For almost 20 years, the nightly fireworks spectacular at Epcot was my absolute favorite entertainment. I couldn’t get enough of it.

From the beautiful musical score, to the perfectly synchronized pyrotechnics, to the integrated laser show, to the images projected onto the futuristic ball gliding across the water, it was spectacular. I could hum every bar and predicted every shot. It was 20+ mins of pure joy.

So I remember having the ultimate fan experience twice. First was taking the Pop Warner National Office team and second was calling in a big favor from our wonderful Entertainment team to take the YMCA leadership team. We loaded onto a small dock jutting out into the big Epcot World Showplace lake, so basically as close as you can get to being under this dazzling display. The first time we laid down and felt like we were truly in the show exploding high above us. The second time it happened to be raining so a different experience, but nonetheless priceless.

I have to admit I cried a few tears when seeing the final show in 2019 but, nonetheless, I hummed along and reveled in that final BOOM! Great memories indeed!

It’s not too often that I’m speechless but at first sight of the last standing ancient wonder of the world….. chills!! I truly got caught up in the moment coming out of the ticketing building and walking up the entry ramp. A warm sensation quickly ran throughout my body and I just kinda froze in place. Now granted it was a scorching morning anyways, but the grandeur of that instant was surreal.

Our very knowledgeable guide was spitting off stats that would blow your mind:

• 2.3 million stones
• 5-7 tons each
• No tools so they used other rocks to cut & then floated them down the Nile to the site
• 21,000 workers
• 21 years to build
• 128 levels high
• The extreme top was stolen as it was believed to be of pure gold
• All pyramids built in at least 3s – smaller ones for each wife or children

We were the first GAdventures tour group to return post Covid, so we were blessed to have most of these historic sites to ourselves and we enjoyed E. V. E. R. Y. moment. I can not imagine thousands of buses and tourists milling around.

Of course the camels and buggy rides harassed us, but we made our own 360 degree jaunt around this marvel. The scope is ridiculous, as even just one stone towered over our heads. Climbing on the rocks is strictly forbidden but on one side there were some extra hidden tombs and the mini versions, so we goofed off. We even went inside the narrow alleyways of the son’s tomb, which were about a 45 degree ramp down for 50 meters. Not for those frightened by tight spaces!

And finally the Sphinx lured us into it’s grasp. The excavation is ongoing and the nose is long gone, but it was a spectacular sight. With the pyramids looming in the background, it felt like you were transported back to ancient times and really drove home that fact that this area is a world wide treasure. Unbelievable day!

We had skipped lunch to enjoy all of our time at the local sites, so we ended our visit with a late meal overlooking all of the above and smiled at just being in the moment.

Onward to Aswan via an overnight train for more exploring!

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Through the years, I’ve had some incredible experiences scaling rock faces and subsequently rappelling back down them too.

Rock climbing gyms weren’t prevalent in northern VA growing up, but I got my first taste of this addiction in college (much to the dismay of my coaches). Most of my time was spent in warehouse gyms made up of man made holds and superficial surfaces. This is definitely the best way to learn, get comfortable and get over your fear of heights.

After college, I ventured into the wilderness while on my many adventures with certified guides. Some of the most memorable were a small group on my Alaska cruise scaling a wall in Sitka, canyoneering (mixture of climbing, rappelling & making your way through canyons & cliff edges) outside Zion National Park, attacking walls built on the back of cruise ships and numerous others.

My personal favorite was an extra excursion on Costa Rica deemed a night canyoneering trip. We rode a jeep deep into the wilderness, hiked a short trail to the river’s edge guided by the moonlight and plunged into the icy cold waters in our wet suit. Each adventurer had a heavy duty headlamp, along with a waist belt with a bunch of carabeeners. We slid down boulder faces into dark pools, weaving in and out of rocks before coming to a massive waterfall that we need to rappel down. It was exhilarating and equally terrifying. One at a time we were guided straight down the belly of the falls and I took an extra second while getting pounded with the cascading water to be totally in the moment. What an indescribable total rush! We all escaped unscathed and had an amazing story to tell the rest of the group who hadn’t been so adventurous.

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Being a part of an opening team is an enormous responsibility and a ridiculously fun challenge. Anything goes. Literally.

