What Sparks My Love of the Outdoors
My relationship with the outdoors is a love story that weaves throughout my entire life. Some of my first memories include spending time outdoors with nature. My father was a mountain climber and when my brother and I were babies, we would often play with my mother in the meadow of Yosemite National Park while my father climbed. I have one memory of sitting on a blanket with my mom in a grassy meadow, seeing her point up at the world-famous “El Capitan,” route, explaining that my dad was climbing up to the top. I recall thinking how amazing that was – that we were sitting in a beautiful meadow while my Dad was half way up that sheer mountain wall.
From that point on, the outdoors were an underlying theme in in my life. There are endless ways to spend time outside where I grew up in San Francisco, CA. I started skiing every weekend in the Sierra Nevada mountains – a 3 hour drive from the city. I learned how to row a boat on the San Francisco Bay and compete in crew races. I taught myself every beautiful hike in the coastal mountains and took my friends to show them. Every opportunity to be out in the elements, whether it was snow, water, sunshine…to feel the wind in my hair…was a physical pursuit that made me feel confident as a teenage girl. Above all, it felt like a celebration of life.
This hunger for adventure led me on quests around the world. For a number of years I travelled to ski as many amazing mountains as I could, finding my way to Argentina, Japan, Canada, and the Alps in Europe. Now I’m entering a new chapter in life where I love building a home, a community, and a career. But this hasn’t robbed my life of any adventure. I work very hard to live in an area with direct access to nature. Now, every day I have the chance to go play in the Marin Headlands of Golden Gate National Park.
The funny thing about this park is that it’s where I first started to hike as a child. It’s where I first learned to ride a road bike. It’s also where I went on the first date with my boyfriend, Chris. Now the Marin Headlands are a place for me to roam free before or after work. I can trail run, road bike, hike, camp, or surf in this park. My morning routines are improving my fitness more than ever before. I challenge myself on every outing and measure my fitness with my TomTom Adventure watch. This park is a wonderland that keeps me healthy and strong.
Showing me the beauty of nature and our National Parks was a gift from my parents that impacted how I choose to live my life. I know there’s always a place where I can go and feel free moving through the wilderness. There’s space for me to exist only in the moment and radiate pure gratitude for the strength in my body. Some people will get through life feeling power from money or from status. I will move through life feeling power in my connection with nature and its ability to make me so endlessly thankful for my time on this planet. That is why I’m an adventure seeker.
