(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.

(Podcast) Hiking with Kids: How to Begin (Pt 2)

Season 3, Part 2. 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, and 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.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

(Podcast) Hiking with Kids: How to Begin (Pt 1)

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 kids 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!

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app.

(Podcast) Family Adventure Nutrition with Emily Carlson (Magnetic North)

Season 3 Episode 4.

In this episode, we talk with Emily Carlson of Magnetic North (magneticnorth.us) about family nutrition across a variety of outdoor activities and ages of participants! Magnetic North focuses on durability training — continuing to do the things you love for as long as you want to do them.

Covered in this episode: the best foods to pack for outdoor adventures; whether packaged foods are necessary; choosing foods that power you best for the activity you’re doing; including kids in food packing; grab-and-go vs. full-on cooking; carbohydrates, proteins, and fats and what they do for us; short trips vs. long trips; how elevation affects the way your body burns fuel (and water); the other necessities of sleep and hydration; how to avoid spikes and crashes; how elevation changes the macros your body burns; things you can do to help your body prepare in the weeks leading up to a longer trip; supplements and shakes; why taking your time with meals matters; how stress affects digestion; fads and fasting; and a super-special secret s’mores technique!

We loved creating this episode — there are so many wonderful nibbles about nutrition and fueling yourself and your family for any adventure. If you’d like to learn more about Magnetic North, their new Durability School, or one-on-one coaching with Emily (she’s awesome, and so is her cohort Brittany), find them at magneticnorth.us and on Instagram @magneticnorth___. Thanks for listening and sharing our podcast!

(Podcast) The RV Adventure Begins!

Travel Podcast, Season 1, Episode 1. The time has come!

Travel preparation for a three-month family RV trip in the American West can be daunting. So let’s start with the logistics we used to get comfortable with our rig and setup — it might help you in your planning, too.

We share some tips and tricks about how we prepared for the trip, as well as some stumbling blocks we discovered along the way.

Have you ever dreamed about taking that great extended adventure? You can do it, and we’re here to share the experience with you (while entertaining a bit)! This is a kid-, adult-, and pet-friendly episode.

This is our very first podcast, so bear with us while we learn as we go! We also hope to have a video up in the near future — stay tuned here and at Keyword Adventure on YouTube.

Feel free to send us comments and stories. We’ll be posting weekly, so please rate us, subscribe, and share! It boosts our confidence and our audience — the people we envision having these conversations with each week. Thank you!

(Podcast) Covid Interrupted: Adaptability is Essential

Season 1 Episode 9.

We’ve all been thrown for a loop. It’s not that we’ve never experienced something in life that completely threw us off course, but we definitely haven’t experienced something that changed the world as we know it on such a broad scale for such an extended period.

We’ve been sitting with this experience for a couple of weeks, reevaluating how travel and adventure currently look and how they’ll look going forward. We’re examining the tools we’ve found ourselves using during our return journey and our time staying home.

It turns out there are many things about travel and adventure — whether with a partner, solo, or as a family — that are coming in handy: tools that help us stay a little more sane, communicate better with one another, and use our time effectively, while also honoring that things are weird and we need to be good to ourselves.

In this episode we talk about two of the most important aspects of spending so much time together while maintaining a healthy personal existence: adaptability, and discovering and making room for our fundamental needs. We share how this works in our life, both on the road and staying home during a pandemic. We hope it helps you and your family now — and definitely when the road trips start up again.

Don’t stop that dreaming and scheming! We’ll see each other having adventures very soon.

On an important note: Cristen recently lost a high school friend to a silent struggle, and she’s noticed it’s been a devastatingly frequent occurrence over the last few years — particularly with men. Tending our mental health is something all of us need to spend time on. For some of us it’s hard to imagine a mental and emotional landscape that could lead a person to take their life. But for others — many more than we ever recognize — it’s a fight they contend with every day.

In our view, tending your mental and emotional health is like going to the gym for physical health, and — if the everyday choices we’re making aren’t addressing our bigger concerns — like going to the doctor for a check-in. Our society doesn’t talk about it enough, because getting a mental-health check-up IS normal, it IS acceptable, and it may save a life. If you’re questioning your own need to check in with someone, please talk to a trusted friend, call your doctor, or reach out to one of the resources below.

Resources: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988. Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741. Trevor Lifeline (for LGBTQ young people under 25) — 1-866-488-7386, or text START to 678678; TrevorSpace community at trevorspace.org. Veterans Crisis Line — dial 988 then press 1, or text 838255. Online therapy — TalkSpace (talkspace.com) or BetterHelp (betterhelp.com). Find a local therapist at psychologytoday.com. Postpartum support — postpartum.net or supportingmamas.org; moms can also connect through The Adventure Mamas Initiative (adventuremamas.org). Support for new dads and partners — postpartum.net/get-help/resources-for-fathers.

We want to keep seeing you out there dreaming, planning, and doing your adventures, too.

Taking Kids Paddling: Gear and Tips

Taking our kids paddling at a young age is a ton of fun, and it takes a little planning to make sure everyone has a good time. The first time you take your kiddo out on the water can feel a bit overwhelming — for them and for you. But you can do it! Here’s some advice to make it a fun, safe time outdoors that builds a foundation for a lifetime of playing on the river.

Personal flotation devices (PFDs). As the saying goes, safety first. On your first trip out, start with a PFD. They’re required by law: everyone in a watercraft must have a PFD available, and kids must be wearing theirs. A well-fitting PFD helps keep a child floating face-up even before they know how to maneuver their body in the water. A good fit includes a recommended weight range for the intended user and a rating from the U.S. Coast Guard — infant vests carry a Type II rating, for example, while most others are Type III or IV. Be sure whatever you buy meets or exceeds these requirements, and once they’re more mobile and comfortable in the water, update their PFD to match their changing needs.

