In spite of the heat and humidity this past Saturday, we were so inspired by our own blog post, that we went up to the Salamonie Reservoir in search of waterfalls. The Salamonie is one of our go-to places when we get this random urge to go hiking. It’s nice because it’s less than 30 minutes away from our house. It had rained quite a bit throughout the week so we knew our chances of finding a waterfall would be increased. Keep reading
It’s hot. It’s humid. I don’t know about the rest of the country, but summer has arrived in Indiana. You go outside and feel like you’re getting licked in the face by a yak. July is worse for motivation then February is for new year’s resolutions. Seriously, I worked up a sweat just writing those last few sentences. If I actually got up off the couch, put on my exercise clothes, and walked out the door I just might melt…literally melt from the buckets of sweat pouring from my body. Okay, okay. So maybe I’m overexaggerating, but it is hot. Keep reading
I know I’m probably alone here. I realize that I have a problem unique unto myself, but I’m going to put myself out there on the off-chance that there is someone out there that suffers from the same affliction that I do. So here goes. I understand my need for exercise. I am aware of the benefits of said exercise on both my physical and mental well-being. But when it comes to actually exercising, I’m…well…unmotivated. There, I said it. I lack the motivation to do that which will only benefit me in the long run. (Did you see what I did there?…”long run”) Keep reading
Growing up hearing all of the stories of my father’s adventures in Utah made it sound like a mystical land full of untold secrets. Story after story made me wonder if it could all be true! When we made our family trip to Utah in 2012, I could see the wonders come vividly to life… the stories rang true! Well, all but one. The legend of “Mike’s Crack.” It’s not like it sounds (or maybe it is), so let me explain. My Dad made a trip to Utah many years ago to visit his brother and hike in the southern part of the state. One of the many things they did that trip was hike in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. The Needles consists of rows of ginormous fins of rock jutting from the earth. My father and uncle did some exploring and stumbled upon a chimney in the rock between the fins. My dad then climbed up the chimney to the top of the fin to see the amazing view. My uncle wanted to do the same thing so he tried and tried to get up the chimney but just couldn’t. From all of the stories told again and again my uncle finally gave up with these words: “I can’t get up Mike’s Crack!” Keep reading
Have you ever set a difficult goal for yourself and when the going got tough, asked yourself, “Whose idea was this anyway?” This has happened to me several times in my journey to lose weight and get in shape. In a perfect world, all my progress would be forward; but the world isn’t perfect and my self-discipline wavers, causing me sometimes to go two steps forward and one step back. I had found myself in a step back a couple of months before our trip this summer, and the thought of all the hiking we planned to do on our trip was giving me the motivation to move forward again. I knew I needed something challenging to work towards, and the hike that I was the most excited about was hiking from the North Rim to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I needed to get in shape! Keep reading
