We started taking our dog Big Jim out on our stand up paddle boards and shot some Facebook videos. The reaction from our family and friends was terrific. So here are 5 episodes of SUP Dog Big Jim for a few minutes of giggles. He now has a Instagram page "bigjimadventuredog ". Follow him.
In 1997 I did a work trip spending 3 days in London then 4 days in Paris. As long as Sherri and I have been together we have talked about taking that same trip for fun. We finally made it happen in April 2023 and really enjoyed the sights. But we underestimated how acclimated we were to the warm Florida climate. We froze our butts off!
The highlight of our 2019 trip to visit Ashley in Hawaii was doing a night swim with the Manta Rays on the coast of the big island near Kona. There are several outfitters providing this experience for about $100 per person. I had no grand expectations but it may have been the best $100 I’ve ever spent.
We routinely take pizza or salad and have dinner out on the beach at Anna Maria Island. It’s just 15 minutes from our house. If you come to visit we will definitely be doing this with you. Big Jim is down with the program and stays with us even without a leash.
Sherri is an avid seashell collector. She had been watching various Facebook pages including “Treasure Seeker Shell Tours” for a while. So I said, “Let’s go do this thing”. It was a beautiful morning and we had a great time. The boat captains have a reliable relationship with the dolphins in the channel.
Ruth and Sherri planned this 5-night camping, 6-day rafting trip for a year. Perfect weather and great water made it a wonderful success. I hope I can be as energetic when I’m 80 years old. Ruth’s a beast!
We had airline credits about to expire and were looking for a long weekend somewhere. I realized there was only one remaining US state that I had not been to, so off to Maine we went. We connected with Alan & Donna our snowbird friends up there for a lunch on the water. A long cool weekend in August was just terrific.
Sherri’s mom Ruth finally came down to visit us in February 2021. She was greeted with the coldest temperatures of our winter that year. We got her out on the water, and a trip to Key West and NASA. Bill caught Covid and had to hibernate but the girls soldiered on. It was great to show her around.
Some kind of wild adventure! Ashley made a short trip to Thailand a few years ago and always wanted to tour Vietnam. Vietnam is a very popular tourist destination these days. So a 3 week itinerary was planned, staying in the northern half of the country. This video is rather long, but it has over 130,000 views on YouTube.
Florida in general is a jungle/swamp. The state’s population only increased when air conditioning became affordable in the 1950’s. Indians and only a very few hearty souls inhabited the Everglades. Today an air boat is the civilized way to see this river of grass. A private 4 hour tour gave us time to stop and savor our surroundings.
Our Christmas 2021 trip to Maui. Ashley enjoys cooking an annual Christmas dinner for her friends. We were happy to be with her this year. A bike ride down from the summit of Haleakalā volcano was fun. We also spent a day lounging poolside at the Westin Kaanapali where Ashley works
During our Christmas 2021 trip I spent almost every pre-dawn morning making time lapse videos. It was new technology for me, Very computer heavy in terms of post processing of the raw images. However you still need to be in the field making the still photos that get stitched together.
Shortly before moving to Hawaii, Ashley was living in downtown Denver. I think this Thanksgiving feast in 2014, was the first of her annual holiday meals for friends. I was just starting to play around with video and shot this completely with a GoPro.
In 2021we took a day trip out to Fort Jefferson on the Dry Tortuga islands, 70 miles west of Key West. We were amazed with the Fort, plopped in the middle of nowhere surrounded by water. So in March of 2023 we revisited the place, camping for two nights with our friends Alan & Donna aka, The Captain & MaryAnn.
When Sherri and Ashley and I got together in 1999-2000 we coined the name “OoBarLaz”. A condensation of our last names Ashley Ooley, Sherri Barber, and Bill Sallaz. This was a trip around Florida on the 20th anniversary of our marriage. Fort Jefferson, Key West, Paddling the clear water of Rainbow Springs, FL. and NASA.
Our third trip to visit Ashley on Maui, this time in September of 2019. A hop over to the Big Island to see Joe & Molly then swimming with the Manta Rays. More snorkeling with new GoPros, Back to Maui and a road trip to Hana and the Trevasa resort, Never a dull moment on the pro fun tour.
I have always wanted to tour Pearl Harbor and the North Shore Surfing spots on Oahu. The girls suggested that I fly over by myself for the day and check it out. But I missed my return flight to Maui so it became 24 hours.
There are so many little nooks and crannies along our shorelines of Sarasota and Bradenton. The stand up paddle boards are the perfect vehicle. The water here is generally very shallow so you’re seldom at any risk. Sometime I take a fishing rod or just lunch and a beverage. Just another afternoon in Florida.
Our second trip to visit Ashley on Maui. Fourth of July week in 2017, The canoe club practice, We rented a SUP for the week. Turtles around the 11:00 minute mark. We went to a canoe club member’s wedding. A 4th of July beach party and "Girls just wanna have fun” at the end.
Just a short video of Ashley in the beautiful clear waters off the coast of Maui.
Carlos Alers, my cycling training partner from Colorado, came down with his buddy Jerry Nichols to race in the 2023 National Senior Games in Fort Lauderdale. I went over to work as their pit crew and document the event. It got more exciting than we wanted it to.
We try to take “One Tank of Gas” adventures throughout the year. The Tampa Aquarium and Ybor City was our destination this day.
Our first trip to Maui visiting Ashley. In the Summer of 2015 Ashley moved to Maui and we moved to Florida. During this first visit the winter swells were hitting Peahi, the big wave surfing break known as “Jaws”.
One of our earliest vacation videos. I was just starting to think about making videos. The equipment and software were getting easier to use. This was shot almost entirely on my first-generation GoPro.
I went up to NYC to tutor my friend John in video editing on the Adobe Premiere software program. Talk about the blind leading the blind, like I had any idea what I was doing! At the time I was exploring the idea of Vlogging. Video Blogging. I quickly realized I didn’t want to do it. But this was my first or second attempt of documenting and narrating an activity.
Sherri enjoyed the guys always following her around as she prepared to go shoot a wedding or any other job. They know something’s up and if they stay close maybe they will get to go. So, she made this short video.