Sun protection. Sun protection around water is as easy as sunscreen or a long-sleeve sun shirt, hat, and sunglasses. Sunscreen should be waterproof and applied 20 minutes before going in so it doesn’t wash off, and reef-friendly formulas help protect our rivers, lakes, and reefs (they’re often better for your skin, too). If you’d rather not smear yourself or your kid with sunscreen, there’s a great second option: swim clothing with a sun-protection (SPF) rating. It should be reasonably close-fitting, and it’ll keep you cooler out of the water and warmer in it. Avoid cotton and loose-fitting clothing. A bonus: most of these double as a rash guard, protecting sensitive skin from the chafing that can happen when a PFD is worn for long stretches and things get wet, sweaty, and rubby during play.

Foot protection. Good-fitting foot protection is a key safety item on the water. If your little adventurer is still an infant, this matters less — but for the mobile, tadpole-chasing, rock-skipping, splashing bundle of energy, they’ll need something on their feet to keep the fun going all day. Water shoes come in all shapes, sizes, and price points. I could write a whole article on this one topic, but I’ll keep it simple: they have to fit and stay in place. Flip-flops are fine for the pool or maybe the beach, but on rivers, streams, or any rocky, uneven terrain with moving water and unsure footing, nothing is more useless than something that floats away or rolls your ankle. Sandals that actually stay on are great — Chaco, Keen, Columbia, and plenty of others make good ones that stay put and protect. A pair of river shoes that keep out gravel and fit well will also do the job. Keep those tootsies protected: too often the easiest water-access points have broken glass, metal, and fishing hooks lying around that can ruin an otherwise fun day.

Let the floating begin! You’ve checked the safety boxes, so now you’re ready to get moving on the water. It can feel like a lot to manage, but the best advice I can give is: make the trip about the kids, keep it short, bring lots of snacks, and if they’re having fun, you will too. We love our paddleboards for their versatility — you can sit, stand, or kneel depending on the situation, and SUPs make great swimming platforms when you need to cool off. Ours are inflatable and roll down to about the size of a suitcase, fitting in the trunk of the car. If you go that route, look for one that includes a pump and is made with durable drop-stitch construction. Kayaks and canoes are also great tools for getting on the water, each with their own challenges and benefits (I can go on about this for hours — fair warning).

A few safety tips to close.

Practice paddling before you take your kid out. You’ll be more confident, and that translates to a better experience for everyone.

Watch for hypothermia. It happens when exposure to cold is prolonged — in the water, or just from cold wind when someone is wet. A rain jacket or a towel can go a long way toward keeping someone warm. (Reminder: cotton is not your friend when it’s wet.)

Tie down your cooler — but never tie your child to anything. In a tip-over, you don’t want your kid tied to something they could get entangled in. Yes, that includes being tied to you.

Don’t forget the snacks. Snacks and water while floating keep energy up and hold off the Hangry Monster.

Save the party for another time. Alcohol is a leading contributor to deaths on our rivers. Save it for later.

2021 Gear Gift Guide

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through our links, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

Do your friends have the tie-down straps they need to get that tree home? Read on for more stocking-stuffer ideas.

A spectrum of our favorites, collected and coddled through the year: here’s our Gear Gift Guide. These are items that really stood out to us or made our adventures better in some way. If you’re looking for something that isn’t a tangible item wrapped in a box, check out our “No-Box” Holiday Gift Guide, too.

Minus 33 Midweight Merino Wool Beanie. We met these folks at the Outdoor Media Summit, and — wow — their merino is amazing. They brought these beanies as swag, and it’s the softest wool we’ve ever felt. Well-made, with a great family start-up story behind the company.

REI gift card. Such an easy, no-brainer gift. Write a heartfelt message and let them choose from the candy store of outdoor gear. (For the women in your life, a Title Nine gift card is a great option too.)

MPOWERD solar lanterns. We talked about these in our multi-purpose gear post, and they’re back for the holidays. They shrink, glow, float, clip on, travel, and self-charge by solar. Tent, backyard, boat, or elsewhere, these will light the way.

Sea to Summit hanging toiletry bag. This was given to us a couple of years ago, and Cristen commandeered it — she hasn’t looked back. It has a ton of storage for its compact size and lots of organization, from hotels to sailboats to campground showers.

Kammok Roo Double camping hammock. We love hammocks and take them everywhere. If you have an outdoor lover who hasn’t yet enjoyed the bliss (and usefulness) of a hammock, this is a great one to stick under the tree.

Rab Dispatch 50L duffel. This duffel will get you there — and get all the souvenirs back, too. It’s sharp-looking on the baggage carousel, has thickly padded shoulder straps for the trek to your hostel, and is heavy-duty and water-resistant.

Osprey Transporter bags. We’re thinking of their commuter-style, laptop-carrying bags for folks getting back to the office or telecommuting from home or the local coffee shop. Padded laptop and tablet pockets, tons of nooks for pens, notebooks, and cables, and comfy straps that cinch close if you’re riding a bike to work.

Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite sleeping pad. We touched on these in our podcast episode about camping sleep systems. Your sleeping pad can mean the difference between a night and a great night — and Therm-a-Rest has led the charge on pads for decades.

Thermacell MR300 portable mosquito repeller. Our caveat: we use this on our sailboat, anchored near mangroves along the Florida coast in spring. If that’s not endorsement enough, it’s the size of a flashlight, lays on any surface, and works.

AeroPress coffee maker. We drink plenty of coffee — if you’ve listened to the podcast, you know local coffee shops are one of our favorite things to seek out in new towns. Our brewing evolved from an electric maker to a pour-over until we found the AeroPress. Now we can make coffee or great espresso, and it packs tight and goes everywhere. We’ve added a reusable metal filter and a USB-rechargeable frother over time.

Hiker’s Brew sampler and an insulated mug. While we’re on coffee, let’s complete the kit. Hiker’s Brew focuses on sustainable coffee in a small, multi-use, compostable package that keeps it fresh for the trail — and it’s some of our favorite. Add a two-cup insulated mug (we don’t mess around in the morning) and you’re set.

A clip-on safety light. A small clip-on that glows or flashes — perfect for a late run or trick-or-treaters, but we love putting one on our dogs’ harnesses when we walk them at night in campgrounds or marinas, so others can see them coming.

