(Podcast) Taking Your Parents Hiking: Part 2. Going Farther & Bryce Canyon Adventures

Season 3 Episode 3.

In this episode, we help you go farther. Beginning with short 1–3 hour walks, we move into the realm of hiking all day and building up distance. We talk about clothing — including rain gear, base layers, and why to avoid cotton. The right gear can really make the difference: we go into depth about what to wear and how to outfit your family so everyone can focus on the fun and not on being miserable. We also share some basic first aid tips — always seek expert advice when you get the chance. This is all in an effort to give you the skills and knowledge you need to feel comfortable pushing farther into the outdoors with your adventures.

Apps we use: AllTrails and Trailforks.

Adventure clothing and gear we mention: Backcountry.com, Eddie Bauer, Title Nine, REI merino wool socks, a hiker’s first aid guide and first aid kits (My Medic), a moleskin blister kit, and our favorite Black Diamond trekking poles.

(Podcast) A Kid’s Guide to Taking Your Parents Hiking: Part 1

Season 3 Episode 2.

Kids, are you tired of being indoors? Do you have a thirst for adventure that YouTube is just not satisfying? We here at Keyword Adventure are here to help! In this episode, we share ways to teach them how to get outdoors and start soaking up some fun. From nature walks to all-day epics, we give you tips, tricks, and fun advice for getting outside. Remember to take those pictures!

We help you find the motivation to get outside and explore the world around you!

(Podcast) Tent Camping Starter: From Living Room to the Backyard

Welcome to Season 3 Episode 1! We’re so glad you’re here.

The Season 2 wrap is complete, and we’re excited to embark on a new season geared more toward helpful steps to get you into your adventures. Season 3 Episode 1 is all about starting out.

Perhaps you’ve wanted to try camping and never had the know-how. Maybe you have experience camping, but not with kids. Or maybe your kids are even asking to try it out, and now you’re doing your best to figure out just how to make that happen.

This episode is all about laying the foundation for a good experience camping in tents with your family — particularly how to set it up so your kids are comfortable, have fun, and it takes the pressure off you. Our goal is to give you tips and tricks to get started in the comfort of your own home. Visit our website and sign up for our newsletter to be one of the first to access gear, discounts, checklists, and more.

(Podcast) Let’s Talk Camping Tents

Season 3 Episode 3.

Grab a drink, sit back, and listen to Matt and Cristen talk about pitching a tent… Guess who wrote this? LOL.

In this episode, we talk about what has worked for us when we go camping: tent advice, camp-furniture favorites, keeping the bugs at bay, where to pitch your tent (and some hazards to avoid), organization tips, and dad jokes.

We hope you love this episode — and don’t forget to get out there and enjoy the outdoors as a family!

Gear we mention: the REI Kingdom 6 tent, an REI camp table, the Kelty Loveseat camp chair, bug sprays, and the Ruffwear Knot-a-Hitch dog run.

How to Help a Necessary Road Trip Not Suck

Yesterday I took a road trip to nowhere and it took 13 hours round-trip. A little backstory: a long-time friend needed a hand picking up a car in Minneapolis, and he lives in Kansas City. Okay, Minneapolis isn’t nowhere — but this trip was more about purpose than place. James and I have been paddling and adventure buddies for more than 15 years, and James is in a wheelchair. He’s perfectly able to drive with some minor modifications to a vehicle; the challenge is that a newly bought vehicle doesn’t have those modifications yet, so a helpful friend comes in handy. I didn’t have anything going on that particular Saturday, so I was more than happy to be that friend.

I drove to KC on Friday evening and stayed with James and his wonderful wife, Sarah, so we could leave very early the next morning. From James’s house, driving to Minneapolis takes about 6.5 hours, so up-and-back in one day runs roughly 13 hours on the road. James and I have been on many, many road trips over the years, so this is old hat for us — and since it had been a couple of years since our last long drive, it was a great chance to catch up.

On a good road trip, a few important elements matter, and they don’t necessarily have to be the destination. For some people it’s scenery (always a bonus). For others, a drive requires a solid playlist to help pass the miles. James and I usually skip the playlist in favor of plenty of time for conversation. And of course there are the basics: coffee, snacks, water, and fuel.

Coffee. No, it’s not for everyone… but for me it’s essential. Big road trips and big meals don’t go hand in hand, so what do you fuel your mind with in the early hours? A good old cup of joe. Pro tip: choose quality over quantity and you’ll cut down on pit stops. Big meals take energy to digest, so don’t load up before or during the trip or you’ll get sleepy on the road. No bueno.

Snacks. Choose wisely and they’ll keep you going for hours without an energy crash — and with fewer pit stops (less sugar helps). Also, go easy on the beef jerky (I can hear the comments now); heavy, spicy, greasy food will have you guzzling liquid and hunting for a rest stop far more often than anyone should. I recommend trail mix with peanuts and M&M’s — it doesn’t melt as fast and balances out the carb load. If you can’t do peanuts, my second favorite road-trip food is dehydrated fruit. You can buy it or make your own, and it’s great if you have kids. Bring on the bananas!

