So you think you know everything about Bam Margera, the pro skateboarder who also is a stuntman, movie director and MTV “Jackass” personality? Well, then, you probably do know everything. But just in case . . .

Bam was born September 28, 1979, as Brandon Cole Margera. This occurred in West Chester, Pa., a place not exactly known for skateboarding at the time. His grandpa gave him his nickname when he was a 3-year-old, because he constantly was running into walls. He started boarding as an 8-year-old. Therefore, this was a rare case in which the skateboard outdoors may have been safer than the walls indoors.

He’s a dropout, but he was a good enough son to comply with his parents’ pleas to achieve a GED. This stands for General Educational Development certificate. It is not officially a high school diploma.

Skateboarding may seem to have become secondary for Bam, but without the sport, you may never have heard from him. His breakthrough into entertainment came during the late 1990s, when he started filming himself and his friends doing stunts. The compilation of “CKY (Camp Kill Yourself): Landspeed” was released in 1999, followed by three sequels. (One more than for The Godfather!).

The CKY acronym was not exactly original for Bam, since his brother Jess is in a band of the same name.

Margera is a member of Team Element, the demonstration team for Element Skateboards, and he has other sponsors. He also sells tons of stuff on his website. This makes him a pro, even though he really isn’t good enough to enter regular competitions. However, he is among fewer than 20 skateboarders known to have landed The Loop.

After some stormy love relations, Bam Margera married Missy Rothstein in February 2007. Did this lead him to settle down? Well, he led the Jackass crew tag along on the honeymoon in Dubai, and he ended up with a $13,000 tab for damage done to the hotel. His reaction: “I was kind of ready for it though. ... If something doesn’t get broken, then that’s not right.”

SOURCES
www.bamargera.com
www://www.imdb.com/name/nm0546640/bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bam_Margera

You wouldn’t think one of the planet’s best places for snowboarding would want to include the word “prairie” in its title, being that prairies are flat, but North Dakota’s Bottineau Winter Park is “The Jewel Above the Prairie.” This makes Bottineau and other N.D. locations all the more reachable by motor vehicle, which makes a nice amenity.

Images of the name given the Turtle Mountains also do not exude flashy speed and excitement, but do not blame the Bottineau folks. Those mountains were named long, long before snowboarding came along, and they are steep enough to also include a tubing hill and Xtreme areas. Bottineau offers everything from a beginning’s area to un-groomed, expert glade runs and race courses. Five lifts support nine trails. The number is (701) 263-4556, or e-mail skibwp@srt.com.

North Dakota also offers the more excitingly titled Frost Fire Day Lodge, at the community of Walhalla, carved within the Pembina River Gorge. Frost Fire provides evidence that you need not have giant mountains to enjoy some great boarding. Geologists say this region in the state’s northeast area once was beneath ice a mile thick, and then was flooded by a lake that flowed with such force that deep gorges were created. Among the most impressive of those gorges is the Pembina. Frost Fire offers a terrain park and a half pipe. Call (701) 549-3600, or send a missive to info@frostfireskiarea.com.

If not a gorge, then will the slope of the Missouri River suffice? This is the setting for Hull Hills Ski Area, 16 miles from Bismarck, which is North Dakota’s largest facility with 16 runs. Rattlesnake and Antelope have narrow twists, as you might expect, but you also will find plenty of wonderful glades and some wide open areas for cruising. Contact (701) 663-6421 or info@huffhills.com.

And if you gotten curious, yes, North Dakota has just that one telephone area code for the whole state. No worries! They’ll provide the snow, and you can provide the cool.
Sources:

www.skibwp.com

www.frostfireskiarea.com/about.htm

www.huffhills.com/?id=14&page=Amenities

Baltimore County, Maryland is a great place for skateboarders to vacation. The county has a good selection of skate parks, a great selection of skate shops and a relatively pro-skater vibe. However, like any other destination you plan your vacation around, there are rules that you will need to follow, like skating only in designated areas, respecting others and keeping your body and board under control.

Baltimore Country Skate Parks You Can Visit
There are four main skate parks located in Baltimore County. The first park is Hannah More Skate Park. This park is found at 12035 Reisterstown Road, which is in Reisterstown. This is a 12,800 square foot skate park with launch ramps, grind rails, quarter pipes, drop-in combos, benches and other great skate features. The hours are 3:30 to dusk during the week and noon to dusk on the weekends.

The second skate park you can go to is the Sandy Hills Skate Park. It can be found at 3326 Bero Road. This park is open from 3 p.m. until dusk Monday through Friday and 12 p.m. until dusk Saturday and Sunday. The park has a bowl, a street course and a playground.

