All posts by Mark.Owen

Welcome New Members Dallas!

September 12, 2013

Last Saturday we started the night off with our New Member Icebreaker and the new members had a ball competing in the People Bingo game. All it took was one member whose birthday was in November for a brand new member to yell “BINGO”. Poor Brad thought one of the new members was getting fresh when she asked him if he’d ever been skinny dipping. He was disappointed when she quickly turned her attention to the next person. After our winner did her happy dance we hit the trampolines for an amazing evening of trampoline dodge-ball. Since we had the place to ourselves we took went to the back trampoline area and had a giant dodge ball game.  Whew! Talk about tiring. But it was a great workout to get ready for the Peru trip that kicks off this Friday! Over 30 of us are going up to 11,000 ft to check out the ancient Inca ruins of Machu Picchu.  This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity and I can hardly wait!  Another item soon to be checked off of the bucket list.

Jacque Event Manager Dallas

Lifelong Friendships Santa Clara

September 12, 2013

Sometimes working for a singles club can be a wonderful thing. To have someone join the club and see their lives change can be so emotional. It is especially noticeable now. I received a wedding invitation not long ago to a wedding for my friends Jen & MJ who are in E&A. It is so nice to think back about the ride we have had in the club. Both MJ & Jen  became hosts shortly after joining. From there we worked together, hung out together, and got to know each other and have had a wonderful friendship blossom. Just last week another good friend from the club asked me to be part of her wedding (this is the second E&A wedding I will be in). It is touching to know that relationships I have made in the club have turned into lifelong friendships! What a great experience this has been!

Julie Ott- Event Manager Santa Clara

Beat the Heat Phoenix!

September 7, 2013

Here in the Phoenix Events & Adventures we have to get creative during the summer in how we “beat the heat”. When the temperature rises into the triple digits, we don’t tend to stay in town on the weekends! You can usually find us up north, where the temperatures are much more tolerable and where you find some of the most gorgeous red rocks around! Sedona is just a hour and a half away, so going for a day trip is definitely doable. Not only do we ditch the sauna that is Phoenix, but we get to explore some of the most beautiful scenery, vivid red rocks against green forest!

Some of the places we’ve explored this summer were not only in Sedona, but the surrounding areas as well. There’s so much to discover here and it’s always more enjoyable going with a group of fun people! We’ve gone hiking and found some awesome swimming holes that have great cliff diving. We’ve been hot air ballooning, completed a ropes course and we usually find an awesome place for lunch and or dinner after all of this! But most importantly, we make some pretty awesome connections with other E & A Members that have turned into some pretty great lifelong friends, all while making fun memories!     

Courtney Brown
Event Manager Phoenix

September is off to a great start in Chicago!

September 6, 2013

 We began the week with Bocce Ball and $4 burgers. And no, they were not small dinky patties, but full size delicious juicy burgers that are regularly priced at $11. Our guys vs gals bocce battles were pretty intense! We all learned a thing or two about the game. The weather was beautiful on Wednesday for sand volleyball in Grant Park as well as Thursday outdoor movie night. The showing was a remake of the American classic, Footloose. It was a great movie to conclude our monthly summer “movies in the park” series. We all shared snacks, drinks and good company. Some of us even danced our way to the car! Come out soon to see what the rest of the month has in store for you!

April Kordyak
Events Manager – Chicago

Labor Day Weekend Houston/Dallas

September 6, 2013

 One of my favorite times of year is the Labor Day long weekend.  The 4-day adventure always gives us a chance to meet and form friendships with our Houston folks as well as our Dallas club!  This year we enjoyed swimming, fishing, wineries, Dinosaur Valley SP and games all while spending 3 nights at Cleburne State Park.  The air conditioned facilities we reserved were perfect because the temperature outside was in the hundreds all weekend!  The spring-fed lake was really enjoyable and we were able to float and relax.  I can’t wait for our next long weekend adventure!

Reid Johnson
Events Manager – Texas Region

Vancouver Labor Day Weekend!

September 6, 2013

Last weekend was another amazing camp-out with members from both Seattle and Vancouver clubs.  Great group of people as usual, multiple camp fires, epic day trip kayaking in Bellingham Bay, Hike to Oyster Dome and so much more!  Friday Creek running right beside camp was as relaxing as anything to wake up too and made for a great spot to cool off and to float for a nap during the day.  We lucked out on the weather all weekend as it only started to sprinkle the morning we were packing up.  I can’t wait for the next long weekend to do it all over again!!

