Blog Entries Tagged Travel

Here's a list of all 50 blog entries tagged Travel here at derek.broox.com. I've also got 11,240 other things related to Travel.

  • Overlanding the 7-Hour Plane Crash Trail posted - 8 comments

    The upper midwest is effectively devoid of off-roading and overlanding opportunities. Most people in the scene are settling for camping in parks, getting invites to a handful of events on private land, or making long hauls to get our fix outside of the midwest. We'd been planning a fall overlanding escape to the Ozark National Forest with our cousins, who have a very similar setup as ours (Ford Broncos and off-road teardrops). We scouted out some campsites that we could drop our campers at while we wheeled through the forest. Ideally, we'd pull the teardrops through the trails, but some of the water crossings can get pretty high, and no one wants a wet mattress... read more

  • The Jefferson Lake Fiasco posted

    We went on the sketchiest hike today. It was at Jefferson lake, which sits in the mountains between the cabin we're staying at and our friends, Clint and Jacqui’s house. It's a very pretty lake, with no one else around, and what seemed to be a nice, easy trail. A little over 1/3 of the way around the lake, we had a decision to make.. Go all the way around or go back the way we came... read more

  • My first trip to Asia posted - 1 comment

    Some weeks ago, my friends Harper, Ivan, Abbie, and I flew to Southeast Asia to meet with a bunch of small companies and do some research for work. It was my first time in Asia, and actually, the furthest east and south that I've ever been. As cliche as it sounds, it really is a-whole-nother world over there. The way they've completely skipped over things that have changed or slowed down innovation in the US was super interesting. The fashion, diets, and everything in Asia is just so different, and in many ways, much better... read more

  • Our trip to Mukul Resort in Nicaragua posted

    As a lot of you know, Kari and I just got back from a pretty rad trip to a resort in Nicaragua... and nearly everyone we've talked to about it asks, "how did you pick Nicaragua?" Well, it kind of started with our friends' Mindy and Ryan's wedding. They had a destination wedding a couple years ago at the Banyan Tree Mayakoba resort in Mexico. Here, we had our own villa that came with it's own pool - devoid of other people's children and ... well devoid of everyone... read more

  • Picking up an M-series in Germany posted - 2 comments

    First of all, some things I noticed about Germans: no one is staring at phones. Everyone rides bikes - mostly cruisers with kickstands and barely locked up. They are big rule followers. They seem to require very little policing and are generally very respectful people. They love super cheesy t-shirts, especially if the F word is on them... read more

  • Riot Fest 2015 posted

    Kari pretty much ordered us a set of Riot Fest tickets as soon as she saw this year's line-up. There wasn't many current acts, but it was chock full of bands we would've gone to 10+ years ago if we had money... or knew that we liked going to shows. I'd barely seen any of these people play before, but was definitely into a ton of them at least one point in my life. After watching Lollapalooza get a bigger and bigger, molly fueled, EDM crowd over the last 10 years, the crowd at Riot Fest was a much welcomed change... read more

  • BWCA 2015 - The year of the portage posted

    This trip to the boundary waters wound up being the hardest, but also the warmest... actually, it was just straight up, unseasonably hot. We spent a good portion of every day shirtless, in our swimwear, or cooling off in the (very) cool lakes. Our trip started at the southeast corner of the BWCA Wilderness at Kawishiwi Lake and we traveled 30-40 miles northeast to take out at Round Lake along the Gunflint Trail. It was the most lakes I'd ever crossed (21) and the most portaging (carrying all of your packs and canoes across land from one lake to the next) I've ever done in a single trip... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2015 posted

    This was one of the weaker lineups I've seen at Lollapalooza, but out of tradition, we of course still went. On top of a few great shows, we got to hang out with good family and friends, eat some good food, enjoy a few cocktails, and shop on Milwaukee Ave. Here's who we saw... Friday Kari's dad joined us so that he could see Paul McCartney, which was awesome. Father John Misty - I have no idea who this is, but we caught part of this set while waiting for Hot Chip... read more

