April 18, 2010

It's National Park Week: Free Admission April 17-25

Today is the beginning of National Park Week and all 392 of the wild spaces in the National Park Service are free to the public until April 25.  Grab your hiking shoes and click here to find a park near you. What a great way to celebrate spring! 

This gorgeous waterfall is in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. 


Photo credit: William Bradfield

April 17, 2010

Not Getting What You Want: What Could Be Better?

Monica Bhide's life hasn't gone in the direction she planned. She wanted to attend graduate school in India but her father insisted she go to the US. She studied to be an engineer but, as destiny would have it, she's now a food writer. Monica's story, "Undesigning a Life," is featured in the April edition of Washingtonian magazine and is an inspiration to all of us who find our lives filled with the unexpected.

My favorite quote from the piece, "If you get what your heart desires, it is good. If you don't, it is better."

April 3, 2010

Adventurous Activities 2010

I've mentioned before that I started this blog as an off-shoot of my adventure club, the League of Adventurous Women.  The League meets each January and picks four official activities for the year and then we usually have someone offer to lead a few bonus events on the side.  This year, we officially chose to

1. visit a psychic
2. go camping
3. learn crabbing and oystering on the Chesapeake Bay
4. play paintball

Side events
1.Tailgate at the Marlboro Hunt (Steeplechase horse race)
2. Form a Dragon Boat team for the DC Dragon Boat Festival
3. attend Trapeze school
4. Take a bus trip to New York

If this looks like an ecclectic list it's because we have a very ecclectic group. What sounds like adventure to one woman usually feels too tame or too horrifying to another. In the past we've done everything from wine tasting and flower arranging to rock climbing and the firing range.  The group works, however, because each activity is an opportunity NOT an obligation and because the activity happens even if only a few die-hards participate. 

Tired of doing the same-old-same-old?  Then why not launch your own adventure club? Here's how to get started.