Malcolm Fontier
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About Malcolm and Gabrielle
Welcome to the travel blog of Malcolm Fontier and Gabrielle Kennedy!
We love a good adventure whether it's close to home, exploring far off destinations, or in our business as bag designers. This is the place where we document all of our free-wheeling adventures.
When we met in 1999, we bonded instantly over travel stories. Now, after years of friendship, 5 years as business partners, and now 2 years as husband and wife - travel adventures still dominate the conversation.
Join us as we head off the beaten path, in all corners of the world, and meet all the characters we can by motorcycle, boat, bike, air or foot.
Venture boldly!
Malcolm and Gabrielle
Fueled by a love for any and all adventures
Browse by Category
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Toccoa River Cabin, 2012
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Seattle, 2012
Trip to Seattle for a 2 week vegan cooking class
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Costa Rica, 2012
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New York City, 2012
NYC for the Brooklyn 1/2 marathon
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Turks & Caicos, 2012
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Central America Ride: Granada to Atlanta
The last leg of our 9000 mile Central America trip from Granada Nicaragua back home to Atlanta.
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Central America Ride: Antigua to Granada
A few pictures from the southern extent of our trip.
We made it to Costa Rica for our friend's wedding. We showed up right on time to meet Gabrielle and Eileen, although it was a little bit of a rsh the last few days to get there.
We spent a relaxing week off the bikes with our wives and lots of friends also in town for the wedding.
After a week off the bikes it was a little tough to get back on and ride again but we found our groove again pretty quickly. Origianlly we were going to hit Panama before turning north but we decided it would be too rushed with the time we have. So, instead we headed form the beach in Costa Rica inland to the mountains before turning north.
We're exploring the montains of Nicaragua and Honduras before heading to the Caribbean coast through Guatamala to Belize.
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Central America Ride: Mexico City to Antigua
My dad and I are working our way south. We made it to Antigua, Guatemala. The ride has been amazing so far but now we have to pick up the pace if we're going to make it to Costa Rica to meet Gabrielle and Eileen for the wedding.
For those that missed the start of the trip: My dad and I are using his retirement this year as an excuse for a great father/son motorcycle trip. We're riding from Atlanta to Costa Rica or Panama and back. The only set date of the whole trip is our friend's wedding in Costa Rica and a week relaxing there with our wives.
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Central America Ride: Atlanta to Mexico City
My father and I have been on the road for 10 days now. We are on our way to Costa Rica and hopefully Panama before turning back north for Atlanta. We feel like we have already seen so much but we're just getting started! Mexico is awesome. The people, the sights and the food are all amazing!
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Puerto Rico, 2011
Trip to Puerto Rico over Christmas with friends Bertram, Jessica and Kim.
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Art Basel Miami, December 2011
A great trip to Miami for Art Basel. It was our second trip for Basel and we'll be back again! The whole city is taken over by artist and designers and their work for a week each December. It's a great time of year to be in Miami and an awesome opportunity to view incredible inspiring work. Of course there's also the opportunity to buy if your in the market, and you can rub elbows with "eclectilites" if that's your thing.
See you there next year!
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Niagra Falls, Canada 2011
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NYC & Cape Cod, Summer 2011
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Lake Seneca, NY and Phish concert in Watkins Glen, July 2011
Visit to Malcolm's parents lake house on Lake Seneca and 3 day Phish concert over the 4th of July
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The Boundary Waters Minnesota, 2011
Canoeing trip with Malcolm's parents in Minnesota.
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Trip to Bryn Athyn, PA 2011
Family trip in March 2011 to see Gabrielle's family and all of her family's history.
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Spain 2010-11
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Na Pali Coast Hike, 2011
This hike was amazing!
The now famous, 11 mile Kalalau trail snakes along the northern coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The area you explore is known for dramatic cliffs that plunge directly in the ocean. There are no roads into the area so you either have to hike it or get there by boat. There's a third option in seeing it by helicopter, but we won't discuss those "mosquitos" that buzz overhead all day disturbing the peace below.