Working at Disney’s Polynesian Resort in 1997, I just knew I had to get my shot to work at the recently opened Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex (I was hired on a few months after true opening). Through volunteering at the first tennis and track & field events, I secured a position as the first registration coordinator for the International Police & Fire Games. As it happened, there was a nasty hurricane that ravaged the east coast 2 weeks prior and most of our scheduled teams had to back out due to obligations to their own local communities. I quickly pivoted and was able to stay on permanently as one of the first competition coordinators.

We worked crazy hours in the beginning, being on a small but mighty team of extraordinary sports specialists. We learned quickly and on the fly, but continuously got better and more efficient. Our reputation was built on quality events in exceeding all expectations of clients and guests. Repeat guests were our best marketing and we soared. We constantly benchmarked other events and raised the bar. Event management was a young person’s game and we had boundless energy. We made each other better and that resonated throughout the ranks.

Expansion was imminent and we took on the challenge of growing and selling out even bigger venues. The grind was addictive and so satisfying. We slept on the hard scorekeeper counters in the softball tower on late nights, got drenched regularly transporting guests during the infamous FL summer weather, helped load in vendors during grueling overnight changeovers, threw 50 lb bags of turface out onto rain drenched fields to try to salvage tournament play, ran interference in coach/referee disputes, celebrated champions in extravagant awards setups, and on and on…

After 15 years, I faced a tough crossroads. I had touched every event in our arsenal in some form, so I needed a new challenge to keep my internal fire burning. And in order to get my experience and achieve my dream of running my own operation, I needed to venture out. I knew staying at Disney was the direct path and could have easily retired at my second home. BUT I also knew I had a higher purpose even though the details weren’t exactly clear at the time. Taking that leap of faith was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make….. and has led to even more growth & an incredibly rewarding journey. BLESSED.

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Day 15 into my Hawaiian adventure on the Big Island, I wake up to hear the devastating news of an 8.2 earthquake that rocked New Zealand. Normally I wouldn’t have given it a second thought, BUT being in tsunami territory it was a little freaky.

A tsunami warning had been issued for the Hawaiian islands. Geez.

But to be honest, there were no sirens or crazy antics. No one raided the grocery stores to stock up on toilet paper or water. I had observed earlier in my stay the signs showing where the evacuations for such weather phenomenons culminated, as the rocky coast slopes pretty dramatically down from the neighboring housing. So within 3 blocks of the coast, most people are already out of harms way of a typical wave. Or so I was led to believe.

I went down to the beach to enjoy a day of solitude to write some new articles and enjoy a snorkel in the bay. I did notice the waves were a little rougher than normal, but by 1pm the threat had thankfully been cancelled.

Just another day in the aloha state. 🌺🤙🏝

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One of the low points in my life happened on an outdoor basketball court in Celebration, FL while playing in an all women’s pickup game.

All I remember is breaking free and catching a beautiful pass under the basket and going up for a reverse layup. A move I had done a thousand times. BUT this one instance, I happened to come down awkwardly and I immediately felt everything in my left knee pop. I knew it was bad.

It’s crazy to think back and knowing how accident prone and relentless I was on the athletic fields, that I had never suffered a major setback. I never missed a game in college, which was a miraculous feat that I thank my trainers for implicitly. There were numerous twisted ankles, jammed fingers, concussions and more raspberries than you could count, but none that ever took me out.

So to say that this setback rocked my world is an understatement. I knew if I ever wanted to snowboard or hike again, surgery was my only option. I don’t remember much of that first week of recovery at my parents house but I did catch up on some much needed sleep.

After moving to my home couch, I dove into the Harry Pottery book series to kill a lot of time. I also started an aggressive rehab schedule three times per week at 6am for an hour. For a night owl, the 5:15am wake up just about killed me much less having to learn to walk again. It still amazes me to this day how big time athletes recover so quickly, as I struggled so much and it reinforces that everyone’s bodies are unique. I still remember a high school football player and I started rehab the same day, had the same surgeon, and the same multi-level injury, BUT he graduated from our own “hell” in 2 months with 90% range of motion while I endured 6 months of setbacks. This was that point in life that I learned to never compare your journey to anyone else. Live your own path.

So I struggled to turn the pedal over on a bike for months and hated the excruciating pain of being stretched out on the massage table at the end of every session BUT I loved eventually being able to walk up steps without holding on, jogging down the hallway at 50% and hearing those words “your rehab is complete”.