Water. Carrying water seems like a no-brainer, but I’m often shocked by how many people don’t. Breakdowns happen, and usually when it’s blisteringly hot. Even when it’s not saving your life, water helps battle the drying effect of running your A/C — those systems dry you out, and dehydration makes you tired. Soda (and I do love a cold Coke once in a while) only dehydrates you faster and brings the dreaded sugar crash, so stick with water and you’ll be much happier.

Fuel. Obviously, fuel is necessary to run a vehicle, whether it’s electric, unleaded, or diesel. Don’t forget to top off the tank, and keep an eye on your gauge and mileage. Knowing roughly how far you can go on a tank makes you a veteran road warrior if your gauge suddenly decides it’s done working mid-drive. Many people carry a service like AAA for exactly this reason — and a lot of insurance companies include roadside assistance as a perk, so check with yours.

What are your must-haves for a good, long road trip? Is there a trip that stands out most for you? At the end of the day, we ended up right back in KC as planned (with a slick new ride for James), and with this simple preparation it was just a fun day in the car catching up with a friend and seeing a new city.

8 Steps to Make Time for More Adventures

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Time is one of those assets we always seem to juggle. Between work, school, family, sleep, and general life-tending, you can start to wonder… what about all that stuff I used to do? If you reach the end of the week wanting to head outside for an adventure but feel hit by the exhausted-stick just thinking about pulling everything together, we understand. It’s much easier to stay home than dig through the gear boxes, run to the grocery store, and motivate the kids to pack what they need.

But that also means you’re not going camping in that place you’ve always wanted to see, paddling that favorite river, or introducing your kid to the first rock wall you ever climbed.

We hit a point of feeling like we were missing the activities we once did every weekend, because the other days of the week weren’t leaving us time to make it happen. Eventually, enough was enough — so we organized. Here’s how we set up our planning and our gear closet to make outdoor adventures as a family far more likely to actually happen.

Get organized. Sounds simple, right? But is your current setup actually working for you? We started with like items in the same bins or shelves — nice for finding a specific backpack in the backpack bin, but packing for a weekend still felt like a lot of work. After all, when we grab our 30L packs, we’re most likely camping. So we started grouping gear by the activities they share: backpack plus tent; sleeping bag plus sleeping pad; a cookware bin for car camping and a cookware bag for backpacking, and so on. If you know you want to climb for a day, put all your climbing gear in one or two bags. Mountain biking, same thing. That way you’re not wasting time digging for the one item you “know is around here somewhere.”

Use checklists. A general checklist for whatever you’re planning is a huge time saver, and it keeps you from forgetting something essential. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve forgotten my headlamp when I’m scattered and packing fast.

Start pulling things together the weekend before. If you know you’re headed somewhere the following weekend, don’t wait. Gather things into a staging area the week before — backpacks, sleeping bags and pads, tent and accessories, cookware, lights, even shoes. This also shows you ahead of time if you’re missing anything or if any gear needs repair.

Do laundry early. The weekend before is a perfect time to wash the clothing you’ll need. Don’t try to get things dry in the 30 minutes before you want to leave. Wash the socks, underwear, and apparel, then put them in a stuff sack in the staging area so nobody raids the clean laundry during the week.

Meal plan ahead so grocery shopping is a breeze. While the laundry dries, think about what you’d like to eat for the weekend. Whether that means a grocery run or stocking up on freeze-dried meals, knowing your menu takes the guesswork out of your list and makes shopping quick. And don’t underestimate how little you’ll want to cook the night you get home — throw an extra easy, practically-cooks-itself meal on the list for that.

Pet-plan the week before. Are the pets coming? If so, pack their gear and food in their pack and add it to the staging area. If not, reach out now to the friend, neighbor, or pet-sitter who always helps out, so you know they’re available before your leave time sneaks up. Not having reliable care for your furry family doesn’t just cut into the fun — it can stop a trip entirely.

Put it on paper. If there’s a bunch of work- or school-week stuff swirling in your head that you don’t want to forget (or that’ll steal your sleep), write it down so your mind can focus on the weekend away. Then you can rest easy knowing it’s captured and waiting when you return. And since everything else is ready early, jot down what you’ll need to do Sunday evening to be set for the week ahead — homework, Monday-morning phone calls, gym clothes in the school bag. Leave the note on the table so it’s easy to pick up when you’re back.

Stay organized. It doesn’t do much good to sort everything into activity grab-bags if it doesn’t stay that way. After the weekend, when you’re home, dirty, and tired, give one last effort to unload the car, clean the gear, and put things back in your beautifully organized system so it’s just as easy next time. Bonus points if the dirty clothes make it into the washing machine, too.

A little extra prep offers a lot of extra time. This might look overly planned, but honestly, once your “system” is in place, prepping for a family weekend outing becomes second nature. Fun outdoors doesn’t have to wait for spring or summer break, and by working ahead you’ll feel like you created extra time in the day or two before you go. Whether you leave Friday night or Saturday morning, you can drive to the trailhead, campground, crag, or put-in knowing you’ve thought through your packing and done everything you need for a great weekend.

How do you make time for weekend adventures during the busy work and school year? Do you organize similarly, or have you found a better way?