Upcycled bicycle-tube jewelry. Delicate designs made from discarded bicycle inner tubes — weightless, waterproof, upcycled jewelry, hand-drawn and laser-cut. Earthy accessories with unique flair, for bike lovers and beyond.

Sea to Summit Stretch-Loc straps. These. Are. Amazing. In lengths from 12 to 30 inches, they secure almost anything — bikepacking gear, SUP paddles, even roof racks. Talk about multi-use; it never hurts to have a couple in a pinch.

Eddie Bauer Kids CirrusLite Down hooded jacket. It’s tough to buy solid (and necessary) gear for kids when they grow so fast, but cold weather is nothing to mess with. Eddie Bauer’s kids’ winter coats fill that gap, and the CirrusLite has become our son’s favorite. It doesn’t hurt the wallet either, and there are lots of colors.

Therm-a-Rest Stellar tech blanket. Packable, fast-drying, warm, and lightweight, this one made our multi-purpose gear list, too. You might think you have enough blankets at home — but we daresay this replaces at least three of them. It’s so nice, even our dogs try to steal it.

Ruffwear Knot-a-Hitch dog tether system. We can’t leave the pets out. Our tail-waggers go almost everywhere with us, but many places require leashes, and a campsite can become a tangled mess. String this between two trees, clip on the lead, and the pups can move around camp safely while you set up and make dinner.

A cat travel tent. We can’t leave out the cat, either — he travels with us too. He’s not cooperative on a leash, so we make his RV life as interesting as possible. Seeing tiny dome tents made for cats finally hit the market makes my heart happy; now your cat can have their own basecamp on the road or at home.

Stasher reusable silicone bags. Sick of disposable plastic bags? Reusable silicone bags are our go-to at home, at school, on the road, and in the boat. They save money and landfill space, wash easily, and are easy for little fingers to open and close. We use them for food, crayons, magnets, and small toys.

REI Multi-Towel Lite. Once, we had a water leak in a small space and grabbed the nearest towel — this one. It holds eight times its weight in water, wrings out nearly dry, and goes back for more. It’s also so soft it nearly feels like a blanket, whether you use it for camp showers, hair, the beach, or hot yoga.

Hydro Flask Cooler Cup. Our quick-grab item this summer. It looks like a metal koozy for a can, but it also switches into a cup for hot or cold drinks. Every trip to the lake or pool, we stuck a cold can inside and that refreshing temperature lasted much longer.

Zippo HeatBank 9s rechargeable hand warmer. A winter item. Many of us have used chemical heat packs that last eight hours and get tossed. Now there are USB-rechargeable hand warmers (and versions that run on lighter fluid). For anyone who wants to get out on winter trails or slopes, having one in a pocket warms you up fast on the chilliest days.

Minus 33 merino socks. Beanies for your feet. Like the head version, Minus 33 didn’t skimp on quality or softness, and the padding under the heels and toes really stands out — perfect on hikes or while staying cozy on the couch.

Outdoor Research Gripper sensor gloves. Grab these on the way out the door and your hands stay warm all the way to school or the office — and you can still scroll, text, and check email with them on. Windproof and water-resistant, too.

Outdoor Research Kids Adrenaline mitts. We can’t leave the kiddos out. The snowball-shaping palm seems made for snow, as do the insulation and waterproofing. A longer collar and two cinch points keep them where they belong and the elements out, so the adventure lasts. (At least two candy canes fit in each mitten, safely, when hung by the chimney with care.)

Buffs. We’ve always loved Buffs for hair control, sweat control, style, and function — and shaping one into a balaclava makes even more sense than it used to. Stick one in a stocking and your loved ones will stay stylish and warm on runs, rides, hikes, and while shoveling snow.

Nemo Moonlite reclining chair. Imagine enjoying a lunar eclipse or a summer meteor shower from a steady camp chair that reclines — or kicking your feet up at a backyard fire ring with friends. Nemo makes a very comfortable chair. Pair it with a warm blanket and a hot drink and you’ve got a cozy night ahead.

Nemo Helio pressure shower. We don’t talk about this one enough. If you kayak, SUP, sail, take pets on trails or water, get muddy or dusty, mountain bike, rock climb, or van-life and boondock — anywhere it’d be nice to rinse feet, face, hands, or body without running water — you’ll love adding this. Even with the stickiest sand or dust, the pressure behind the spray gets you, the kids, and the pets clean enough to feel great before a long drive or turning in.

Ruffwear Highlands dog sleeping bag. Our dog, Jack, believes his body was made for soft things. Like the cat tent, this may be indulgent, but it makes us smile — and makes the dog feel special with his own matching, squishy bed. He’s one of the pack, after all.

MyMedic medical kit. Update those first-aid kits and keep them ready for the backcountry. There’s a size and arrangement for every activity, from road trips to day hikes to expeditions.

We hope our Gear Gift Guide helps! It’s always fun to put together — both to help with your holiday shopping and to look back at the creativity the outdoor industry keeps coming up with to make getting outside more comfortable and fun. All the best in your gift gathering, and happy holidays from Keyword Adventure!

2021 “No-Box” Holiday Gift Guide

Whether you’re reducing the amount of “stuff” you exchange with family and friends this year, you’re a last-minute shopper looking for something thoughtful for your active or outdoorsy loved one, or supply-chain wonkiness is affecting how you shop, thinking outside the box for holiday gifts can be tough. Time, money, and connection are the main things we’d all like more of, right? And it’s a very personal way to shop, since we each have different ideas about what that time, money, and connection can offer.

Here are some ideas for the intangible gifts we’ve shared over the years.

Plan and execute an excursion. Is there someone in your life who would love to get outside and do more, but doesn’t know how or never seems to have time to plan ahead? Be their guide. You take the lead on the activity, the where, the packing, the food, even the when — all they have to do is show up. That’s a huge relief to someone who’s raring to go but struggles to carve out the planning and packing time.

Repair something for them. Kayak have a gouge? Backpack zipper blowout? Puncture in the sleeping pad? A warranty issue on a favorite piece of gear? Help them out. If you can DIY the repair well (keyword: well), it’s easy. If you can’t, find a reputable person, price it, and get it done. For warranties, make the calls or write the emails we all put off, then package up the item and send it in so their gear is ready for the new season. Sometimes the gift is just managing the details.