Cockeysville Skate Park is your third option. It is located at on Galloway Avenue in the township of Cockeysville. It is open 3:30 p.m. to dusk Monday through Friday and 12 p.m. to dusk on the weekends. This park offers 12,000 square feet of ramps, grinding rails and jumps.

The final skate park that you can go to is the Southeast Area Skate Park. This park is located at 4021 North Point Blvd. It offers a variety of skating features and is open to the public weekdays from 3 p.m. to dusk and 12:00 p.m. to dusk on the weekends.

Baltimore Country Skate Shops
When you aren’t skating at local skate parks don’t forget to get in a little shopping. Baltimore Country has a great selection of skate shops and sports shops. At these stores you will find custom boards and skate gear , as well as great deals on used and vintage items. Some of your options include:

The Sport Shop, 201 E. Pratt St, Baltimore, MD 21202

Total Sport, Inc., 2401 Liberty Heights Ave, Ste 2079, Baltimore, MD 21215

If you are looking for a big skate park with a lot of great skateboarding features then you will want to visit the Gaithersburg Skate Park. This park is set up for family use and is a part of a larger activity center located in Bohrer Park. If you happen to be in or around Gaithersburg, Maryland, make sure you bring your board with you to try out what this skate park has to offer.

Gaithersburg Skate Park – The Basics

Gaithersburg Skate Park can be found at 506 South Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg, Maryland. This park offers 12,300 square feet of skating terrain and is open to BMXers, skateboarders and in-line skaters. This is a seasonal skate park that is generally open between March 21 and December 14, however, it will be closed when the weather is bad. Check with the weather channel before heading out for a day of boarding. This park isn’t free to use, but it is very affordable, only about $3 if you are a Maryland resident or $5 if you are a non-resident.

Gaithersburg Skate Park – Features

Now to the fun stuff: what this park has to offer. Gaithersburg Skate Park is a combination composition park. This means that the flat surfaces are made from smooth asphalt and the ramps, pipes and obstacles are made from specially treated wood. This park is loaded with skating features including a dozen ramp/box structures, numerous quarterpipes, a bank, a spine, many smaller obstacles and a nice flat street course. This park also has a misting system which will keep you from frying in the summer, and a 200 watt stereo system to provide you with a background music while you skate or bike.

The Rules

If you skate here you skate at your own risk. Nothing new there. Most parks now are skate at your risk. You will also be required to wear a shirt and wear a helmet. Pads are optional but recommended. Finally, if you are under eight, you will need to come to the park with an adult, or at least someone that looks like they are over 17.

According to both Kerry Getz and Rob Derek, Barcelona, Spain is one of the best vacation spots for skaters. This historical city not only is beautiful and full of regular tourist spots, but it is also a fantastic destination for skateboarding. Whether you are a street skateboarder of a trick skateboarder, pack your skater fashion and plan to visit this city on your next vacation.

Barcelona Skateboarding Events
Barcelona is the home to many skateboarding events. No matter what time of year it is, this hot destination for skateboarders will have something going on. One of the top events in Barcelona is the DC King of Barcelona. This is an amateur skateboarding event that takes advantage of the city’s many great skateboarding venues. If you will be in Barcelona in September, check out this event.

Barcelona Skateboarding Parks
Barcelona is really a street skateboarder’s destination. This city allows you to skateboard on sidewalks and in plazas. The only real restrictions are that you have to keep your shirt on, you can’t ride your board on public furniture (benches and things) and you can’t harass or harm other people. Pretty reasonable considering you are allowed to skate around in an amazing environment full of ledges, ridges, rails and other street obstacles, not to mention wicked cool architecture, scenery and history.

If you feel a need for bowls, pipes and other trick boarding features the city of Barcelona does have a skatepark you can go to. You will be required to buy a monthly pass for the park, but the cost is minimal. You can find this park at Carrer de Pamplona 88. However, if you are interested in an authentic Barcelona skateboarding adventure, stick to street boarding in the neighborhood of El Raval, especially around the Placa de Universitat.

Word of warning: El Raval is a bit seedy, so watch your boards and your belongings while enjoying the city now referred to as the “Skate Capital of the World.”

Skating Outside of Barcelona

While Barcelona is a great place to skateboard, if you are traveling to Spain to go skateboarding, don’t limit your experiences just to Barcelona. There are a lot of great beach cities located only a few miles outside of Barcelona, which offer an amazing selection of skating spots, including bull fighting arenas.

Wichita Falls in Texas is a city that has been in desperate need of a great skatepark for years. Fortunately, the city finally took the initiative to build one. Today, the Wichita Falls Skatepark is open for business. If you happen to be in Wichita Falls, Texas with your board and are dressed in comfy skater fashion , stop by this great, free, outdoor skatepark.