Ambrea Chambers
Events Manager Vancouver

My Favorite Events!

September 6, 2013

Some of my favorite events are centered around Minnesota themes:  Tailgating before a Twins game, eating peanuts at the stadium and cheering on our home team, or taking in a St. Paul Saints game while throwing around a football and tossing some bean bags…… Then we made the State Fair more fun with our own scavenger hunt – searching around the fairgrounds for various items, new foods, and of course SAMPLING any food that comes on a stick!  But my absolute favorite event is enjoying our beautiful outdoors with a bonfire and roasting s’mores!  Have you ever had a marshmallow with a rolo melted inside, sandwiched between a graham cracker and a fudge-stripe cookie?  I highly recommend it!  I’m looking forward to what our Minnesota Fall has to offer!

Megan Spaulding

Event Manager Minneapolis

 

An Amazing Labor Day Weekend!

September 6, 2013

 Labor Day weekend was an amazing time! Why?  We from the Seattle club got to share the good times with our sister club in Vancouver BC.  Then you toss in camp fires and making s’mores and Sea Kayaking (which was a blast)!  One group of members set out to conquer the hike up to Oyster Dome while others were more mellow playing cards in camp.  The weather made volleyball a great option but it was a great weekend to lay around and take in some rays.  Kudos to Aaron who did an amazing job of using his culinary skills to feed the masses and to all who helped make this a great weekend. 

Now don’t think the fun is over as we head into September!  Come along and dare to survive the Friday the 13th Haunted Tour or maybe learn more about local history as we venture to Tillicum Village for an authentic Salmon Bake.  Get your adrenaline pumping as we have both Paragliding and Skydiving –  you will also have plenty opportunities to laugh and meet up with your friends from Events & Adventures.

Curtis Borloglou-Boyd

Grand Canyon 2013!

August 27, 2013

Season of Firsts

This summer 39 adventurers throughout the U.S. & Canada landed in Las Vegas, Nevada for a grand adventure!  What was billed as a bucket list excursion to raft 90 miles of the one and only Grand Canyon ended up being a story of friendship and firsts. 

For many this trip was a first to the Las Vegas strip, Hoover Dam, white water rafting, horseback riding, ATV riding, skeet shooting, helicopter ride, first time seeing the Milky Way & shooting stars and the first time sleeping outside under the stars in the desert!  Even a self-proclaimed adventurer like me experienced the first thrill of sitting shotgun in a helicopter diving through the canyons and speeding 30 miles per hour through a sun setting desert in a roaring ATV!

Strong bonds of friendship formed early in the trip and strengthened through shared mealtimes and river duties.  A circle of camp chairs at night became the stage for two adventurers, who had never met, to give out nightly awards and share stories of the day’s great accomplishments and comical blunders.

When we had tried every adventure and our trip was coming to a close, one member from our Vancouver club quietly asked the guides if she could experience being rescued out of the water.  She quietly, and without warning, jumped into main channel of frigid 55 degree rushing water.  Luckily I happened to have my camera out!  We quickly undocked our boats and found her enjoying the peace and quiet of being alone in the middle of the Colorado River.  She didn’t appear to want to be rescued from the bliss and peacefulness of the Grand Canyon…but we never leave anyone behind because it is just a short time before our next life changing adventure…

By: Reid Johnson

Reid has been with Events & Adventures for four years and led adventure trips to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, The Grand Canyon and multiple destinations in Texas throughout his time with Events & Adventures.  Check back soon for a recap of Reid’s upcoming adventure stories from Peru where he will lead 30 adventurers up 16,000 feet over 10 days to reach mystical Machu Picchu.

Scavenger Hunt Downtown Chicago!

 When you live in a big city, sometimes it’s easy to forget the little gems that make it so great.  The Chicago E&A’ers got a chance to participate in our first ever Scavenger Hunt!  We broke up into teams and ran all over downtown Chicago, searching for landmarks and collecting interesting information.  Did you know the sculpture at Millennium Park that we lovingly call “The Bean” is actually named Cloud Gate?  Who knew?!  We also learned that it is not as easy to find a book of matches as it might have been a few years ago, am I right Scavenger Hunters?  We roared with the lions at the Art Institute, interviewed each other in front of ABC Studios, and blew bubble gum bubbles in front of the Wrigley Building, and that’s only scratching the surface!  After a day like that how could we not feel proud to call Chicago our home!

April Event Manager Chicago