Outdoor Activities

I have been involved in many different Outdoor Activities over the years.  I have always looked for things that can get me outside.  I was exposed to many opportunities from an early age and continue to seek new experiences.  I was fortunate to grow up in northern Virginia so close to Washington D.C. for the best sightseeing and incredible diversity in people and activities.

Earliest good memories are ones that involved going outside to play.  I was fortunate to grow up in a time when it was a safe enough thing to do as long as I was back home by the time the street lights came on and checked in somewhere in the neighborhood for lunch.  I can only remember one time I got into trouble as a preschooler when I followed a dog out of the neighborhood and had everyone looking for me.  I was probably missing a couple hours.  After seeing how I upset everyone, I was sure to tell someone where I was going after that.  I was trusted and I had a great deal of freedom growing up which expanded eventually about a mile radius.  In my hometown of Alexandria, Virginia, this included the woods and creek area between my home in Braddock Acres and Thomas Jefferson High School, Backlick Shopping Center, and about 2-3 other similar neighborhoods such as Edsel Park and Sleepy Hollow.  I learned to drive from my friend, Anna Strictland, who took me to the Pentagon parking lot 5 miles away and my Dad who taught me in everyday situations. Shortly after my 16th birthday, I received an old red Mustang that took me into nearby Annandale to the George Mason Library and social activities at the nearby churches such as John Calvin's and St. Alban's for dances on my own.  By the time I was 17, I was venturing as far away as Georgetown in Washington D.C. about 7 miles away.  Then I left home for the wide open spaces of Iowa.

It was during my life in Iowa that I expanded my Outdoor Activities to include fishing, hunting, gardening, motorcycling, swimming in natural waters, snow mobiling, archery, trapping and being around farm activities.  I had some early exposure to farm activities as a child when my family spent summers at my Uncle John Hudak's farms in Ohio and Michigan.  He had three farms and three sons.  So many good memories being around good old fashion farming such as milking cows, growing all kinds of grain and hay, harvesting, gardening, chickens, pigs, working dogs and cats, neighboring farms and the whole community.  It was from these wonderful experiences in rural Ohio that I realized I did not belong to the city and found my place in rural America.

After meeting and marrying my husband, Keith, in Iowa, together we discovered the joys of canoeing.  On a canoe trip to Missouri in 1978, we fell in love with the state and knew this was the place for us to grow.  After securing employment and a place to live, we prospered and found a life intermixed with the natural outdoors and the especially pristine waters.  We live on a hill above the Pomme De Terre River which is about 3 miles from the Pomme de Terre Lake.   This lake is the smallest of a US Army Corps of Engineers flood project that also includes Lake of the Ozarks, Stockton Lake, and Truman Lake; all within 30 minutes drive.  There is also my favorite Bennett Springs State Park about 30 minutes from home where some of the best fly-fishing for trout can be found in the state. The watershed is environmentally clean with no fertilizer or chemicals from modern farming practices and a natural filtering system with predominant limestone bedrock.  2-3 hours to the south are more lakes -  Taneycomo, Bull Shoels, Table Rock and the wonderful Roaring River State Park for trout.  Farther east would be another great area known as the Mark Twain National Forest with excellant trout fishing and streams for canoeing and kayaking.  With so much water so close to home, our Outdoor Activities most definitely center around water.

I have listed the Top Ten Outdoor Activities that have my interest now and will expand on each as I make time for the activity:

1.    Gardening
2.    Walking
3.    Biking
4.    Fly-Fishing
5.    Kayaking
6.    Swimming
7.    Boating
8.    Festivals and Events
9.    Travel & Sightseeing
10.  Motorcycling