Melissa, Oh?

Keys to a fun day with a friend:
It starts with new shorts and a smile, even at 7 a.m.

Hydration is always key to a day of fun, especially when it comes in a pink cup.

It helps to live in a state with beautiful places,

and to have friends who love adventure.

It can be a tough climb to [...]

Okay, so I promised you the other day I’d tell you about dropping my pants. So I’ll start this blog post by telling you about that part.
Scott, Jeff and I were hiking in the Great Basalm Mountains. During one break we were all standing on the trail and we heard a weird noise. Coming from [...]

Surround yourself with people who actually matter.
Surround yourself with people who love you and respect you.
Surround yourself with nature. It’s amazing the clarity that can be found on a running path or a mountain top.
Always choose coffee with a friend over an evening with the DVR.
Over the past few weeks I’ve dealt with tragedy, with [...]

Who needs drugs? When you can go out for an early-morning stroll and see this: 
 And when you get to the top you’re surrounded by rolling hills like this: 

 — 
We hit the Appalachian Trail this past weekend for some exercise and some R&R. A few in the group are doing a South Beyond 6000 challenge, which involves [...]

Stealing this picture from Kevin’s blog because this is just what I need right now:

And lucky for me, I have an awesome brother and friends who invited me to go hiking/camping with them this weekend in Roan Mountain, Tenn. We will be leaving tomorrow evening and hiking 3 peaks (a total of 12 miles.) I [...]

Chris B. asked me last week to write a gear list regarding what I took, should have taken, and shouldn’t have taken on my recent trip to Mount Mitchell for winter camping. So, without further adieu, here it is:
Head to toe
Here’s what I wore on my trip:
Balaclava – I fought against one of these. I [...]

So I thought I’d log my weekly calories during the 6-week calorie burn challenge TrySports is hosting, that I first mentioned here. Week 1 results are here, Week 2 is here, Week 3 here, Week 4 here, and Week 5 here. If you haven’t already, come out and do the challenge with us - all you need [...]

Quotes from the trip:
Me: We saw some tracks that looked like a cat. Would that be a bear? A mountain lion?
Andrew: No, that’d be a cat.
Chris: I’m gonna get one of those at some point (spoken every time someone showed him a piece of gear. Any gear.)
Chadd: I hate rabbits (spoken every time the smoke got in [...]

… about my hiking trip this weekend. I was going to photograph all my new gear and tell you all about it.
However, I packed my gear in my pack last night and hell if I’m going to pull it back out now!
So, I’ll show it to you when I get back.
It’s time again for the [...]

So, I’m a little late on the the whole “look back/look ahead” post that comes at the end of the year, but I was too busy celebrating the holidays to take the time to sit down and think about it! So, better late than never, right?
Last year I wrote about some thoughts on 2008, and [...]