Really Big Outdoors

About a year ago, I was diagnosed with diabetes.  Turns out that not taking care of yourself or going to a doctor for 4 or 5 years means that you can go from not having diabetes to needing insulin in one appointment. So, I have spent a year learning a lot about diabetes and about my body and how it responds to food, exercise, medication.  It's been challenging but also kind of fascinating. One of the biggest concerns I had was how this diagnosis might interfere with my new resolve to get outside more.  I had thousands of questions and I have spent the last year researching, trying, and figuring out how to be OK outside with diabetes. Here are some of the questions I had and what I have figured out.  Please leave your ideas in the comments! 1. Can you still do outdoor activities? Yes!  The first thing my doctor told me was that exercise is my new best friend.  And while I DO go to the gym (when I can convince myself), I much prefer to be outdoors fo...

This trip was awesome!  If you live anywhere within driving distance, you should definitely do this.  Full disclosure: this trip was HARD for me.  But the rest of the family was appropriately challenged and with some rest stops I was totally able to do it and we will definitely go back and do it again. The details: Great Glen Trails is a really fantastic outdoor center located at the base of Mt. Washington (across the street from the toll booth for the Mt. Washington Auto Road).  They have a ton of summer and winter activities. We rented bikes and biked on the carriage trails.  I'm not sure why, but I thought these trails would be flat.  I was wrong.  But it was really fun.  The hills on the "easy" trails were not so steep that we couldn't get up - sometimes we walked up, but it's not a competition, so who cares?!  And not so steep that I was worried the kids would die as they bombed back down them.  They LOVED it.  We c...

Date: August 21, 2018 Where:  America's Stonehenge, Salem, NH America's Stonehenge was one of the more fun trips we have taken!  According to their website, America's Stonehenge is a set of structures built either by native Americans, ancient European migrants, or an 18th century farm family.  The mystery is part of the fun.  We like it because it's a chance to take a hike in a totally different environment that we usually do- rather than a mountain or park setting, this is a set of old stone structures that the kids can climb through.  The total hike is about 1/2 mile but with stops to listen to the tour and explore, it took us a little longer than an hour to walk the whole loop. Our trip: Inside the visitor's center, after we purchased tickets, there is a brief introductory video that explains how the family acquired the property and the origins of the archeological work they are attempting.  My kids didn't make it through the whole film, so we head...

Date: January 13, 2019 Where: Woodstock Inn Nordic Center  We drove to Woodstock and arrived at our favorite restaurant, Worthy Kitchen, just as they opened for lunch.  After some really yummy burgers, we headed over to the Nordic center.  This was our second time visiting the Nordic center, so we had some idea what to expect.  My partner had to rent snowshoes that day and the rentals for 1 adult plus trail tickets for 2 adults and 2 kids was about $100.  Not cheap, but also not outside the market cost for this kind of trip. The snowshoeing at Woodstock is fantastic.  It was snowing when we started out, so it got a little cold if we stood still but while we were moving we were in good spirits.  N kept getting his snowshoes tangled- it was pretty cute, though! The kids loved snowshoeing beside the stream and especially over the many bridges.  We walked along a few trails and started hiking up the snowshoe-only trail toward the summi...

This is a brand new project for me and I am assuming few people will actually see it.  So why am I doing it?  I have set a goal for myself to get over some of my hangups about what I can and can't do.  I used to be a fit, outdoorsy type- I spent my summers hiking and canoeing and rock climbing and just being outside.  But as I got older, I spent less time doing anything active.  And so although I built a solid career and eventually had kids, I lost that part of myself that loved being outside.  My twins are 6 now and we've always done outdoor activities with them- we started hiking with them in backpacks when they were 6 months.  But it's pretty easy to keep up with a 2-year-old.  Now that they are 6, I'm finding that they are getting to be pretty strong and I am getting to be pretty weak.  And now that they don't require every single ounce of energy I can summon (just most of it!), I really want to get back into the things I used to love....