Cool ways to spend a summer (what should I do?)

[G]

Well, the ski season is about over, I'm unemployed, and I have no idea what to do with myself. Dammit, I hate summer

I need some new ideas for things to do in the warm months. What are some interesting & fun experiences you all can recommend? It must either be inexpensive, or include employment. (I have a budget of about $200/week to live on from unemployment as a last resort, and almost no $$ in the bank)
Lets make this thread a resource for everybody with time on their hands.


Ideas I like (give me more!):

1. Take some extended backpacking trips. (very likely)
2. Move to moab and ride my bike every day (Possibly)
3. Go find a cool new location to live & work another season as a river guide (maybe)
4. Go find some other interesting job that hopefully involves lots of travel.
5. Head to South America and get a job at a ski resort (Reeeally want to but can't, because I'm broke, and my spanish sucks)
6. Join the peace corps (probably not, but it sounds cool anyway)
7. Just spend another year sitting around Tahoe and get some crappy job. Ride bike, kayak, drunk, BBQ & hang out. (I'm tired of this.)
8. Move to a city and try to find a serious job, save money hard, and take more days off next winter (sounds good in theory, but I don't think this plan would really work)
9. Backpack through the Himalays or Europe. (That's always on the top of the list, but I'm too broke to go.)
10. Try life out as a beach bum. Maybe somewhere in Mexico (never been there). learn to surf and sit around alot. Get a great suntan.
11. Go to school so someday I can get a real %*#@ing job and put an end to this "take a year off to ski before entering college" that started 17 years ago.
12. Do some other extraordinary thing (like what?)

So that's what I've come up with so far... Give me some more ideas. If you put in a vote for something that's already on the list, tell me where and how to make it happen.



_________________________

[dubu]

south am...

its just the budget, seriously.....

[babel]

If it were me my order of priority would be:
1. South America
2. River Guide
3. Beach bum

Make it work- you won't regret the effort.

[bigtrubs]

I like the beach bum idea.

I want to cycle to South America or across Europe some time.

[soul_skier]

beach bum is a good idea, if you were in south america, you could spend time as a beach bum and ski. However, i'm getting 2 jobs this summer to afford a kick ass ski season, either way works

[bakers_dozen]

get a job you hippie and get off unemployment

[funkendrenchman]

Have you been to Moab during the summer? Pretty freakin hot to go biking. How bout Canada and biking all summer?

My friend is in the Peace Corps right now and it doesnt sound like a "cool" way to spend the summer.

I also like the idea of being a beach bum and taking up surfing.

[leroy jenkins]

If you can't pull of S. America this summer, then just work like a dog so you can do it next summer. Thats what I'm doing.

[splat]

Stop by next time you're in town, dude.
I'm putting together a crew with high hopes and few expectations.
We're on a mission fron God.

[ill-advised strategy]

get into wildland fire

side note: man the suck is coming. exerpt from pre course letter:

This pre-course test should take approximately 12 hours using the previously mentioned reference materials.

Hey, thanks!

Maybe I can just fit that 12 hours of free work into my 60 hours a week of making a living. That would be fan fucking tastic NIFC.

NIFC you're the gayest!

[G]

Yep, done the "work like a dog" thing, two summers ago. Then used the money to live in NZ last summer. I'm not feeling so motivated to do it again quite yet.

Done the wildland firefighter too, I didn't love it too much.

Splat, I'll be in your hood Sun eve - The Dead kennedys are playing a show in reno, and I gotta go watch my buddy play the bagpipes in the opening act. Can I still be on a mission from god if I'm a devout athiest?

[BeanDip4All]

[*]Just spend another year sitting around Tahoe and get some crappy job, drink, ride, BBQ & hang out. (I'm tired of this.).

I like that your boring old way to spend the summer sounds waaaaay more kick-ass than my summer will ever be

Peace corps, I believe, takes about 5 months to apply for, so you've probably missed the deadline for that anyways.

I think Mexico/beach bumming sounds the sweetest.

[BigDaddy]

Go to Hood River, OR and you can learn to windsurf in the best place in the world AND ski Mt. Hood in the am. May be too similar to Tahoe life, but as TacomaLuv says, it beats what most mortals have to face...