We were short on time so we squeezed it into a weekend but we could have easily spent a week or more enjoying the sites. The trip was worth every drop of sweat and every blister! Every single step of the trail is gorgeous as you climb and descend each valley and ravine that are divided by stunning vistas. Often we would look out to see humpback whales jumping– a nice touch!
Doing the full 11 miles in a day is challenging and downright treacherous at points. Parts of the trail are just a foot width wide and wind along rocky cliffs with a drop of 1000 feet or more to the crashing waves below- watch your step!
There are 2 distinct groups that you see on the trail: the fresh and clean trekkers all geared up with modern packs and high tech fabrics, and the bohemian "residents" that overstay their permits by weeks, months, and even years. The latter is often barefoot, or totally naked. We definitely look the part of the trekkers more but we enjoyed hanging out with the residents more. We watched a game of volleyball where half the players were naked then hung out with everyone afterward to hear their different stories about ending up in the valley. BTW- the volleyball net and poles were all made from available resources and there was a wild goat skin drying in the sun on the strings that supported it.
The people that we met were great with fun stories, and tasty hand picked natural treats to share. We tried a fresh, wild lilikoi(passion fruit). At another stop along the trail we enjoyed fresh coffee that we helped brew over a fire. Our new friend had picked the beans himself the day before, from the ground under a grove of wild coffee trees. Then he slow roasted them over his fire. To top it off, we ground the beans on an ancient mortar still in place from the indigenous people that lived there and used it to grind the taro roots they grew!
I have a feeling we will be back someday and when we do we will be sure to stay MUCH longer!
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Hawaii 2011
We spent 5 weeks living and working from Oahu in the winter of 2011. During our stay, we did plenty of hiking, biking, eating and urban exploring. We also got a chance to visit the island of Kauai to hike the Na Pali Coast trail. Hawaii is a magical place we hope to visit again soon.
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Copenhagen, 2010
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Belgium, 2010
Trip to Belgium en route to Africa to see family
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The Democratic Republic of Congo, 2010
Below is Malcolm's sister Alice's hilarious take on the trip:
The flight to Kinshasa is about 8 hours. Gabby, Mom, and I had the "pleasure" of being seated next to a Congolese band, apparently of some repute because their presence was announced and applauded. Unfortunately, it seemed that they had been touring for 4 months inside of a rotten animal and had decided not to wash or change clothes. To make matters worse, the man seated between me and the "escape" aisle was disabled and had to lift his legs with his hands in order for me to exit the row. He then proceeded to get blazingly drunk and spill whiskey down his coat. The end result was that I rode for 2 hours with my scarf tied around my face.
By the time we hit the ground in Kinshasa I was prepared to handle just about anything the Congo could throw at me. The airport operates in utter chaos, our cousin had arranged for someone to meet us there and deal with obtaining our baggage. According to her if you don't do this you will be forced to pay considerable sums for the privilege of getting your bag back.
We arrived in Kinshasa in the night, so could not see much. The road from the airport into town was dusty, busy, and lined with people and candle lit vendors.
My grandmother (Coco) lives in a lovely house in Kinshasa. My cousin Dominique, who I had only had the pleasure of meeting once before, also lives there. Coco and Dominque took amazing care of us. Her cook, Everiste, is magnificent. Everyday he created an exceptional spread of Congolese treats. Coco introduced Gabby to fufu (mashed cassava root) and the rest of us to pandu (the leaves of cassava), bitekuteku (some green veg), and mwam (chicken cooked in some sort of palm nut).
We left for Mbandaka to visit my aunt Cricri after 3 days in Kinshasa. Mbandaka is a town that is about 500 km from Kinshasa. Its located deep in the jungle on the Congo river. The town of Mbandaka was primarily built by the Belgians. It was a coveted assignment because of its gorgeous setting. However, when the Belgians left in the 60's time essentially stopped in Mbandaka. The houses are decaying, the streets are pot holed, water is no longer running, and electricity works sometimes in some places. Nonetheless, the town is lively, vibrant, and incredibly interesting. It has the feel of a squatter town because people are making due and living in the old structures, just without the aid of infrastructure or services.
My aunt Cricri lives in a big house built by an American missionary. The grounds and gardens are splendid. It was also easy to see that the house was once magnificent. It would have been luxurious but for the fact that there was no running water and electricity was provided only from 7 to 12, and some days it simply did not come on.