Detail their car. Who wouldn’t love this? If you’re detail-oriented, spend a day loving on their car — one of the most expensive things a person buys — and make it look new for the New Year. We spend a lot of time in our vehicles; a thorough inside-and-out cleaning can genuinely improve that space and their outlook.

Gift certificates. Whatever anyone says, we love gift cards — especially when style, size, or bigger items (bikes, racks, etc.) are in limited supply. Give your loved one the gift of choice.

Training or coaching. Are they training, or wanting to get into ultrarunning, triathlon, weight training, or nutrition? If you (or they) know a great coach, gifting a first session or two — or a package if you can splurge — is a great step forward.

Online subscriptions and memberships. Think Masterclass, AloMoves, the Access Fund, American Whitewater, Strava, Outside+, and the like. We used to gift magazine subscriptions; these days everything’s digital, and those subscriptions add up. If there’s one your person has talked about but hasn’t pulled the trigger on, beat them to it.

Personal assistant for a day. “How can I help?” is often asked with little follow-through, or leaves the person wondering what to even ask for. Make it actionable: sit down and ask what’s on their plate. Would a day of housework be the biggest relief? Could you sort unopened emails, make phone calls, or handle client replies on social media? They have to be willing to hand over some control, but with that trust they’ll relish the relief.

National Parks pass. Making travel plans this year? A National Parks pass gets them into more than 2,000 federal recreation areas across the US — and chances are there’s a destination close to them, too.

Local flavors. A tour of the local scene is always appreciated: wine, beer, kombucha, chocolate, coffee, cheese, baked goods, crafts, honey, soaps and lotions. There’s such a wealth of talent and tastiness in most communities — you might be surprised by the gift basket you can put together.

Gait analysis or bodywork. Wanting to start running, fine-tune their stride, or recover from training? A gait analysis can reveal nuances that level up their running. And here’s my favorite: recovery matters even more than training, so treat them to a session with a favorite massage therapist, acupuncturist, or neuromuscular therapist. Massage is good for anyone, whatever their activity level.

Race, event, or course entry fee. Do they have their sights set on a race, conference, or event this year? Cover the entry fee and let them dive into getting ready — it’s something to look forward to, and hopefully you can get out there to cheer them on.

We hope this warms up some alternative gift ideas. While it’s fun to unwrap something (we have a Gear Gift Guide for that, too), the real magic is the time, connection, and flexibility to have these experiences or reach these goals — and it means a lot when someone supports their friends and family in those pursuits. Do you have any outside-of-the-box ideas to add? Happy holidays from Keyword Adventure!

(Recipe) Campfire Stew: Simple, Quick Comfort Food

A camping recipe made easy — warm on cool nights, fast after a long day out, with easy ingredients that travel well and plenty for everyone.

Yes, this is an adventure recipe blog. Aren’t all the senses involved in exploration and delight? If you’ve listened to our podcast, you’ve probably noticed that we love finding interesting places to enchant our sense of taste — sometimes we seem to eat our way through new places (like Key West, Florida).

Today’s post, though, is meant to bring a little culinary comfort whether you’re camping out or just needing some easy satisfaction at home. The whole “chicken soup for the soul” idea definitely applies when someone talks about their favorite food to cook while camping.

For me, this campfire stew brings to mind camping along a cold river as a nine- or ten-year-old boy with my family. After a day of paddling on chilly spring-fed water, we’d light a fire and cook this super-simple, one-pot meal — warm and filling at the end of the day. Since then, I’ve shared it with others, and they’ve shared their own campfire stew recipes with me. What’s most consistent is this: the ingredients matter less than the warm feeling served up at the end of the day while camping under the stars. Felt as both a reward and a comfort, it’s these small things that create good memories when we’re young.

My campfire stew has lasted a lifetime and will outlast me, because my son delights in cooking it too. The ingredients are purposely simple: a can of cut green beans (not French-cut), a can of diced new potatoes, a sliced smoked sausage, and a little Cavender’s Greek Seasoning. Once everything’s in the pot, add water and bring it to a boil — the boil draws the oils out of the sausage and gives the stew most of its flavor.

Like any food cooked outdoors, I think it always tastes better over a campfire. But it’s become a favorite cold-weather recipe for our family, giving us that little taste of the outdoors even when we feel trapped inside. We usually have the canned items in the pantry anyway and keep some sausage in the freezer.

Campfire Stew

1 can cut green beans

1 can diced new potatoes

1 smoked sausage, sliced

About 2 cups water

Season to taste (I like 3 tsp Cavender’s Greek Seasoning)

Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, then serve it up. Add your favorite crusty bread or crescent rolls to round it out.

Classic campfire comfort food might even include those Americana favorites: s’mores and hot cocoa. Would you believe I keep packets of hot cocoa in my kayaking gear? I’ve done it as a day-saver, or in the case of a really cold swim for myself or anyone with me. It helps warm the body’s core, the chocolate helps release endorphins, and the sugar gives a little extra carb kick to recover from the cold. With a Jet Boil or another micro-cooking system, it’s an easy, packable part of my emergency kit.

It’s just another example of how the right food at the right time makes a difference. It helps on three fronts. First, warmth — one of the hardest things for your body to regulate outdoors, and in the case of an unexpected cold-water swim, it can literally be a lifesaver. Second, the chocolate releases endorphins for that “feel good” lift while your body temperature climbs back up. Third, it gives your body some sugar to burn, for a much-needed energy boost to finish recovering.

The great thing is you don’t have to have a cold swim or a brush with hypothermia to get that boost. It can rescue a kid’s day, too, when they’re cold, tired, or irritable after a lot of sledding or hiking. Sometimes children get down or feisty when they’ve burned through their energy reserves and are getting “hangry” (hungry + angry). I won’t say adults get that way too, but we all know the truth. Lift the vibe quickly — and look like a seasoned superhero — by whipping up a little hot cocoa. Not only does it create another good memory, you might just start a new tradition.

