Mt. Everest base camp. Yahoo Images.
One of my simple pleasures in life is reading magazines. How fabulous is it to regularly get all sorts of interesting new reading material in your mailbox or on your e-reader?
One magazine that Pete and I have subscribed to for years is Outside. Without fail, whenever one of us is reading an issue, we’ll stop and show the other one a fascinating article we’re working on. Even the resident middle schoolers are starting to pick up an issue every now and then.
If you’re not familiar with Outside, it’s all about adventure — adventure sports, adventure travel, adventurous adventures, adventure gear, adventure books we should read, adventure foods that possibly contain more legs than mammals have… Well, there’s more than just that, but you get the idea. The writing is terrific — I often feel like I’m there in the action. Over the years, I’ve “climbed” mountain ranges around the world, explored the North and South Poles, been introduced to various climbers and adventurers and athletes, gone to the Olympics, camped in hidden places around the world, and more… so much more.
I find my fascination with Outside to be interesting because I often read about adventures that I have no intention of ever attempting, but which I peruse with the absorption of someone who is about to embark on that very journey. And even if I don’t go off on that particular expedition, it might inspire me to do something new.
Climb Everest? I don’t think so. But I have totally considered trekking the Annapurna Circuit.
Camp in the really wild wilderness? No way. But I enjoyed glamping in New Zealand and would do it again. In fact, Pete and I are currently negotiating a possible family tent-camping adventure.
(“Negotiating” means that he’s trying to talk me into it and I’m demanding a full emailed proposal from him, including gear we’d need, how many nights of roughing it he wants, and what kind of nice hotel we’ll check into immediately afterward so that I can shower and get the nature off me.)
Run a marathon? Never. (And I mean it.) But I’m now more interested in trying some trail runs … just as soon as I can outrun bears.
Sign up for a Tough Mudder? Nope, definitely not. But one of my gal pals has talked me into doing a less hardcore, but still very muddy and filthy, mud run next year with several of our equally bad ass friends. If you knew how much I hate being muddy and filthy, you’d understand what a big deal this is.
Ski and snowboard? Pre-kids, I skied, but now I’m more interested in trying snowshoeing. Luckily, I’ve been able to read up on gear.
Do Ironman Kona? Never. But my family totally loves watching the coverage every year.
Eat a truly rare and amazing chocolate? If your husband is as awesome as mine, yes, you will.
And that’s the great thing about magazines like Outside: They take you out of your mental comfort zone and show you all the possibilities out there in the world. Most of us won’t hike in Denali, but many of us will be inspired to lace up our sneakers or boots and get outside in general.
Tell me: What do you read that takes you out of your comfort zone? Have you been inspired to try something new?
Disclaimer: Y’all know I don’t work for Outside, but it also bears mentioning that they didn’t ask me to write this or anything like that.
`
After reading Wild, I still contend that I will hike (part of) the PCT. What? I WILL TOO!
Come camping with me, pleeeeeease. We’ll rent a boat and I know an island in a lake that’s on Crown land near Algonquin Park where we can pitch a tent enjoy the amazing scenery and go fishing. We’d probably have to chloroform Josie to get her camping with us, but if you can (incrementally) get used to nature, she can suck it up, grab the Tito, and come with us.
My better half got a mention in the recent Outside issue that named Richmond one of the best river towns in America.
I’ll make you a deal: come tent camping with us. You have two options: we can set the tents up down by the firepit IN OUR YARD (meaning shower and toilette just a short hill climb away) or take to a Forest Service campground where said facilities are a short-ish drive away but feel more like thousands of miles. Just start dancing to the precipitation gods so there isn’t another fire ban next year. Because really, why would you go camping if you can’t have a fire? See also: we have gear to spare. : )
A long time ago, I subscribed to a magazine that went out of business and they transferred my subscription to Outside. When I got my first subscription to Outside, my sister was visiting. It was unanimously decided by everybody in my house that I was the very least likely subscriber to Outside. Yes, I spend a lot of time inside, and I like it.
I enjoyed reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed. One of my favorite books is The Endurance by Caroline Alexander.
prior to our 2000 diagnosis of lyme disease (all 4 of us) and subsequent 4 YEAR treatment of non-stop, every-3-month rotation of differing antibiotic combo treatments, I was a full-on outdoor girl…..loved every bit of being outside. Camping, hiking, biking, boating, you name it, I did it. Never had an inkling to what that part of my personality might lead me to one day…but you guessed it, if you spend any amount of time in the wild, you will encounter a tick. A bite? yes, you will. I passed it on to my sons, or they acquired tick bites of their own, in my mothering them in the outside….because I was a wild woman back then!
that said, I have given up all of my camping gear, and I have spent years putting my mind to rest that although we live in a semi-rural area here in the Bay Area of Northern CA, if I can be one step ahead of it all, we will never come into contact with another @#$% tick again….we are in remission, but there is no cure for lyme disease. I spent 10 years reading all about this mother effing disease, and the East Coast has it down….so I like to think of myself as an outdoor person, yet know I will never venture off a paved path again. It’s rather strange seeing all this glittering green beauty of the place I reside, and knowing I won’t be partaking of the beauty in an upclose way. My sons have had it drilled into their heads from a very young age that we look, but don’t wander. I can’t pick up a mag like Outside without feeling deep down pangs of yearning. So, I don’t. I still go to REI and look at all the outdoor goodies. It was, and I guess, still is, one of my favorite stores. Good luck with that camping, or glamping. I think in my dotage, if I can get my hands on a tear-drop setup, I could easily slide back into “glamping” but it won’t be too near the tall grass or under canopies of oak trees, where the little effing buggers like to wait for their next blood meal!
Here’s what I yearn for and probably will never have: one of those all-inclusive hotel vacations on a beach. The kind where everything is right there: the beach, the pool, great restaurants. You don’t have to leave the “island”. I also would like to take one of those package bus tours of a European city, where all the accommodations are made ahead of time, someone lugs your luggage for you, and you just look out the windows at the scenery between stops. I’ll probably never get to do those because Rob hates the idea of someone else being in charge of his vacation. To me, though, it sounds like heaven.
Of course, I’ve done the camping thing, both here in the US and out with lions and jackals howling on the African savannah, and that was a fabulous experience as well, but I’m old and sore and don’t long for that kind of adventure any more. I want very civilized adventures now. And you should totally go wilderness-tent-camping before you get too old to sleep on the ground.
You have some great offers!
Outside sounds like my National Geographic. Takes me where I’d never dream of going.
As far as comfort zones, I’m kind of pushing out of mine these days.
You might also like the magazine called Afar. I somehow was the recipient of a one-year subscription (no one ‘fessed up so I don’t know who to thank) and it described all sorts of hip, exciting places to go and experience in a less touristy way.
Sadly, we are neither hip enough nor wealthy enough to do such things — such is the case when the sole wage earner retires (and I mean retire — not starting a second career) from the military prior to the age of fifty.
PS: After camping, you come home and shower in your own bathroom. It makes home (and showering, and your very own bed) feel so wonderful!