swimmer and love to snorkel. Scuba seemed the next logical step.
So I crammed my not-so-perky butt into a wet suit, strapped 16 pounds of weight around my waist (apparently I’m very buoyant) and jumped in. And immediately FREAKED OUT.
There I was in the ocean, treading water like a madwomen, embarrassed and humbled. What happened? I had aced the pre-ocean part of the lesson. In the swimming pool I was amazing – a scuba diving machine if there ever was one. I was practically one of those Discovery Channel shark chasers.
My mind frantically tried to grasp where things went terribly awry… CONTINUE READING >>
Red Sox Spring Training Hoopla!
enlarge video
The players may not be in mid-season form, but the fans sure are! You don’t have to be a baseball fan to have a blast at … CONTINUE READING >>
The "Grapefruit League" Diet
Ah Spring, when a young man’s heart turns to thoughts of… baseball. In late February thousands of athletes descend upon Florida and Arizona for the annual rite of Grapefruit and Cactus League baseball – Spring Training.It was just like being on the bench with the players. We could almost taste the Gatorade and easily eavesdrop on everything they said to each other, as well as what the coaches had to say… It really was amazing access… CONTINUE READING >>
Spring Training Up Close and Personal
enlarge video
It was almost like being on the bench with the players. We could almost taste the Gatorade. It really is… CONTINUE READING >>
Windy City Whirlwind Tour
Join us on our whirlwind tour of Chicago, home of America’s Tallest Skyline. View the Windy City’s grandest buildings, catch a reflection in Cloud Gate and see the beautiful (and huge!) Buckingham Fountain at Grant Park lit up in red at night! Did you know that Chicago has a building so large it has its own zip code?… CONTINUE READING >>To Bean or Not to Bean, Is That Even a Question?
As the leaves begin to turn red and gold deep in the Ozarks, excitement starts to build. Competitors check and double check recipes. Others put the final tweaks on their racing machines. Before long, the aroma of beans and outhouses fill the mountain air — it’s time for the Annual Arkansas Bean Fest and Great Championship Outhouse Races. This fest had GypsyNester written all over it. How could we possibly resist?The festivities, as with… CONTINUE READING >>
Outhouse Races! Mountain View, Arkansas
enlarge video
These aren’t your average outhouses, oh no, these are high performance porta-potties. Guess what happens at the… CONTINUE READING >>
Aerospace Cowboys
In the heart of New Mexico we found the world’s first commercial spaceport (check out the HUGE runway!), the town of Truth or Consequences, a desert with sands white as snow — and were invited to a calf roping benefit held for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. And to think we thought we were in the “middle of nowhere”! Boy, we couldn’t be more wrong… CONTINUE READING >>
Roping For Good
enlarge video
Each year Si and Cassandra Benjamin host a calf roping event in memory of their son Clint, an avid roper, that benefits… CONTINUE READING >>
Catalina Cart Blanche
“A rose by any other name…” No doubt ol’ Bill Shakespeare didn’t know Catalina from Capulet but the little island off the coast of California sure has had its share of monikers. The Tongva, dating back to 7000 BC, lived on the island and called it Pimu. Portuguese explorer and serial-California-stuff-namer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo dubbed it San Salvador in 1542. In 1602, Spain rechristened it Santa Catalina. Today, it’s Catalina Island or just plain Catalina… CONTINUE READING >>Big Game Hunting
Summer’s coming to an end but instead of lamenting, let’s look at the bright side. Fall is arguably the best season for doing a little GypsyNesting right in your own backyard. The cool crisp weather is perfect for hiking and biking along nearby trails and the colors are spectacular. State and County Fairs are going on all across the country and, as we learned in Hillsdale, can be a smashing good time.
For us sports fans, it’s football season. If there is a pro team nearby, the speed, the size and the… CONTINUE READING >>
The Maple Leaf Spangled Banner
The rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air…. YEAH CANADA! What? Turns out Independence Day is not the only patriotic fireworks-laden midsummer festival in North America. Canada Day is on the 1st of July and celebrates Canada’s “birthday” with familiar cookouts, picnics, parades, fireworks and a communal cake. Cake? Of course, it’s a birthday party! We found ourselves a beauty of a celebration by the banks of the River Thames in London… Ontario that is.
We found ourselves a beauty of a celebration by the banks of the River Thames in London… Ontario… CONTINUE READING >>
The Second Annual Combine Demolition Derby
“Oh, we have got to see this!” It was an ad for the Hillsdale, Michigan County Fair. The entertainment for the opening night was the Second Annual Combine Demolition Derby. We could hardly stand it.
Long a fantasy of mine to demolish a ’73 Chrysler in a derby, the next best thing had to be seeing giant farm implements annihilating each other in the mud and dust of a county fair track. Veronica, who grew up outside the farming belt was a bit confused, “Aren’t combines those machines that do something or other with crops?” Oh yeah, they harvest crops, are extremely huge and this is gonna be great! Immediate Googling was needed for more information on Hillsdale and this wacky… CONTINUE READING >>
From the Minors to October
Ah, autumn. A nip in the air, the trees are changing, football is back, but mostly… October baseball.
I’m a sports fan. I grew up on minor league baseball. The Wichita Aeros were a big part of my youth and the first professional sporting event I ever attended. That sticks with a guy, I was hooked. Back then the minors were a bit different than today. Of course you had the young prospects fighting to make the bigs but there were also some old vets playing out their string. You don’t see that anymore. The parent club won’t pay the freight and wants the roster spot for a possible future “player to be named later”. I saw some good ones coming up and going down. Vida Blue as a teenager throwing… CONTINUE READING