Cricri spends the majority of her time operating her restaurant, Belle Vue Moninga, which also served as our living room, dining room, and kitchen while we were there. Through hook, crook, and generator the restaurant manages to have electricity all day and night. The chef worked for the Belgian ambassador to the Congo for his entire life, and for every meal we were provided a feast. Having a chef prepare every meal was wonderful and fattening.
I have been practicing my Lingala, but thus far have only learned the basic greeting, common farm animals, and the all important mondele. The guidebook translates mondele as foreigner, but I am quite certain that the literal translation is "rich whitey." Yes, I am considered white in the Congo, I can't win. The mondele experience is sometimes good, sometimes bad, and always interesting. I first experienced it when me, mom, and Gabby decided to take a morning walk around the village. Everyone stares and the children scream mondele. There is something totally hilarious about a 5 year old naked child running out of a mud hut to screech mondele and wave at you.
The best mondele experience: our 2nd day in Mbandaka we drove about 120 km down a dirt path (the only road) to go to the neighboring province. There were a lot of us so we were in 2 vehicles. Gabby and I, along with several Congolese friends, were in the back of a Land Cruiser. We stopped in some small village just as school was finishing. The Congolese guys got out, and as they opened the door the school children (about 50 of them) spotted mondeles inside. They yelled and started crowding around the truck. I
stuck my head out to shrieks of glee, and said "mbote" (hello), at that the crowd erupted. But it was nothing compared to when Gabby stepped out of the truck, the kids went WILD! They all wanted to touch her and take a picture with her. It was our one and only experience with celebrity. Our friends called Gabby "Julia Roberts" for the rest of the day.
The worst mondele experience: we were taking a ride in my aunt's friend's pirogue (traditional dug-out boat) on the Congo river. Of course we made a proper spectacle of ourselves. We put bright blue lawn chairs in the pirogue, we had neon orange life vests, there were about 10 of us, and we were all drinking beer and carrying-on. As we passed a fishing village my dad took a photo. Some guy in the village started screaming at him, then our driver started screaming back. After a few minutes we continued on our journey, but were quickly followed by two soldiers. The military guys directed us to go to a station farther down the river. There we were met by several soldiers with machine guns. There was also an odd military boat with an old school machine gun mounted on top of it. One soldier, in an effort to be intimidating, got out a massive string of bullets and uncovered the gun. He fiddled with the bullets for a while but his intimidation efforts were diminished when his partner came over to our boat, machine gun in hand, and asked me to marry him and take him to America. It was impossible not to laugh even under those circumstances. After a lot of flexing, bitching, and moaning our camera was confiscated. However, the Minister of the Interior turned up and my aunt invited him to dinner. After dinner the Minister was kind enough to call the commanding officer and direct that the camera be returned. Lesson: if you are going to be a picture taking mondele make sure you know the right people.
Our 120 km trip down a bumpy dirt path had a purpose: visit the last home that my father lived in before he went to school in Belgium. Dad was born in a tiny village near Gemena (deep jungle in the north east) but his father was transferred each time he was promoted. My father's last home was in the town of Bikoro on a beautiful peninsula on Lake Thimbu. The house is still used by the administrator of the region. He welcomed us into his home, prepared a fantastic meal of fried fish caught fresh from the lake. My aunt also brought a friend who is a local historian. We were able to eat at my father's home and hear the history of the region. It was moving and definitely fulfilled the "get back to my roots" portion of the itinerary.
The administrator's daughter lives in Mbandaka so he asked us to bring a load of goods to her. The load included a sack of something, bushels of bananas, and a baby goat. They tied the goat in the back of the truck with a cord made from reeds. He was so cute! We piled into the truck and started to leave, but the moment we moved the goat jumped from the truck and hung himself! I jumped out and grabbed him and got him back into the truck before he was hurt, but not before my heart was shattered!! They then tied his legs and laid the goat in the back of the truck. Gabby (who is a vegetarian) was crying at this point, and the poor little goat cried like a
child every time we hit a bump. Gabby had to ride the full 2 and a half hours with her ipod on blast so as not to hear the little guy. I of course was in full panic and tried to convince my aunt to let me hold him on my lap. After an intense and stressful ride home I jumped in the back of the truck and the little goat looked terrible. He wasn't moving and his heart was pounding. I picked him up and held him while the ties on his legs were cut. As soon as his legs were loose he shook his head and stood up. I set him on the ground and he immediately started eating. End result: goat was fine, and I smelled like goat and would not have access to running water for
another 2 days. Goat 1, Alice 0. But I was in love with him anyway, and I rode in the back of the truck with him through town to deliver him to his new home. He ate bananas the whole way.
