From the category archives:

Events

Hot Rods & Cool Concerts

by Alan Rider

If you were going to sit down and make a list of every uniquely American pop culture icon you could think of, hot-rods and rock-n-roll would have to be near the top of that list. Which makes two extraordinary experiences on tap for this coming weekend seem oddly patriotic:
Peace and Music
This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, the legendary open-air festival that saw 500,000 people descend on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in Bethel, New York for “three days of peace and music.”  If you weren’t there, you can get a feel for the event Rolling Stone magazine called one of the “50 Moments That Changed the History of [...]

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Fast Fun

by Alan Rider

The next six weeks will fly by as fans of land-speed racing—better known to all you cool kids out there as LSR—flock to the stark beauty of western Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats for two of the sport’s most high-profile events.
First up is Bonneville Speed Week, which rolls onto the bright-white salt just west of Wendover, Nevada August 8-14.  This is by far the biggest LSR event of the summer, with hundreds of racers vying to set new class records on three different courses at speeds that often top out at over 200 miles-per-hour.
While it’s hard to beat Speed Week for the sheer spectacle, I’m actually partial to the Utah Salt [...]

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Summer Skirmishes

by Alan Rider

Okay, time for a show of hands: How many of you out there grew up playing army? You know, running through the woods attacking an imaginary enemy in mock battles where there was just as much glory in leading your squad to victory as there was in faking a highly melodramatic death?
Well, the annual War And Peace Show in Kent, England later this month takes that familiar childhood fantasy to a whole ‘nother level.  In fact, the four-day event pretty well proves that old line about the difference between men and boys being the price of their toys is more than just another cliché.
One of the largest events of its [...]

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Oooh! Sparkly!

by Alan Rider

Cast against the backdrop of all the extraordinary experiences I’ve had over the years, your average hometown Fourth of July fireworks show might seem to pale in comparison.  But, honestly, that doesn’t mean I’m any less interested in being out there oohing-and-aahing right along with everyone else next weekend.  You see, I figure even a bad pyrotechnics display is usually a pretty good thing!
Which is why I thought I’d share this guide to the nation’s best fireworks shows put together by the folks at Travel & Leisure.  I doubt I’ll make it to any of the fireworks spectaculars listed here this year, but you can bet I’m filing them away [...]

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It’s All About YOU

by Alan Rider

Take a few minutes to read about some of the extraordinary experiences featured on XTRORD.com and you might get the impression that these stories are all about me.  Well, honestly, you couldn’t be more wrong.
The whole point of XTRORD.com (and this blog) is to encourage you to get up off the couch and live out your dreams.  To go out and have yourself the kind of truly remarkable once-in-a-lifetime adventures that make you think “Man, I’ve always wanted to do that!”
With that in mind, I’ve got a couple of hot tips on ways you can have yourself an experience that I’m pretty sure will blow away any previous trip you’ve ever taken.
First [...]

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Amateur Assassins

by Alan Rider

Like reading those adventure novels where cold, calculating assassins stalk their prey and every move could be your last? 
Now you can have a non-lethal go at living the life of an action hero with StreetWars, a three-week-long adventure game where your goal is to assassinate your targets with water pistol, water balloon, or Supersoaker until you’re (hopefully) the last player standing.  The winner takes home a small pile of cash and some serious bragging rights.
The next round of this traveling adventure game is scheduled from June 1st-22nd in New York City.  To register, go to the StreetWars website.  And good luck—you’re going to need it!

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Online, Off-The-Wall

by Alan Rider

Perhaps my favorite thing about this blog is when readers send me links to extraordinary experiences I might not otherwise have found on my own.  My second favorite thing is when I get to turn around and share them with the rest of you.
With that in mind, here are some of the most entertaining, unusual, and even downright strange things to land in my e-mailbox over the past several weeks.  Enjoy!:

 The Rapper:  I fly a lot and have to admit I usually end up tuning out the flight attendant’s safety spiel.  But there’s no ignoring this guy, who gets bonus points for creativity.  Extra points to the airline for letting [...]

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