Wichita Falls Skatepark – the Basics
The Wichita Falls Skatepark can be found at 1712 Maurine Street in Wichita Falls, Texas. This park is only open from 8 a.m. until 12 p.m., but that still gives you plenty of time to try out all of the features found in this 13,000 square-foot, concrete skatepark.

At this park you will find one of the best skating pools in the state, as well as three grind rails. If you are a novice skateboarder then you can practice your skills on the park’s quarter pipe. On the other hand, if you are an advanced skater, you will most likely have more fun trying out the full half pipe.

Rules of Wichita Falls Skatepark
The Wichita Falls Skatepark is a skate-at-your-own-risk park. It requires you to wear a helmet, but padding is optional. To use this park, you will need to be at least six years old, however, if you are under ten you will need to come with someone that is over 17 years old. The only athletes that are allowed in the park are skateboarders, BMXers (no pegs) and in-line skaters. Pets and outside ramps and jumps are not allowed. This park is not generally supervised so it is up to you to follow the rules and stay safe. Occasionally, the park will close down to make repairs and to clean the skatepark.

What the Locals Are Saying
There have been a lot of blogs and postings on the Wichita Falls Skatepark. Most of the reviews of this park are great. It seems that this is a good skatepark to go to regardless of whether you are a novice or an advanced skater. Locals suggest that you avoid the full half pipe unless you have the skills to handle a real skating challenge, so be careful when you first try out this feature. Otherwise, enjoy this great park and learn to skate big, after all, everything in Texas is big!

Snowboarding retains the feel of a fairly new sport, but still it is growing old enough to build some history. In the role of Babe Ruth, we bring you… Craig Kelly.

He is a legend in one respect because of a life lived too short, among seven members of a ski touring group who died five years ago in an avalanche near Revelstoke, British Columbia. He was only 36, but he left his mark in so many ways. Norway’s Terje Haakonsen, he of the world record 32 feet for highest air, is regarded by many as the greatest snowboarder to date, but Kaakonsen insists Kelly is “The One.”

The peak of the Craig Kelly era took place during the same time of snowboarding’s first huge growth, during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Yeah, he was a four-time world champ and a three-time U.S. Open kingpin, and so on and so forth, but all of those numbers don’t tell it. What was so cool was his persona, his reserved sort of charisma.

Somehow, almost any peer who speaks of Kelly cannot help but use the word “fluid” to describe his riding style. He did a huge bunch of video and photo shoots, which were viewed by hundreds of thousands of folks who were seeing snowboard aeriel maneuvers for the first time. And he had this uncanny knack of looking straight into the danged camera!

At the same time, he was not a self-promoter. He was into designing and developing various signature models of boards, but then he had industry people dropping their jaws when he turned down millions of dollars worth of endorsement deals. This was because he was more and more into freeriding. One time he took more than a year off for travel from Alaska to Chile.

Craig Kelly was his own man. Other boarders from more recent eras may have more fame, but to those on the inside, Kelly is the equivalent of the so-called “musicians’ musician.”

SOURCES

http://expn.go.com/story?pageName=malebestever
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Kelly_ (snowboarder)

Some of the best surfing in the world is found right past the Orange County line going into Camp Pendleton and San Diego County at the San Onofre Surf Beach. Military helicopters overhead performing maneuvers have the opportunity to peer down onto not only a hidden nude beach near the San Onofre State Beach, they also are provided access to some of the best surfing territory in Southern California.

To surf San Onofre Surf Beach is to experience not only the best surfing in the world, but also to surf with some of the most laid back, geared up, accomplished surfers in San Diego and Orange County, California. Some compare the stretch of coastline at San Onofre Surf Beach to that of Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii. Surfing the same breaks as some of the most notable southern California surfers who, back in the day, used redwood surfboards, you will feel very much at home and feel the experience of true southern California surfers.

San Onofre Surf Beach is ideal for surfers of all levels, with the best tide being somewhat of a medium tide, and the depth anywhere from the waist up to above the head. There are three breaks from which to select including Dogpatch, Old Man’s and the Point. Expect to share the waves with beginning surfers to retirees in surf gear .

The cost to get into San Onofre Surf Beach is about $10, which is paid at the entrance gate. Summer is generally the best season, so expect a crowd if planning to surf San Onofre Surf Beach during the summer months.

To reach San Onofre Surf Beach, fly into either Orange County or San Diego. The exit to the beach if flying into Orange County is Cristianistos and is situated prior to entering the stretch along the Interstate 5, which goes through Camp Pendleton. If flying or driving from San Diego, San Onofre Surf Beach is the exit once you have driven through the Camp Pendleton Marine Base property.