The Congo is country like no other I have been to, it is rich in resources but the population is poor. Corruption is a way of life. It is beautiful and it is stressful. Its not easy, but its worth it
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Miami, Winter Music Conference 2010
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Atlanta-Seattle Via Moto, 2010
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Beaver Creek, CO 2010
Trip to ski/snowboard in Colorado with Gabrielle's family
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Penn Yan Summer Camp 2010
Malcolm and Gabrielle and all of their friends descended upon Malcolm's parents lake house in Penn Yan, NY. Activities included sailing, swimming, camping, eating, and wine tasting at the local vineyards.
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Japan Motorcycle trip, 2010
Malcolm took a motorcycle trip in Japan.
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Grenada, 2010
Malcolm and I are lucky. We have a member of the family who has decided to put their priorities in order. The decision was clear for Malcolm’s father, “Leo the Sailor”: Leave the wife at home to work, and catch the Eastern Caribbean trade winds via sailboat (named, S.V. Mupepe) for the winter. Remembering that named wife, Eileen is the glue of the family, a great cook, and an all-around joyful person to be around, Malcolm and I decided to pay them a visit during the short time Eileen would be with Leon on the boat. We purchased tickets to join them for a week in Grenada, an Island in the far Eastern Caribbean, close to Venezuela.
We had the most fabulous time experiencing what most sailors call the “cruising” life. Basically, it consists of waking up around 8-9, drifting through a spectacular and serene morning at anchorage sipping coffee, reading, and contemplating natures beauty. After some thought; breakfast is considered. Would it be fruit, or local guava jelly on toast? Decisions…
After a leisurely morning, the family and I set out for a dinghy ride to shore to sightsee and run a few errands. It is almost impossible to complete any Eastern Caribbean “sightseeing” without at least 1-2 stops at a beach bar for either a post-lunch rum punch of Carib beer. (This was just a natural break in the rough day in the life of the Caribbean!) As the sun drops to the west for the day, we pick up some delicious local provisions to cook and enjoy for dinner. The perfect day would land us back at anchorage around 5 PM for cocktail hour and sunset followed by a leisurely dinner and a good chat with the parents.
This trip really fostered both Malcolm and my interest in acquiring a sailboat for our own retirement. We learned sailing is a wonderful way to see the world while interacting with local cultures. It is definitely a style of traveling I could get used to!
I hear Leon and Eileen’s adventures could take them through Central and South America in the winter of 2011, I hope we will be lucky enough to drop by S.V. Mupepe for another adventure.
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Penn Yan 2010
April 2010 trip to Pann Yan, NY to visit Malcolm's family.
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Seattle-San Juan Islands, 2010
Moto trip from Seattle to the San Juan Islands with a stop in Port Townsend to attend a friends wedding. We stopped by Seattle on the way back.
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Park City Utah Ski Trip, 2010
Trip to Park City with friends.
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Road Trip: ATL- Miami, 2009
Road trip for New Years 2009-10 from Atlanta, through Fort De Soto Park in Tierra Verde, FL then on to MIami.
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Atlanta to Nova Scotia Motorcycle Trip, 2009
I picked up a new(to me) bike last spring. The BMW GS is made for doing long hauls so I started thinking through all different routes I could take to test the new ride and explore some areas of North America I hadn’t seen yet. I settled on a roughly 6000 mile route from our home in Atlanta to Nova Scotia and back. The exact route, dates, and details were all pretty loosely laid out with a few highlights planned but plenty of room to shape the plans on the fly. I rode parts of the trip by myself, a portion with my dad and his old BMW and another leg with Gabrielle riding with m on my bike. Overall it was an amazing trip.