What about volunteering in New Orleans? or working to impeach Bush?

[P_McPoser]

Hookers and blow.
Or jerk off all day every day.
I think that would be neat-o.

[rideit]

Or jerk off all day every day.
I think that would be neat-o.

That is a pretty accurate description of this last winter....except for all of the pow pow.

Moab+summer=the SUCK.

[rhea]

get a job at a logging camp!

[Mybad!]

Move to Salida CO. River guide and paddle a kayak in the Ark. If you don't have stuff, not to worry. The amount of paddling that goes down there someone will have extra stuff or you can buy a package cheap! Go to mountainbuzz.com and have a look see. See you there if you go.

Fibark in June is quite fun.http://www.fibark.net/

[Tippster]

I was a Whitewater Photographer for a summer on the Eagle and Upper Colorado rivers. Greatest summer ever - learned how to climb, flyfish, did a lot of reading, spent every day outside, and got to go 4wheeling into some really fun places just to shoot a couple rafts/hour hitting a rapid in the middle of nowhere. So easy, and so much fun.

Forgot the name of the company, but it was based in Rancho del Rio where tons of Rafting Outfits base their Upper CO and Gore Canyon floats out of.

[divegirl]

Really quick (I'm working right now...) but here's my response:
I couldn't see you getting a real job, so just throw that right out the window. You're Geoff, the ski and river bum. What else is there? I think you should do the extended backpacking trip option. Also, if you want to river guide where it's a bit colder but more beautiful than the S. fork of the American River, I suggest going to Jasper, Alberta. There's some river guiding places up there (I went on one of the trips a couple years ago), but they're not very technical. The plus side is you could go on excellent backpacking trips up there on your time off. Great mountain biking in the vicinity as well. Good luck!

[weibo]

If you take an interest in Divegirls' Jasper idea PM me I have contacts at all the river companies here in Jasper. Dive girl is right about the extracuricular activities as well tons to do. For more technical (at least bigger water) a friend owns a raft guide company in Mount Robson which is about 45 minutes west of Jasper it's beautiful also and they have a cat ski outfit too so you would fit in well.

[splat]

Splat, I'll be in your hood Sun eve - The Dead kennedys are playing a show in reno, and I gotta go watch my buddy play the bagpipes in the opening act. Can I still be on a mission from god if I'm a devout athiest?

Call me on your way in. We'll thump the Bible and hit the show.

[ANON-505]

I worked on the Ark through my college career. Some good spring skiing nearby, especially once Cottonwood pass opens. The boating is great, just don't work for one of the McRafting companies that require drug tests and frequent bathing. If you want some specifics regarding the different companies, let me know. You won't make a ton of loot your first year, but you'll party a ton, boat a ton, hang out with super fit women, and have a good time.

College wise, check out Prescott College in AZ. Even though it's in the desert mountains, you can still make it work. All three of my winters there I got to go to the Tetons for a month to ski and study the snowpack. I also got to paddle the Dolores, Animas, Colorado (GC), Green, and Yampa rivers....for credit. Plus, the mountain biking and climbing there are as good as anywhere (I mean that). If you happen to be there on a good winter (not this one) there is some good skiing around flagstaff, and if you're super motivated, you can find some okay turns (the day of a storm) in the Bradshaw Mountains around Prescott. Mostly just adventure skiing, but I've had some great days on Mount Union...it sure as hell ain't tahoe, though.

Good luck.

[schindlerpiste]

Cali. north coast. Beautiful. Lots to do. Great party.

[pollard]

Go to Hood River, OR and you can learn to windsurf in the best place in the world AND ski Mt. Hood in the am. May be too similar to Tahoe life, but as TacomaLuv says, it beats what most mortals have to face...

What about volunteering in New Orleans? or working to impeach Bush?

If I dont get into cantberry in nz I'm gonna be working for the conservation corps out of hood river. Pretty stoked either way

[skiHOG]

If I dont get into cantberry in nz I'm gonna be working for the conservation corps out of hood river. Pretty stoked either way

you applied to university of canterbury? that school has a cool geology department. you could just take classes there for a semester or two. you go on all these badass field trips, like castle hill, world famous bouldering/climbing.