Self-Care In Small Spaces (Part 2)

Get ready for a dive into the sensory side of self-care in small spaces! Building on Part 1, we couldn’t resist talking about how each of our senses contributes to our stress or our well-being. Researchers have noted that the multi-sensory quality of nature matters precisely because monotony of stimulation can itself be a source of stress — in other words, our senses need nature in our lives. Let’s go.

Sight. Have you heard the saying “a sight for sore eyes”? It’s all about what relaxes your eyes. Most of us don’t think of our eyes needing rest unless we’ve been in front of a computer too long. But our faces, scalps, jaws, and necks hold a lot of tension, and all those tiny muscles push and tug on each other as one webbed unit. Try this: close your eyes, let your jaw relax enough to leave a little space between your teeth, let your tongue rest low instead of pressing against the roof of your mouth, and — here’s the part you’ve been waiting for — let the muscles behind your eyes relax. Even just becoming aware of those muscles makes an instant difference. Beyond closing your eyes for a while, you can ease into the day with dim light that brightens gradually, and dim the lights for the last hour or two before bed. Candlelight, anyone?

Hearing. Until I had a child with sensory sensitivities, I didn’t realize I have some of my own. For example, there’s a comfort for me in having the laundry running in the background — a warm, homey feeling. But there’s also a subtle tension that builds in my whole body throughout the day until the moment the dryer switches off and the house falls silent. My entire body relaxes and I usually sigh with some subconscious relief. I don’t know what it is about that mechanical hum, but I feel a release when it stops. Now think of all the sounds around us each day, subtle and not: air conditioners, computers, cars, music, television, voices, pets. This is where silence and time in nature come into play again — and if you play your cards well, going outside can soothe several senses at once. It’s a great case for forest bathing, which Time Magazine featured well.

Smell. You don’t think about smells in everyday life until you’re hit by one extreme end of the good-smell-vs.-bad-smell spectrum. Wet dog and spring flowers both make us aware of smells, obviously with very different reactions. The idea here is that the smells around us — particularly in boats or RVs — can start to hint that life’s been going on a while and it’s time to do laundry, wash the dogs, or deep-clean. Maybe you can’t do it all in one night and need to give your schnoz a break. Certain essential oils can help if you have them; a couple of our favorites are lavender and bergamot. Baking bread or cookies, brewing coffee, even burning sage can freshen a space. And opening the windows to the smell of rain, river, ocean, or just plain nature instantly lifts the scents and changes the whole tone.

Taste. You’ve heard the phrase “leave a different taste in your mouth.” That’s just it: sometimes we get desensitized and homogenized in our sense of taste, falling into a rut with the food we buy and eat. So start simple, with water — a palate cleanser and instant hydrator that tastes subtly different from every place it comes from. I can tell you the tap water in Phoenix tastes drastically different from water straight off a glacier in Montana. More than any specific taste, though, it’s about slowing down to study and savor the flavor and texture of easy-to-find things: an orange, chocolate, cheeses, coffee. Remember the scene in “Into the Wild” where he tells an apple how amazing it is? That’s zen-level food appreciation.

Touch. Check in with your body. Do your clothes feel tight or itchy? Have you been “touched out” for the day, parents and caregivers? Switch what you can: change clothes, declare a space bubble for a while, get comfortable in soft, satiny, or fuzzy materials — or just go bare, for Pete’s sake. (Skinny-dipping, admittedly, is more than the thrill of being naked outdoors; it’s a completely different sensory sensation.) When my dad passed away, there was a lot of pressure on my sister and me to wrap up his estate and funeral planning, on top of the grief and loss we were processing. I found myself craving a cold-water plunge — it was as though I’d gone so numb and shut off to feeling anything else that frigid water was what my body needed to reset and feel semi-normal again. When I found that perfect cold body of water, I did exactly that, and it gave me the kind of touch sensation I needed at the time. An instant shock, yes, but the zap of sensation snapped me awake again on every level.

Self-care might seem like a buzzword these days, a partner to the mindfulness movement. Whatever you call it, taking time to care for yourself in a comprehensive, whole-being way can make a big difference in your daily pleasure and your enjoyment of travel. Plus, when you fill your own pitcher, you have more to give the people traveling alongside you — and everyone benefits. Enjoy your adventures!

Self-Care in Small Spaces (Part 1)

Living with family, friends, or travel companions of any sort is a dream many are striving toward. And while full- or part-time travel together in small spaces is full of incredible high points, it has inevitable challenges too. One of those is how a person manages personal, peace-reaching self-care while on the move. It’s not always possible to get away for a day, so here are some ways to tend your patience, peace, and serenity for the long haul. Let’s start outward and move inward.

The environment around us. Consider the place that surrounds you — everything you see and touch every day. If you live with other people, some of it is yours and some is likely someone else’s. Do you feel relaxed and peaceful in your living and working spaces? If not, try this quick exercise: sit down where you normally do, close your eyes, and take a deep breath. With your eyes shut, picture the space around you and what fills it. First, notice what you really love and what makes you feel good there — objects, people, feelings. Then ask which objects don’t feel like they belong or don’t make you feel good. Get up, gather those objects, and move them outside for the rest of this exercise. Sit back down in the same spot, close your eyes again, and notice how it feels now. Are there feelings in the space that make you feel less than good, and is there a way to change that? Music, a lit candle, a conversation, open windows, or a quick tidy might help. Maybe those objects outside just belong in different places, put away completely, or let go for good. This is a quick way to refresh the environments you spend the most time in — and it can make a huge difference in how you feel, how your relationships connect, how productive or creative you are, and especially how you rest.

Social sprucing-up. Is there someone you look forward to seeing because you always walk away energized? Or a setting full of people and interactions that inspires you? Take a break — away from the people you live with — to connect with that person. Self-care in the social realm is just this: pick up the phone, buy the ticket, go to the class. Whatever it is for you, taking time to connect with another person is sometimes even more refreshing than a day of meditation. They’re different, and both quite potent. It starts with reserving the time and taking the first step.