-Malcolm
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Ireland, 2009
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La Luna de Miel, 2009
Honeymoon in the forbidden land of Mojitos...
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NYC Malcolm Fontier Product Launch Party, 2009
The Malcolm Fontier line was created out of a love for urban adventure and travel, so what better way to celebrate the launch of our new '09 collection than a party in one of the greatest cities! The NYC event at Sole Food was a huge success. It gave fans, buyers, and the media their first glance at our whole new collection before it even hit stores.
As part of our ’09 product launch, we asked 7 talented artists who share our modern go-getter approach to apply their signature style to one of our bags. The results were amazing! Our clean, yet distinctive form proved to be a perfect foundation for the artists' expressions. All bags were sold through a silent auction at our NYC launch party, with every dollar going to Dress for Success, a non-profit organization helping under-served women prepare for the workplace.
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Santa Fe, NM 2009
Boys trip to New Mexico before Malcolm and Gabrielle's wedding.
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Japan 2009
Trip to Japan to exhibit in the Tokyo Gift Show
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Whistler 2009
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Outer Banks, 2009
Family trip to Outer Banks, North Carolina
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Nepal 2009
Gabrielle took a trip to Nepal to visit her BFF Brendan who is currently living in the capital Kathmandu. We had an amazing time hanging out in the city, motorcycling, and trekking in the Himalaya to the Annapurna Base Camp.
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Anguilla, St Barths, St Marten January 2009
Sailing trip with Malcolm’s family via their beautiful boat, S.V. Mupepe.
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Asheville, 2009
September 2009 trip to Asheville, NC
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Nicaragua 2008-09
We spent a week over the 2008 New Year in Nicaragua. We traveled by pick-up, bus, ferry, really rough taxis and a fun little Chinese made motorcycle we called “El Burro” We met great people like Kirsten and her mom Frankie that were travel together. We found ourselves at some pretty random and very fun events like a locals rodeo on the island of Ometepe.
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Hong Kong Sourcing Trip 2008
Sourcing trip to Hong Kong to gather new materials, hardware, and meet with our factory.
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Egypt, 2008
October 2008 trip to Egypt: Cairo, Dahab, Luxor, and Mt Sinai.
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Japan, 2008
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Jackson Hole WY, 2008
Snowboarding trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming in March 2008
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Puerto Rico, 2008
A quick trip with our aunt Susana to celebrate her birthday. Our criteria deciding on the destination: Spanish speaking, warm, beach, affordable and do-able on a long weekend. Gabrielle was the only one of us that had been to PR- we all loved it! We spent 2 nights in Old San Juan and then 2 on Vieques, a small island off the eastern end of the main island. Granted, Puerto Rico has a lot of US influence, but it has enough of its own thing going on to make you feel like you got away from the US.
We did our obligatory site seeing in San Juan. We toured the Old City by foot mostly and it’s amazing. At the end of each day, and several times during the day, we’d make our way into seedy little bars that would call our name. We were never disappointed by the drinks or the food.
In Vieques we slowed it down, way down. Vieques is home to the infamous old US bombing range that was shut down a few years back after locals successful protested loud enough. The upside to the old range is that all of the land has been set aside as beautiful wildlife preserves with the most amazing, and empty, beaches- just don’t touch any old metal objects you find sticking out of the sand!
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Georgia Moto Trip, March 2008
Gab and Malcolm dual-sport GA moto trip
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Vegas - Over The Years...
Our business brought us to Las Vegas for the "Magic" trade show many times over the years between 2007 and 2009. Here are a couple of shots of us and our booths over the years.
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North GA Mountains 2008
Family trip to check out the beautiful foliage in the North GA Mountains in Fall 2008.
