Top 5 Posts from 5 Years of Adventure Patches

This week Adventure Patches turns five! I published my first post for an assignment in a college five years ago today. I didn’t know I would continue beyond that semester-long project, but I did because people responded and enjoyed what I shared. Thank you!

Over the next five days, I’ve prepared five anniversary posts celebrating the adventures of life. First, the top five. There are a few posts from the past five years that received and continue to receive much more love than others. Some were extremely popular when first published and a couple have shown long-term popularity as they remain in the top after consistently drawing people to read them. So, here is a countdown of Adventure Patches’ top five posts from its first five years.

5: A Night Unlike Any Other – a Christmas poem by me

22 December 2010 – Little did I know that year after year one of my poems would draw so many people back to it like my Christmas poem published in 2010 would. I’m happy to see that people enjoy it as they celebrate the holiday season.

4: Famously Hot Columbia, South Carolina

1 May 2011 – Columbia, South Carolina, is a little known place of interest. Most people when thinking about this state think about the Confederate flag that would fly on the capitol building or the stereotype of ignorance in the state or maybe the fact that there are more trailer homes in South Carolina than any other. However, they would be amiss if they didn’t give it and it’s capitol city a chance to change their minds.

South Carolina is a beautiful state with a rich heritage worth learning. This main city offers arts, culture, history, education, and more. Perhaps that’s why this post draws people to keep reading nearly four years after publishing because few others have taken the opportunity to experience this city and share its fascinating secrets.

3: Rafting on the Li River

9 January 2012 (Freshly Pressed) – Perhaps my most fond memory of China is the moment our boat driver shut off the motor and we floated all alone in the midst of Southeast China’s magnificent karst mountains surrounded by silence with the crystal clear water of the Li River flowing past and the brilliant green water grass dancing in the undercurrents while the clusters of bamboo burst from the sides of the river and mountains like lush fireworks frozen mid explosion.

This is absolutely something I would encourage everyone to experience once in their life because it, probably more than anything else I experienced in China, expressed a true feeling of Zen.

2: Music Calls it Home – Nashville, Tennessee

3 May 2011 – Nashville seems so one-sided when you think about it as if country music is all it has to offer. Though that is a significant part of its DNA, the city brings so much more to the adventurer than just some twang and guitars. That’s what I learned when I visited the Volunteer State’s capitol city for a day back in 2011.

Since it was merely a pit stop on a road trip to see the Nashville temple, we didn’t have time for a lot. We did enjoy our time with a full-scale replica of the Parthenon and the home of U.S. President Andrew Jackson called the Hermitage.

1: Macau – the Vegas of Asia (almost)

28 February 2012 (Freshly Pressed) – My adventure to Macau and its World Heritage sites will forever be in my memory. When I went to China, I wanted to go to Hong Kong. I was interested in it and fascinated by it. Macau, on the other hand, wasn’t even on the list. After visiting this former Portuguese colony I would rank it right alongside HK for places to experience. Its mix of cultures, languages, architectures, and its rich history make it a truly wonderful place.

Thank you for being a part of Adventure Patches! Thank you for your likes, your comments and your shares. Thank you for subscribing and following my adventures and thoughts. I hope to continue for another five years and more.

Remember, adventure is out there, so go have one!

Bonus: Coming in at spots 6 & 7 are two of my earliest posts that continue to be popular almost five years after they were published. Each year with my annual report, WordPress suggests I write more posts about these topics because my writing has staying power. More probable though is that not many other people have written about their adventures to Thanksgiving Point and the BYU Museum of Paleontology. Anyway, here are their links in case you missed them five years ago.

• 6: Thanksgiving Point $2 Tuesday Adventure
• 7: The BYU Dinosaur Museum

If you enjoy the posts you read on Adventure Patches, please share them with your friends and invite them to subscribe to receive an email every time a post is published, and as always your comments are very much appreciated.