Getting physical. In small spaces like an RV, boat, or tiny home (or, let’s face it, during quarantine, any space can start to feel small), getting exercise can be a challenge unless you go outside. But that’s good! Time in nature has been found to benefit our well-being on every level. A Yale ecopsychology review noted that the body of research on nature’s health effects is approaching a thousand studies, all pointing the same direction: time in nature isn’t just nice to have — it’s essentially a have-to-have for physical health and cognitive functioning. If you have a regular workout, take it outside for fresh air and sunshine. If you don’t, a walk around the neighborhood or a local trail is perfect. When you’re not up for active movement, take a towel or blanket outside for some slow, easy stretching — you’ll be amazed at the difference. Weather doesn’t always cooperate, so if that’s a factor, getting movement in might take creativity: wall off a small corner of your space and declare it a temporary 10-minute fortress, or, if the family is your only option, throw a dance party for a few songs followed by a quick stretch.

Letting the monkey mind out of its cage. Your mental and emotional health can be complex. Think of all the moments in a day or week that linger in your mind and affect how you feel, not to mention longer-term stress and future what-ifs that swirl. Journal all of it. Write it down so it can sit somewhere besides your brain — you’ll be amazed how good it feels to set that weight on the paper, and it might not feel nearly as burdensome the next day. Reading something, especially fiction or light non-fiction that pulls your mind away from what you’re in the middle of, can be the breath of fresh air your mind needs. And finally, music: turn up some favorite songs, jam out, and dance your way out of your funk. (By the way, “dance” is a very loose term — wiggling, flinging, head-throwing, arm-flailing, fast-footed jumping all count. Move to those tunes until you feel better.)

Lifting your spirit. I once heard someone say, “prayer is speaking to the Higher Power; meditation is listening.” Have you sat somewhere silently and listened lately? Sacred silence, or meditation, is considered by many to be part of their spiritual hygiene — essential and necessary every day. For those of us who struggle either to commit to meditating or to find a quiet time and place, we have to find alternatives. Again, nature and music are great places to start. Staying up late or waking earlier than the rest of the family can work, though it’s not always sustainable. One quick method I’ve learned is the single-sound meditation: sit somewhere comfortable, close your eyes, take five to ten deep breaths to slow down, and in the hum of life around you, single out one consistent sound and focus only on that — the refrigerator, a wind chime, whatever. When your mind wanders or thoughts appear, come back to that single sound. The point isn’t to catapult into a guru’s empty-mindedness for all of life’s answers; it’s simply to guide a busy mind to focus on one thing for a few minutes and give your soul some relief from all the multitasking.

We hope your travels take you on many new adventures with people you love being around. Taking time to care for yourself will extend your travels, expand your happiness, and feed the longevity of your journey. Do you have any self-care tips to add? What are your challenges around sharing small quarters with other people? Part 2 of this list — five more “roads” — continues from here.

Alternative Schooling: The What and Why

We know a lot of people are grappling with decisions about what the school year will look like, and whichever direction you’re leaning, it can feel like a really tough choice. We want to share some of the nontraditional, alternative types of schooling we’ve come across while educating our son over the last few years — options you may have started hearing about as you look into alternatives.

A little background on our situation: Eric has autism and attended our public school district’s wonderful early-education preschool program. We saw great strides with him there educationally, therapeutically, and socially. It wasn’t always easy, but the people on his team were one-of-a-kind and talented.

When he aged out of that program, it was time to make a choice. In some ways, a traditional public-school kindergarten would have been just fine for him, if challenging — he’d have been part of the special-education program while attending a typical classroom, but would have needed a para or teacher’s assistant for much of his day. Eric is an astute, distinctly unique kid who’s highly aware of the people around him and the words, curiosities, and feelings directed his way — and he’s quite sensitive to it. At times that’s made socializing with kids his age hard. (Would you want to go to a birthday party, day camp, or park if you felt like everyone was staring and asking aloud why you do things differently?)

We also felt he was somewhere between preschool and kindergarten, both socially and educationally, so we chose to homeschool him for a couple of years. Now, it seems, we’re homeschooling well beyond that original timeframe.

At the same time (because life rarely hands you one good-sized challenge at a time), we were at a point in our adult lives and business where a change was becoming both needed and wanted. After a lot of late-night conversations and daytime shuffling, we took the plunge into a nontraditional lifestyle that involves Eric’s education, too.

So here’s a “quick guide” to some of the alternative-education styles we’ve personally run across and experimented with, in hopes it shortens your own research while you juggle the bigger parts of managing life right now.

A variety of schooling types

Homeschooling. We all know this one: kids educated at home, usually by a parent. When we were kids there was quite a stigma around it, but times have truly changed. The resources, curriculums, online offerings, and even out-of-the-home classes for homeschoolers at museums, zoos, and science centers are better than ever. If one parent has the gumption to be both parent and teacher while the other’s income can support the family, it might just work. It also depends on how your child does being home more, self-motivating, and learning from Mom or Dad (a big one). Switching hats between parent and teacher — both for you and for how your child sees and interacts with you — is one of the biggest challenges, but it can work, and some kids thrive in it. There are also plenty of extracurricular sports, social opportunities, homeschool group get-togethers, and co-op options (where different parents teach several kids a course in their area of expertise).

We’ll lump hybrid learning (a mix of homeschool and classroom time) and fully online schooling in here too, since a lot of the learning happens at home. Both are woven into traditional school in some way — through setting, time, or curriculum. Special-needs kids can find therapies at private practices or still access them through the public schools. This, and how you report your child’s educational records, depends on your state, so make sure you fully understand what your state requires if you choose to homeschool. A great place to start is with blogs devoted to the art of homeschooling; many also review a variety of curriculums if you’ve decided to homeschool but don’t know where to begin.

Unschooling. You might hear this and think it means going completely hands-off and letting your kid go feral. Nope! Unschooling is actually pretty cool: it lets the student’s interests and curiosities drive the learning. You still cover all the subjects — it just might look different than working problems in a book or following a formal curriculum each day. We do a structured form of unschooling with Eric because, frankly, he learns differently. For a kid who needs motion or activity, we integrate that into the subject. When he got really interested in bees, for example, we learned about bees’ lives (science), turned it into a counting game (math), worked on spelling and reading bee words (English and handwriting), created an imaginative beehive (art), and went out to find bees in the yard (field trip!). He knows a lot about bees and elevators right now because he’s fascinated by them — and he’s still learning a lot, while we’re not losing our minds trying to fit him into a curriculum built for a differently-shaped mind. We still use those great learning books; we just integrate them into activities rather than the other way around.

