What's So Great About the Outdoors?

We love everything about the outdoors, as in the wild and wild-ish Great Outdoors! And if we don’t love it, we still love that it exists. There are wild animals, fresh air, clouds, trees, plants, cacti, flowers, berries, mushrooms, vastness, rocks of all shapes and sizes, dirt in different colors and textures, heat, cold, weather, wind, mountains, deserts, canyons, cliffs, oceans, rivers, streams, snow fields, salt flats, sand dunes, old shacks, abandoned mines, ruins, petrified wood, shells, views, trails, treasures, antlers, solitude, stars, sunsets, sunrises, the moon, space for the dogs to roam, challenges, and like-minded people. This is where all the good stuff happens, and we can only scratch the surface. It is the place where the mind is quiet and the soul is full.

If you can’t get really out, step to your patio/porch/deck/stoop and enjoy your coffee or cocktail without a ceiling. Look up and see the sky, listen to the birds, and think of nothing at all.

Posts are loosely categorized in the following way:

Stories About the West: a catch-all category for all posts that aren't specifically about anything else.

Things To Do Outside: posts about fishing, running, adventuring, etc., that tend to be more specific. It might be location or gear.

Pinhole Photography: I got very excited about pinhole photography for a time. It is slow and imprecise and captures the image of ghosts! Pinhole photographs capture an essence of the outdoors rather than facts, which sometimes feels just right.

Fish Stories: Stories about fish and fishing, sometimes specific, sometimes not.

Cocktails: An evening cocktail is a treasured ritual in our home. It's a delicious way to settle into the evening. There are a lot of recipes here, mostly gin and whiskey cocktails. I also make homemade bitters — contact me if you want to know more about that. Take a look at the cocktail index and try some new drinks, or get ideas for concoctions of your own!