I am very fortunate my scar is minimal. While I have never gained back full range of motion on my left side and still can’t feel the inner portion of my kneecap, BUT I have conquered Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Everest Base Camp at all odds and know that I haven’t even scratched the surface on my physical and emotional limits.

Game on!!

UPDATE: it’s funny how things come full circle… years after recovering, I was working the Warrior Games at Disney with wounded vets. They inspired us all by playing a softball game in the stadium and afterwards we hosted a party on the field. I caught up with a young man who had been in a horrific local boating accident. He just happened to be the son of my knee surgeon AND he was starting to train to summit Kili. We kept in touch, so I got the privilege of helping him achieve his dream. And for closure and my own unexpected “magical moment”, I got to publicly thank his dad for mending my broken knee and leading me to conquer my own mountains.

Growing up in the suburbs of Washington, D. C., you don’t appreciate all the history at your doorstep. Every year for field trips and summer camps, we made the 15 mile trek into the city. The Smithsonian museums were always on the agenda, as well as the monuments – Washington, Lincoln, Vietnam Veterans, Korean, Thomas Jefferson and more. We were herded around like cattle and I’m sure were very obnoxious.

The Air & Space Museum was always a favorite, as we were in the height of the space age and the public’s fascination with astronaut travel. Another personal favorite was the Natural History Museum, where you were greeted with a massive prehistoric mammal at the entrance. It was like a huge wheel with spokes fanning out in every direction beckoning us impressionable kids into its labyrinths. Everything from dinosaurs to reptiles to underwater creatures…. it kept us entertained for hours.

We all brought brown bag lunches and sprawled out on the long, green walkway leading to the Nation’s Capitol. If we were lucky, we found an ice cream truck to raid too. Summers were scorching, so we never had enough water and had to find refuge in the next museum. By the end of the day, you were just over it all.

A year would pass, then we would get ready to do it all over again. I haven’t been back to D.C. in over 20 years, and now yearn to get back to the innocence of those scheduled yearly field trips.

Today is the first day in forever that I feel like I actually accomplished this seemingly easy feat.

Picture this…… I had slept with a face mask and earplugs to block out the entire world. I may have heard my alarm at 845am but I chose to ignore it. After missing breakfast, I rolled out of bed at noon and moseyed the 30’ out to the beach. The breeze was blowing and instead of baking in the Egyptian sun, I opted to camp out for a while under my thatch umbrella with drink in hand. I pounded some honey roasted peanuts from my travel snack stash and punched on my jbl speaker to jam to my favorite latest hits. Then I may or may not have fallen asleep.

I grabbed my borrowed snorkel mask and ran out into the bay like a giddy schoolgirl. The spectacular coral reef lining this peaceful cove in the Red Sea was mesmerizing. For easily 1-2 hours, I weaved in and out of the inlets enjoying all the underwater colors and creatures. Without a snorkel, I took frequent breaths but it didn’t detour my enthusiasm. I even followed a massive stingray along the shallow ocean floor en route back to my beach chair.

And I knew it must be done….. a waterside massage! For only $25, I enjoyed a lather session mere steps from the gently lapping waves and let my mind wander for an hour. Nothing spells out R. E. L. A. X. A. T. I. O. N. more than this!

I rounded out my evening with an enormous stone fire pizza, cold Coke Zero and finishing my murder mystery book. And I should mention I had my own couch/cushions in the Bedouin tent to lounge in underneath a fan to keep all the pesky mosquitoes away. Omg. Can I do this every night?

And there you have it…… the simple pleasures that give me great joy. It may be boring to some, but I can’t stop smiling from ear to ear!

As one of our team builders in my early days at Disney Sports, we snagged a ride behind one of the speed boats on the lagoon banking up to the Contemporary Resort. It was a new experience for all of us, which added to the excitement.

After being strapped into a tandem harness, my group was the first to take flight. We slowly ascended via a rope to a height of almost 100’. It was strangely calm and gentle, where all of our worries and daily stresses melted away. We soared over the now defunct Discovery Island and River Country, and cruised past the rustic Wilderness Lodge. Vacationers waved at us from the water mice (mini speed boats) and the ferry taking resort guests to the “most magical place on earth”. After 10ish minutes, we were reeled back in and got to chill in the boat while sharing in the excitement of the other groups getting their shot at magic in the sky.

While it was a tame activity for an adrenaline junkie, it was a great ride!