This won’t work for every kid, truly. Some really need defined structure, and this can be a little too loose. We have to create structure within it, too — kind of like making a box to contain all the scribbles. Before social distancing, our days revolved around field trips, turning everyday errands into chances to learn. Obviously, that changed a lot.

Roadschooling. Imagine homeschooling smashed together with traveling around the United States while you drive and camp in an RV. That’s roadschooling — taking the education with you. It’s a lifestyle in itself, so it requires some big choices and changes. You need a “home state” where you declare your kids are homeschooling and follow its requirements, and supporting your family and making a living are big considerations. Some people follow seasonal work; some have jobs that require travel, so their families move with them (think traveling nurses or railway workers); and many can work from anywhere (graphic designers, writers, media managers, and various tech jobs are common). The lifestyle can be full-time or part-time (we’re part-time throughout the year).

There are serious considerations: do you keep your house, rent it out, or sell it? How do your kids handle this kind of change (age matters a lot)? How is your family at making friends with strangers — believe it or not, there are lots of roadschooling families roaming the country. What’s your travel style, and how adaptable are you (road warrior vs. sit-and-stay)? It’s also a more minimalist lifestyle, since you don’t want to haul everything you own with you. That said, it’s incredible to visit historical sites while your kids learn about them, see the wild animals they just read about, or learn about the people of our country by meeting them.

Worldschooling. Last but not least, worldschooling is like the magical unicorn of education for the adventure-minded family. It takes energy, tenacity, adaptability, and planning ahead around finances, your home and belongings, education, and current events. Honestly, many worldschoolers have had to stay put in foreign countries at times, and some chose to return to the U.S. until things settled because staying in limbo didn’t feel secure — understandably. Worldschooling might happen by airplane, train, sailboat, camper van, or camel; it all depends on where you go. Think of it as roadschooling on the biggest scale we have: global. Some do it full-time, some part-time (that’s us), or for only a set amount of time. It definitely requires a minimalist lifestyle and a lot of adaptability as a visitor to foreign cultures. The idea is that “the world is a classroom.”

You can imagine the pros and cons: high highs and low lows. Making friends can be challenging, but the ones that stick tend to last a lifetime and are wonderfully diverse. Planning ahead and being prepared for a myriad of complications with kids in tow is imperative — money, insurance, homesickness, and more. Before jumping in, really weigh whether you want to worldschool or simply take a good long vacation or sabbatical.

Whichever path calls to you, we hope this shortens your research a little. Every family and every kid is different — the best choice is the one that fits yours.

Common Threads: The Strings that Make Life Valuable

Do you ever dive into the past on a cold winter night and think about where you’ve been and where you’re headed? Lately, I’ve been considering something I call the “common threads.”

Regardless of what has happened or changed over the last, say, 20 years, what are the common threads in my life and character, my interests and dreams, that still hold true — or hold even more strongly? It’s inevitable that interests come and go, but what has stayed steady? Nature, the outdoors, the feeling of exploration, a deep desire for travel and spiritual adventure, the joy of sharing that enthusiasm with others, being part of a community in some way.

As a kid, I wanted to “save the planet.” As an adult with a little more time under my belt, I realize I want to revive humanity — because the planet will survive just fine. There’s a connection with the natural world that aligns us so perfectly with both our physical being on the Earth and our spiritual search while we’re fortunate to be here. Nature shows us vulnerability and strength, hard truths and gentle hints, balance and benevolence. But we have to choose to see it that way — to treat it that way, to embrace the hardships we face as opportunities to grow, and to open our fixed perspectives to obscure possibilities.

Because you never know. One person carrying 40 plastic bottles back from a backpacking trip on the Olympic Coast in Washington might catch the attention of three more people who begin to do the same. And little by little, bottle by bottle, a beach gets healthier, humans widen their perspective, and it lasts… and spreads.

I remember getting back from that trip and telling someone, “all I discovered while I was on that journey was that I just want to pick up trash on the beaches.” It felt so silly to say at the time — like it had no value over a lifetime to declare something so simple, something that wouldn’t advance my career, education, or skills.

It turns out that, almost 14 years later, it was a personal value I’d discovered instead — something that has stayed with me ever since. And who am I kidding? Reflecting on that journey around the country, there was so much more that impacted me for a lifetime than I could see at the time. The experiences had to stew for a while.

Have you discovered any of your common threads to this point in life?

Overcoming Challenges to Getting Outdoors

One of the biggest obstacles we hear about when people dream and scheme about their adventures is simply how to get started. “What ifs” can quickly morph manageable challenges into exhausting barriers before the bag is even packed. Adaptation and perspective make the difference. Here we talk about getting started and dealing with the unexpected.

Some of the questions that come to mind: how to handle weather changes, equipment failures, fitness challenges, financial limits, time constraints, and general life balance.

Small steps toward big plans. The best answer is planning, plus proper equipment and clothing. Part of planning is learning about where you’re going and what you’d like to do. You might say, “but I want a spontaneous adventure.” That’s fine — but a fun spontaneous adventure is better for your group or family than one where everyone’s less than enthused about the next time out. The foundation is food, shelter, proper clothing, and an understanding of what you might find on your trip. We’re here to help.

Where are you going, and are you hiking, biking, kayaking, or sailing? We regularly head into the unknown, but we go with a map, a smartphone, and even a compass. Yes, your phone has many of these tools, but a few basic backups can be invaluable. Did you know your phone has a native GPS that works even without signal? Great apps like AllTrails and Trailforks really help when you’re hiking, and on the water, apps like Navionics can be lifesavers. They work even when your phone signal doesn’t, helping you explore — or just get home.

