Recapping a trip to Idaho

Nearly every day, I write a private journal entry reflecting on various things. It’s valuable for many different reasons but most importantly, it helps to keep me sane as I unload thoughts and get fresh for the day. I thought this specific entry might be worth sharing since it’s from my recent trip to Idaho with the fam and could be somewhat interesting to read (sorry if that’s not the case). Also, thought it’d be cool to share a post in more “raw-form” than a formatted blog post so excuse the lack of grammar, structure, etc.
On the plane right now back from Idaho…
Man, what a trip. The sights I saw, the family I got to hang with, the bonding that happened with a side of the family I don’t get to see as much. What a great experience…
There’s much to break down and not really sure the best way to do it.
Maybe, a good place to start is top of mind takeaways:
- Nature is special — there’s something about being outdoors, looking at trees, mountains, even grass in remote locations that’s so special. There’s a variety of emotions that rush over you when you see a new sight like I did looking past the ranch at the mountain behind it. The main feeling I think is awe….it’s like “wow, this was really just here and looks like this” — things like that make you think that all of this had to be created by a third party whether it’s God or something else, there’s just no way all of this just “happened” (IMO)

- Family over everything — spending time with family can be hard to appreciate sometimes but this time around, I found myself fascinated. Watching Gordon (my Dad’s cousin who gave him a kidney and the somewhat oddball out of the doctors, lawyers, humanitarians on that side of the family) re-connect with his Mom and Dad, Aunt and Uncle was special. You could tell by the end, he felt relieved and at peace that he got to spend this time with them. Especially since his Dad, Uncle Dave is getting up there in age. It was good for him to be able to connect with him for what unfortunately could be one of his last times in Idaho . And for me, I always enjoy any time I get to kick with it with my dad . We don’t get to do a ton of “father-son” type stuff but this was one of those times where we did. He cracks me up man… Yeah, He’s my dad but he’s also my dude. I found myself several times just laughing at random shit he did, even during the hike we took

- Epic hike FTW — Gordon, Grandpa, Dad, and I went on this insane hike behind the ranch into the woods where there was ZERO trail. Again, my Great Uncle Dave’s property is right at the base of this mountain so one morning we woke up and decided to try and go out the back and climb it. Our goal was to get to the top of the mountain and find this “trail” that supposedly existed and would gracefully lead us back down. We plowed through brush, trees, marsh….this was 100% off-roading. Not going to lie, I was a bit worried about the crew… I’m with my Dad who is 48 and hasn’t exercised in years, not to mention has all sorts of health problems (one kidney, high blood pressure, etc), my cousin Gordo (frail, also one kidney since he gave one to Dad, MS), and my Grandpa who is 82…not to mention we’re trekking through some pretty fucking insane terrain up a mountain. We spent nearly 2 hours getting up to an awesome view but then hit a point where a) we all thought we should have hit the trail to take us down gracefully b) realized we were absolutely exhausted and c) realized we had no idea where the fuck we were. They then sent me (the guinea pig) up the mountain “5 more mins” to try and find this trail…So UP I went and 5 mins turned into 10 and 10 into 20 as I hit a flow state and just kept climbing thinking I was so close to a trail. It was awesome thought because every time I’d turn around I’d have a better view of the world below me and the fellow mountaintops across the road. Finally, I hit a plateau and realized there was no way there’s a trail and headed back down. The fam was relieved to see me (I didn’t realize how long I’d be gone). Once I got back, the decision was made — we’d hike straight down and to the left thinking that’s where the property generally was. At this point, I was a little worried — the men looked like they were on their last leg. Turns out for Gordo, he literally was as he mentioned later that the MS sometimes makes you lose feeling in your limbs. By this point, my grandpa already fell twice…we’re talking serious falls where he trips and his whole body hits the ground and needs picked up. Luckily the ground was soft everywhere and he never hit anything serious on the way down. And again, my Dad who surprisingly was faring better than I thought but also looked a bit flushed. Anyways, we headed down trying to avoid the “marsh” we were forced to fuck with on the way up. Turns out there was no way to avoid it and again, we had to trek through scenery resembling scenes from the Hobbit with these plants that looked like ferns w/leaves 3 feet long and 2 feet wide. It took us about an hour to get down but we ended up 4 properties over! And in remote, Northern Idaho that’s about 100 acres haha so we continued to head South through properties and more forest and finallllly made it home. Man, that was some journey. For a second, thought we were going to have to call in the air support. Finding some ole trail and hiking that couldn’t compare to the adventure we had…Proud of the crew for powering through that.







Going off the grid is good for the soul. I rarely had cell service and didn’t even want it anyway. Being an entrepreneur is hard and stressful so any moment you get to unwind, refresh, and reflect you have to take it. Being away from screens, people, social networks allowed me to do some great thinking and a few of the thoughts I hope to carry forward with me:
- Simplicity is key- it’s so easy for things to get over-complicated in this world, even over stupid shit. E.g. — should I capture this photo on IG or Snap. Should I go out with this group of friends or that. Should I buy this thing I don’t need or not. We’re all guilty of over-complicating things even on a daily basis…
- It’s hard but simplicity is the absolute key. IMO — the best way to keep things simple is to focus inwardly and on things you can control. One of the main reasons I’ve been subscribing heavy to Stoicism is because that is what the philosphy preaches — handle and control what you can according to what you believe and the rest will work out. There’s no need to stress about external factors that you have no control over. This is helpful in all facets of life. Whether in business or in relationships — do what you believe in and let the rest work out
- Plan for what you want — my Great Uncle Dave has the absolute ideal lifestyle at 80+ imo…he lives in his remote Idaho house a few months, lives in a house in Maine for a few months, lives in his HQ Cleveland for a few months, and lives in a house on a Georgia island for a few months. All this because he’s planned out with his wife what he wanted and executed. He made good money doing good things he loved (being a doctor, author, a human rights leader, and more) and decided to buy things that would sustain value over time for him and his family
- For me, at 25 this was a kind of scary revelation because the things I really do want in life revolve around experiences, family, friends, and helping people. It freaks me out to even type this but at some point I do want a wife, kids, and want my friends to have the same so we can do things like have houses in remote locations and go hiking, boating, skiing, traveling, etc…
- The planning in general needs to start now haha I’m a quarter (probably WAY more) done w/life and need to really stop fucking around. There’s no time to waste because there’s so many awesome things to do. Luckily, I love what I’m doing, I’m finally paying myself, and I’m on the right path but again, these thoughts just make me want to be more diligent about how I save, how I spend, how I view things that go on in life, etc
- Go hard — kind of following up on my last point. Life is short and I woke up today ready to fucking GO and get back to my business. We’re doing something amazing @ Rapchat and I’m doing it with an awesome team that continues to grow. In life, you really only get a few chances to truly “succeed” and I’m beyond lucky to have this opportunity to make something out of what we started @ RC. The revelation here is that now is not the time to slow down (even though it can be tempting at times)…rather, it’s GO time (more than ever before) for the team and the only real option is to leave it all on the field as we try and build what we all think can be a massively successful company.
- And not just with RC…in general, there’s no reason to skimp on anything you pour your efforts into in life
Trips like those inspire me…they make me want to be better, write more, do more, feel more. Glad I got at least some of my immediate thoughts down before we hit the ground. Excited to plan more of these trips and excited to keep rollin’ in life (limp bizkit style obviously)