  • Maine posted

    Over the 4th of July, my wife's extended family from Boston hosted a family reunion at their cabin in Maine... Kari'd never been to the state, and I hadn't been since I was a kid, so ... duh ... we went! I'd forgotten just how beautiful and untouched a lot of Maine is... read more

  • Mayakoba posted

    For years, Kari has been hoping that one of our friends would have a destination wedding. I mean, she loves weddings and she loves tropical/resort vacations... so an excuse to combine the two was obviously something she was interested in. This year, it finally happened. Our friend Mindy invited us to her wedding at a place in Mexico called Mayakoba... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2014 posted

    So when Kari was diagnosed with MS last fall, no joke, one of the first things she asked me (nearly in tears) from her hospital bed was, "what are we going to do about lollapalooza?" Not even lying, she wanted to know that if she wasn't able to walk anymore, I'd be able to get her to the front like the guy we saw at Kendrick Lamar last year. It sounds totally cheesy, but live music is just something we do and it's been a huge part of our relationship. Well, fast forward 10 crazy months and aside from needing an arm through some rough terrain, Lollapalooza was absolutely no thang for Kari. No handicapped pass was needed, we had a blast, saw some amazing shows, walked ~60,000 steps, and hung out with some good friends. As far as music goes, 2014 was loaded with hip hop and great, danceable music... read more

  • The Dominican Republic posted

    At the risk of forfeiting any future travel with my amazing in-laws, I really need to get this story down in a blog. Last year, Kari, her family, and I started planning a vacation to the caribbean. We'd narrowed it down to a few non-U.S. islands. So needless to say, we all had to make sure our passports were in check... read more

  • Checking out. Back to the Boundary Waters posted

    One day last year, amidst the shitstorm of a job and life I was living in the city of Chicago, I IM'd my buddy, Josh and told him that I needed another trip to the Boundary Waters. I wanted to check out from technology, humans, the city, insanity, everything. A trip to the Boundary Waters, a complete wilderness area absent of all civilization, modern conveniences, and man made structure seemed like exactly what I needed. This is a place where canoes and feet are the only modes of transportation, paper topographic maps are the only way to navigate, and you only take what you can carry. There are no cell phone towers, electricity, roads, running water, man made structure, and minimal human contact... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2013 posted

    Didn't have the best lineup ever, but it was definitely better than 2012… Add in not having a crazy job to pull me back to the office, a free place to stay, the beautiful weather, and the amount of butts hanging out of daisy duke mom jorts, this turned out to be one of the best lollapalooza experiences so far. Here's how it went... Friday Crystal Castles - This was my 3rd time seeing them. Their producer, Ethan is amazing and Alice is batshit crazy on stage… smoking, drinking jameson out of the bottle, and just putting on a great show. They sounded awesome... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2011 posted - 3 comments

    The 20 year anniversary of Lollapalooza, my 5th year at the festival, the 30th anniversary of my life, and the turning point of a pretty major change in my (and Kari's) life. We had some huge milestones going on this year... all of which sort of overshadowed each other, and moved too fast for me to fully appreciate them like I should have. Either way, Lollapalooza was a giant, super expensive blast again this year. There's the standard eating of great foods, dealing with crowds, late night dinners and even later night partying, so I won't get into all that… but here's a breakdown of the shows we saw this year... read more

  • Ireland 2010 posted - 2 comments

    So I guess I should blog about Kari and I's amazing 5 year anniversary trip to Ireland... Starting off with travel... the flights weren't that bad at all. I mean, they were 6-7 hours, but having my ipad and an exit row seat made everything much nicer. If you're ever going on a flight this long, try to get an exit row seat (but beware - exit row window seats do not recline all the way)... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2010 posted

    Soooo, Lollapalooza is starting to make some really nice changes. First of all, the space. They expanded the fest grounds across Columbus (adding 4 city blocks of space) and moved some of the small stages over there. It definitely, definitely opened things up and made the entire weekend much more comfortable. Everyone was gushing over the new grounds... read more