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Idaho Dual-Sport Moto Trip, 2008
Our friend Brian spent 6 months living in Utah in the summer of 2008. I sent my motorcycle with him on a truck and then flew into SLC 2 different times to do some adventure riding from his home base in Ogden Utah. For this trip, Brian and I headed north to explore some areas of Idaho we had never been to. As usual, with any trip Brian and I do- we definitely found adventure! We rode through snow storms at 10,000 foot elevation, we ended up on dead end roads miles from anywhere as the sun set, and we found trails over mountains that were so steep it would have even been a difficult hike on foot and especially so with motorcycles loaded down with camping gear. We even got chased by an angry Utah redneck in a big pick-up truck that seemed dead set on running us down, though we’ll never know his true intentions because we decided to ride for our lives and out run him rather than find out. Good fun on 2 wheels!
-Malcolm
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Cape Cod 2008
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Toronto 2008
Gab and Cindy went to check out Toronto in Spring of 2008. We had such an amazing time! Toronto is such a great city- easily walkable, plenty to do, situated on the water, and fabulous restaurants.
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Engagement, November 2007, Washington State
Malcolm surprised me with a trip to the Pacific Northwest. He took me to a place called Hole in the Wall, a place he visited years back on a cross-country road trip. It was a cold, rainy day, yet Malcolm demanded that we go for a walk on the beach anyway. Once we got the the “Hole in the Wall” a place where the ocean has created rock formations, one of them being a giant rock that you can literally walk through- Malcolm proposed!
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San Francisco and Napa 2007
Week trip to visit SF and Napa Valley
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New Harbor Maine, 2007
Wedding weekend in New Harbor Maine.
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FL Beach Camping, 2007
Camping in Coastal Florida 2007
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Inner Coastal Waterway Sailing Cape Canaveral, 2006
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Cape Cod 2006
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China 2006
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Tahoe 2006
Group/friend annual ski trip to Tahoe, CA
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GenArt Fresh Faces in Fashion 2006
Malcolm Fontier Accessories was chosen to be a a part of GenArt Fresh Faces in Fashion in Miami Beach in 2006. It was hard work but we think the set up was beautiful!
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Hawaii 2006
Trip in 2006 to visit the cousins. We also took a side trip to the Big Island too.
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Brazil, 2006
After our 1st visit to Rio in 2004 we were hooked. So, when we made it back in late 2006 we made sure to stay a longer. Gabrielle and I were just starting our business so we took advantage of being able to work from anywhere at that point and we set up operations in Rio for a month. We found a great little apartment in the Rio neighborhood of Leblon, just a couple blocks from the beach. Overall, it was a pretty perfect trip, we were productive in an amazing setting, and we also spent plenty of time relaxing especially when our friends Patrick and Karen came to visit.
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Thailand, 2005
Gabrielle and her friend Joanna took a summer trip to Thailand.
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Cape Cod 2005
Gab is from Cape Cod and M & G go to visit every summer.
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Oregon, 2005
2005 trip to the Oregon Coast. Malcolm totally surprised me with this trip!! He told me to pack my bags and plan for cool and rainy weather. When we arrived in Portland, he took me to a beautiful State Park and rented us a "yurt" (kind of like a permanent tent) It was so fun to explore the Oregon coast, hike, and drink Oregonian wine!
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France and Belgium, 2005
Trip to Belgium to visit family and a ski trip to France..
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Brazil 2005
The trip that got us hooked! Malcolm and Gab met Jay, Alejandro, and Patrick in Brazil- we traveled to Salvador de Bahia and Rio.
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Penn Yan 2005
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Alaska, 2004
Boys trip to Alaska in 2004
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Mexico 2004
Gabrielle headed to Mexico to live in Cuernavaca and study Spanish in the summer of 2004. She lived with a Mexican family and traveled to Mexico City, Cancun, Tepoztlan, Tulum, and Taxco.
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Tenerife, 2003
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Ecuador, 2002
Gabrielle and her friend Brendan backpacked around South America the year they both graduated from college.
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Peru, 2002
Bacpacking trip through South America took us to Peru. We visited: Lima, Amazonia, Iquitos, Huascaran, Machu Picchu, Cuzco, and more.
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Bolivia, 2002
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Chile, 2002
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392 years agoLove the site! Have you considered doing press releases to help get your name out there? Also not all of your images are able to be zoomed in on, might want to look at that since your pictures are so nice! :)-Justin R.
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362 years agoThis is some great looking gear! Love what you are doing.-DougThanks Doug, it's nice to hear we're on the right track:)
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