Good planning lets your group build fitness and confidence as you go, so you can be more adventurous in the future. But be prepared for the unexpected. Some say the adventure begins when the plan ends, and coaching yourself to embrace and adapt to challenges goes a long way. The mental side of adventure matters as much as the planning: adaptability to change — weather, or even turning back for some reason — lets you set a goal of going farther next time.

The gear for the conditions. Weather can be monitored easily with today’s technology, but as we all know, it can change in an instant — or just be plain wrong. Weather apps help, but nothing beats paying attention to conditions as they actually happen, especially at sea or in the mountains. Plan well and bring a packable jacket; plan for the temperature to swing 20 degrees. On a day forecast to be 75 and sunny that ends up 45 and raining, your jacket becomes essential gear. If it hits 95 instead, someone will be very glad for the added sun protection. Which brings us to clothing.

There’s a saying in the outdoors, often credited to Alfred Wainwright: “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.” In short, if your gear is up to the task, you can have a good time in almost any condition with the right attitude. A set of waterproof rain gear for each person in your party is essential — getting cold and wet is one of the leading causes of “I am never doing that again,” and it can even lead to injury.

The body loses heat astonishingly fast when wet, and good rain gear easily prevents it. Lots of companies make great stuff; the key is finding something that matches what you’re trying to do. If the material doesn’t breathe, you can get just as wet and cold from your own sweat as from the rain. GORE-TEX is a brand name for a line of waterproof membranes that manufacturers use to make clothing waterproof and breathable. Quality waterproof products seal the seams and joints, cover the zippers, and keep Mother Nature out while still letting your body breathe and expel moisture.

Not all companies make the same quality of gear — that could be an entire post on its own. Attention to detail and materials can drive up the price of a garment, but they can also cut weight, add durability, and expand its range of use. Quality rain gear may cost more, but it can also last for many, many years, and in a lot of cases can be restored through the company’s warranty service or repair facilities if it gets damaged. That keeps the gear performing for a very long time.

Good gear is an investment, and that’s why we spend so much time on this topic — it can save your life in some situations, and the more you go out and enjoy using it, the better its value. Here’s an example: I once had a boss who said the most expensive shirt he ever bought was a $30 cotton t-shirt he wore only once a year. His best value was a $90 merino wool shirt he wore almost every day for three months while backpacking. It didn’t stink, didn’t hold moisture, reflected the sun on hot days, and became his base layer on cold ones. Compared by number of days worn, the pricier merino shirt was by far the better value.

Buy gear you can use in normal life and out on the trail or at sea, and you’ll make an investment with real value. Rant done. Wait — no: leave cotton at home. Really. It absorbs and holds moisture, stinks, dries very slowly, and can be a genuine pain. Synthetics and merino wool are your friends, from socks and undergarments to top layers and outerwear. You’ll pack less, stink less, and smile more.

Fuel the adventure. Food is where I allow the most flexibility, because it’s to taste (get it?). Really, eat to fuel the adventure: before hiking, carb-load on breads and pasta; during hikes, reach for power bars and gels; afterward, protein is your friend as you rebuild muscle. Comfort food at the end of a hike or ride — tacos, say — is something to look forward to and doubles as a rewarding time to relive the adventure you just shared.

And if you’re on the trail with kids, for the love of Pete, bring snacks! Kids burn through way more food than we ever realize, so snacks that keep them going are essential. Trail mix, gummy bears, suckers, granola bars, raisins — bring it. If you feed them, they’ll have more fun. Anytime you’re trying to create memories, adding another enjoyable sensation like food helps imprint that happy feeling and makes it stick. There you go — I’ve now taught you to hack your kid’s brain (and this works on your significant other, too). You’re welcome.

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.

Why Leave No Trace Matters

No matter where you are or what you’re doing, humans have the power to impact the world around us in all sorts of ways. A small impact may seem insignificant on its own, but it can add up over the long term for the flora and fauna of a place.

Whether it’s a river, ocean, desert, forest, peak, or local park, Leave No Trace is a practice of making minimal impact for maximum preservation. Nobody wants to show up at a park or trail to find leftover trash from the people who came before. And there are few things more passively destructive than people walking around mud puddles on a trail, creating ever-widening paths that trample the plants beside them.

The 7 Principles of Leave No Trace are the foundational framework of the concept. These principles are the steps we can take to care for the environments we love to play in — and they’re also great for our own adventure preparation. They really go hand in hand.

Plan ahead and prepare. This minimizes the need for extra impacts while also making your adventure go more smoothly.

Travel and camp on durable surfaces. Minimal impact — and more safety for you and your campsite, too. This goes for biking and driving on trails as well. The desert may look tough, but the surface is delicate, and your tire tracks will likely be there for decades just because you wanted to take a shortcut.

Dispose of waste properly. Pack it in, pack it out, and leave it better than you found it. This also keeps wildlife from becoming a nuisance — or a danger — and can save animals’ lives. If human waste is a question, find out what the area you’re visiting requires or requests before you head out, so you have a plan and the right supplies.

Leave what you find. Take only pictures. We know this one can be tough when you spot a cool flower or a perfectly heart-shaped rock, but it’s important — and it matters even more now, with more people heading outdoors than ever.

Minimize fire impacts. On a large scale, we’ve seen the devastating impact of human-caused fires gone rogue as Western wildfires have grown over recent years. On a small scale — say, your local campsite — keeping that footprint small (or nonexistent) makes a difference. Keep fires in a fire ring, use only dead-and-down wood (or buy it from the campground), or use your own contained device.

Respect wildlife. This one goes without saying. Wildlife isn’t there for our entertainment or an epic social-media shot. They’re wild, even if they seem used to human presence. Respect their space and their habitat, and your adventure will be much more enjoyable.

Be considerate of other visitors. Trail etiquette, loud music, quiet hours, engines and generators, and more. There’s a time and place for most of that, but empathy and kindness go a long way toward helping everyone enjoy their time outdoors and feel comfortable there.

Leave No Trace is really an exercise in building good habits into our outdoor recreation. These practices keep the places we love healthy and enjoyable for generations to come — especially as more people than ever head outside. Let’s work together to make a difference.

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?