SmartAlec GPS Adventure Guide

I’m a video guy, yes I admit it.  And video is finding it’s way to be permanently attached to each and every one of us.  SmartAlec Adventures is on its way to being the leading ‘local yocal’ guide in the Black Hills and we love cutting edge ideas that help get the word out.  What word exactly?  Well, that is the question isn’t it?  For all the SmartAlecs out there, we have long list of words that we’ll be sharing over time but sharing just got easier.

This October, Qik lets you use your cell phone to stream LIVE video onto the web.  Imagine being at a concert or convention and sending the signal ‘live’ to the entire world.  It’s true and it’s at qik.com, a social video website.

I’m excited about this techonology because I would love to show people what it’s like, live, to be hanging on the side of a rock near Sylvan Lake or maybe getting the VIP tour at Bear Country in the winter when they are closed and the resident bald eagles are back for the winter.  If my phone has Qik and a built in GPS, I might can even send a video PLUS my exact location from where the video is coming from!

Do a litte googling out there for information on Qik to see if your phone can use the application.  I found a interesting blog and found them on Twitter, Facebook and I’m sure there in other places too.  Check this out  to learn how it works on an iphone.

Technology is awesome, especially to share things!
Have fun out there!

Posted under Ideas, Watch This

I love a little mystery, especially if it has anything to do with history.  The historical marker near the parking lot of Halley Park is titled “Rapid City Founder Camp Site”.  I stumbled upon the marker a couple of years ago, it says

“Near a perpendicular sandstone cliff a short distance North of here and across Rapid Creek was the first camp of those hardy pioneers who founded Rapid City.  Here John R. Brennan….(listing 10 others) made their camp on Feb. 24, 1876, and the name of Brennan, where he carved it in the sandstone cliff, is still to be seen….”

Now if that isn’t an invitation for the adventurous type to stomp right on over the creek in search of the inscription, I don’t know what is!  Of course, I didn’t do it right away because I thought…’pffft, if that is true I certainly would’ve heard about it before now.  After all I grew up in Rapid City!’

Well today was a new day and I decided to throw a beautiful Friday evening to the adventurous winds and take Charles to find the camp site.  We drove over Rapid Creek on the small bridge near the back 9 of the executive golf course to avoid a long trek around the creek on foot and found a parking space.  We started down the well worn 4 wheel drive trail to “M Hill” or Cowboy Hill, and kept an eye out for a ‘perpendicular cliff.  Read More…

Posted under Off the Beaten Path, Outdoors

These guys rule, and by guys I mean owners, Bridgette and John!  Although in the beginning I may have pushed SmartAlec GPS Tours onto them they have grown to be great cohorts in downtown Rapid City.  They have fantastic travel gear including maps of the world, hammocks, headlamps, suitcases and kid carriers.  I’m looking forward to getting a kid carrier myself.

This store is truly local and has a personal touch that is hard to beat.  They will be our host location for check-in during the Christmas Tour of Lights event that we put on in December.  We’ll be ransacking the place with our crazy christmas spirit and maybe even a few twinkly lights.

They are located easily downtown Rapid City, right next to the Firehouse Brewing Co.  Visit there website for details, www.roamnaround.com.

Have fun out there!

Posted under Places