  • New York City Speed posted - 4 comments

    My dad has been living on the northeastern shore of New Jersey for a while now. He's actually just a short ferry ride from New York City. And uh - I'd never been to New York nor New Jersey, so I figured - it'd be a great time to check out the city at a cheaper rate. So Kari and I flew into NYC last Saturday and took a cab from the airport to dad's friends' place. As soon as we left the airport, I started to realize how giant NYC is - it's ridiculous... read more

  • Conked My Head! posted - 9 comments

    So, everyone is asking about it, I've told the story 1,000 times.. might as well get it down in a blog. It all started Saturday when we somehow forgot to eat more than 2 slices of pizza, walked all over Chicago, then partied. All of that combined... turned out to be a really solid recipe for low-blood sugar, which is no stranger to me and my family... read more

  • Boundary Waters 2009 posted - 1 comment

    Well, you may have noticed that I've been completely off the grid for a few days. At least, you must've noticed that your internet was slightly less clogged with my nonsense. That's because I've been camping, canoeing, and hiking the boundary waters with Josh, Chris, Will, Scott, and Cal. No phone service, no internet, no toilets, no running water, no electricity - just straight wilderness. In fact the area we were in doesn't allow motorboats or even wheels on land... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2009 posted - 3 comments

    Let me start off on a negative note by saying that Lollapalooza 2009 was the worst Lollapalooza I've been to. I mean, it wasn't awful or anything, I just think we got spoiled in 2006 and 2007. The artists this year weren't as good, we missed a lot of acts due to traveling, we didn't go to any afterparties, we didn't get to see many friends, and the weather was rough. ...Aside from all that though - It was still pretty awesome and I'm really glad we went. We got to hang out with Jon and Liz quite a bit, had Sushi Wabi, heard a ton of good music, and of course, got to visit our favorite city - Chicago... read more

  • Joyce Turns 60 in Chicago posted - 4 comments

    So Kari's aunt Joyce is a traveling nurse. As such, she gets her choice of where (and when) to work in various cities around the country - 6 weeks here, 6 weeks there, 12 weeks at home, etc, etc. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous; I'm incredibly jealous. Anyway, lately Joyce has been in Chicago to be near Kari's cousins; helping Stephanie with the baby, ya know. And Kari just happened to be flying back (through Chicago) from math camp on Joyce's birthday... read more

  • Arizona Friends and Family posted - 2 comments

    Wow, that was quite a vacation. Completely packed, totally fun, and also completely draining, ha. So, if you didn't know, Kari and I visited Arizona for 9 days. The first 5 days were spent with my grandparents and the last 4 were spent with friends. I'm gonna try to summarize my trip as best as possible - otherwise this blog could be incredibly long... read more

  • Bock Fest 2009 posted - 2 comments

    Well that was another successful Bock Fest - filled with drinking and laughing until your face hurts. Despite how awesome it was, Rico had to drop out at the last minute, which was LAME... however Cedric stepped up and stood-in for him. Tobbie also tagged along since she's been fitting in with our crew so well. So this year I felt more prepared than ever... read more

  • Our First Emmitt Visit posted - 5 comments

    This past weekend, Kari and I flew down to Texas to visit my sister and Chris. We've never really hung out with just the 2 before, so it was nice to finally get to visit - just us. And as an extra bonus - travel was crazy smooth. NWA didn't charge us for checking bags (in fact we could've each checked an extra bag if we wanted), plus we got free sodas, and 1 of our flights even landed 30 minutes early, nice! So anyway, we got into San Antonio late Thursday said some words, then we all basically crashed... read more

  • Turbo Hates Women, Jordan Hates Late Dinner posted - 2 comments

    Last weekend my buddy Turbo had a "He-Man Woman Hater" party. When he first told me about it I was like, "huh... cool name, Aaron." I figured he'd made it up, but it turns out it's a real club from The Little Rascals. The He-Man Woman Haters Club was... wait for it... read more

  • Southern Florida posted - 1 comment

    If you've been paying attention to my photo stream, you've probably noticed that we had a jam packed vacation. 8 days and 250 photos of Key West and Miami Beach. Man, it was a great time. Jeff and Teresa took us down there as part of a giant celebration trip. Kari, Victor, and I got new jobs... read more

