I’m out for real adventures this year. Forget climbing Mount Everest. Forget the Inca Trail, forget trekking through the desert heat at midday. That stuff is for wimps. This year my fearlessness will take me in search of legendary monsters. Taking a leaf out of Scooby Doo’s Mystery Inc gang, I’m in search of Sasquatch and his friends. If only for the delight of hearing someone blame everything on those ‘pesky kids’.
Hot on the Heels of Bigfoot
Sightings of the aforementioned Sasquatch – Bigfoot to you and me – take place at adventure travel destinations right across America so let’s start with a tour of some National Parks. Keep a close eye out for gigantic footprints as you set out from Mount Rainier National Park and head across the Colombia river for the cowboy country of Montana and Yellowstone National Park. Full of grizzlies, bison and geysers, it’s a great hiding place for the fearsome Sasquatch. Follow the trail to the Craters of the Moon National Monument, you just know he’ll be lurking there. If your search is fruitless, relax with a day at Lake Tahoe or head out to Vegas for an evening of fun at Caesar’s Palace casino. You deserve it. Apparently a dead Bigfoot has never been discovered which leads some to believe that he doesn’t exist. Of course he does – they’ve just not looked in the right places yet. You can’t miss him. He’s nearly 9 feet tall with 13 inch feet and covered in long brown hair. No not the neighbor who moved in last week. I suspect he growls a lot too – Sasquatch, not your neighbor.
Head for the Himalayas
The yeti, or Abominable Snowman to you and me, is actually thought to be a relative of Sasquatch. Can you imagine going to their family gatherings? To stand a chance of finding another giant hairy beast, this time you need to head to the Himalayas. Sightings of this creature stretch back as far as 1832 so he has to be real. This time start out at Kathmandu, taking in the temples and shopping, well you never know where he might hide. Trek through the Himalaya and keep an overnight watch at camp before you head south to the Chitwan jungle. The Yeti is another oversized beast with an allegedly not so pleasant aroma so if a strange smell does evolve from the depths of the jungle, it’s not your neighbor on the same vacation as you. Don’t hesitate, just run!
Nessie in Scotland
Our final destination is the good old shores of Loch Ness in Bonnie Scotland, the land of bagpipes and unintelligible accents. Our quest here is the location of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. The clue to Nessie’s likely location is in the name. The myth of the monster emanates from the 6th Century when St Colomba commanded a mysterious creature in the waters of Loch Ness to retreat. Countless sightings have taken place over the centuries, including one as recent as the summer of 2011. Take some time out from your vigils on the shores of Loch Ness to explore the Scottish countryside. Visit the myriad ancient castles and be sure not to miss Stirling Castle where William Wallace, he of Braveheart fame, defeated the English back in 1297 at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Robert the Bruce also achieved a similar feat in 1314. I’m guessing there’s not a lot of love lost between the Brits and the Scots.
Exhausted by all of those crazy adventure trips? Well when you’ve finished your Mystery Inc investigations and unmasked a few strange people dressed up in gorilla clothes, you can start to plan afresh. But watch out for those pesky kids!
Jemma loves a good adventure and cannot wait for her next!







![[Cave Hill. Belfast. County Antrim, Ireland] (LOC) [Cave Hill. Belfast. County Antrim, Ireland] (LOC)](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2685/4427440796_fb346caacc_m.jpg)