  • You Might See Me in My Brand New Whiiip posted - 13 comments

    So I got a new truck. An 8 year old truck that looks like it's 1 year old. As most of you know, I (for some weird reason) was in the market for a truck. The truck that appealed to me most was the F150, but I didn't want the F150 that you pass 76 times a day on the road. I wanted a unique one... read more

  • MPLS VIP 2007 posted - 5 comments

    Man, I really haven't had the energy to blog... but I suppose it's time to write about last weekend. So, Nathan, Josh, and I met up in Minneapolis for another big going-out fest, similar to what we did last year for Josh's birthday. The plan is basically to go to Minneapolis on Friday and come home on Sunday - that's it. Everything else just sort of falls into place, which is generally chaos... read more

  • PB, Galena, and LeClaire posted - 1 comment

    Why are windshield wiper controls so different in every vehicle? Seriously. I somehow wound up driving a LOT this weekend, in 4 different vehicles. Between Kari's SUV, mom's new car, dad's SUV, and Jeff's truck. By the end of the weekend I was almost taking Jeff's truck out of gear just to clear some rain off the windshield... read more

  • Lollapalooza 2007 posted - 1 comment

    My last 2 birthdays have been the most insanely awesome/draining weekends ever. My birthday, in Chicago, on Lollapalooza weekend. The best thing about this year was that I saw every band that I had written down to see, except for silverchair. I even saw some shows on conflicting schedules, yessss. However, my feet always kill me during the entire weekend... read more

  • First Visit to Lake Madison posted - 2 comments

    So this weekend we went to South Dakota to visit my second cousin in law, Jerry Cozad, haha (Jeff's cousin). I really had no information about the weekend except that we were going to some Lake near Sioux Falls. I had no idea what to expect, but I certainly didn't expect to be in cabins nicer than my house... which is exactly what we found. And these weren't full time houses for these people, they were just weekend cabins... read more

  • Kevin and Julie's Wedding Weekend posted - 1 comment

    So... Back to Kevi's wedding weekend. Friday after we got to Orlando, we checked into Hawthorne Suites, which rule btw. Kitchen, living room, 2 queen beds, an amazing free breakfast, open bar from 5:30-7:30 daily, free wifi, and a nice pool - all for only $90 a night. So after checking in, Kevi gave us some pretty rad gifts... read more

  • National Lampoon's Magical Wedding Vacation posted - 4 comments

    I really hate to rain on someone's wedding, which I won't do. But I'm totally about to blow up about traveling to Kevi's wedding. Omg. So first of all, Thursday, Zach, Amy, Kari, and I were scheduled to fly out of Des Moines around 5pm and show up in Orlando at 10:30pm. So we arrived at the DSM airport around 3:45 to check in, when we met an NWA employee named Betty... read more

  • RFID Journal Live posted - 2 comments

    Whoops, I forgot to blog again. So yeah, last week I was in Orlando for an RFID Conference. It was really nice. The resort I was staying at (Disney's Coronado Springs) was much better than I thought it'd be. I was sorta worried because... read more

  • Des Moines, Minneapolis, and Orlando posted

    All in 1 weekend. Ahhh, this is nice. Friday, Kari and I checked out waterfront deli, went to a party at Fry's for a bit, and then headed downtown to take part in some Drake relay festivities. Plus, Lindsey was in town, which always makes for a hilarious evening - when she calls us anyway... So, Last night was Jody/Matt's wedding in Minneapolis... read more

  • And now for something completely different... posted

    So, I haven't really blogged about life in over a month. It started out that I was overwhelmingly busy. It sucked. Then I became even busier. So, now that I'm back down to semi-normal busy-ness again, let's bring everyone up to speed... read more

  • Bock Fest 2007 posted - 3 comments

    Last year I didn't really blog about bockfest because I came down with a bad cold directly afterwards. This year I'm not making that mistake. Instead, I got my cold the day before. With a little Zicam, Sleep, and Water, I prevailed and I am now blogging. Friday around noon Nathan, Jeff, and Rico met up with Kari and I and we busted out to Redwood falls... read more

  • Chicago Auto Show Randomness posted

    So, Nehru planned on driving to Chicago with some of his STI and EVO buddies last weekend. However, at the last minute someone canceled, which opened up a seat for me. Of course, I accepted. The drive was definitely interesting. 4 pretty different people with really the only thing in common being our love for cars - and maybe beer... read more

  • Mount Kato and The Cities posted

    Minnesota is so freakin... I can't think of the word. It's not hick. However, it's similar to hick, with better people. It's so... read more

  • Chicago - Family Style posted - 4 comments

    Ahhh, another weekend well spent in my home away from home. I love how comfortable I'm getting with Chicago. It's quite nice. This time we visited the city for 2 milestone events - Vic's college graduation and Kari's 25th birthday. Thursday was Vic's ceremony, which ruled... read more

  • Drive, Party, Demo, Drive posted

    So, this weekend I went to Chicago for a few minutes, which will put an end to a month straight of weekends I was out of town - without Kari, haha. Rochester, Minneapolis, Orlando, and Chicago. Traveling without Kari was a little weird, a little lame, but also nice. We both enjoy time with each other as much as we enjoy time without each other. However, 4 weeks in a row may be a little excessive... read more

  • Kevi Lives in Florida Now posted - 3 comments

    Ok so, kevi totally changed everything in his life up again with a new place to live, new job, and new gf... Imagine that. In fact he still owes me a case of dewski for winning this bet... how long were you at yellow book? 2 months how long were you at the hospital? read more

  • Minneapolis Birthdays posted - 2 comments

    Welp, as most of you know, Nathan, Chuck, and I went up to Minneapolis this weekend, which started out as a birthday bash for Josh, but ended up being a celebration of all our birthdays. Mine's in August... Nathan's is in June, and Chuck's is in November, haha. On the way, we ended up making a last minute pitstop into Clear Lake to pick up Monica and drop her off at her BF's place just outside of the cities. We got to our hotel around 9ish, which was in a pretty rough part of downtown - greyhound station, dudes getting handcuffed, etc... read more

  • Rochester Knockdown posted - 5 comments

    Welp, Rochester was pretty rad. We tried to hit all the hot spots in 1 night, which made things quite insane. It ruled though because everything was pretty much within walking distance. So we started the night off by eating at Newt's. I had heard that Newt's has the best burgers in town... read more

  • Easter in Sin City posted - 4 comments

    So Kari's family and I spent Easter in Vegas this year. I hadn't been there yet, so I had to see it. And now that I'm back I must say that the city was pretty amazing. I've already got a list of things to do for the next time I go back. Friday night we flew out of Cedar Rapids to Vegas... read more

  • Bock Fest and Sick Fest 06 posted - 7 comments

    Oy, I'm home sick - it's lame. I'm all bundled up on the couch with 2 laptops, juice, and cold medicine, looking for some mindless things to do. Maybe it's a good time for a blog. First of all - this weekend. So much fun... read more

  • Minnesota - Josh's Birthday posted - 6 comments

    What a fun weekend. The days were sorta weird due to messed up sleep patterns. It kinda seemed like one long day. But anyway... Friday, Kevi, Kari, and I drove up to Morgan to meet Josh Lueck for a Birthday Bash... read more

  • Minneapolis posted - 6 comments

    This weekend Nathan and I went to Minneapolis for a couple Heely demos. For the most part it was pretty fun, but it was also sort of annoying. The roads around the Twin Cities suck... bad. Seriously, 35w does not mean 35 west, wtf... read more

  • Denver posted - 7 comments

    Tuesday after work, Kari and I drove to Denver to visit her brother and go snowboarding. The original plans were for her and I to go snowboarding thursday at Winterpark Mountain, but she hurt her knee walking, so her brother and I went instead. We took a lesson in the morning because it was my first time on a mountain (aside from iowa), and it was Victor's first time ever. Toward the end of the lesson, Vic hit his head and wanted to take a break... I ended up snowboarding the rest of the day by myself... read more