ALL TRAILS LEAD TO ICE CREAM

Life is hectic and oftentimes overwhelming.  But if 2020 has taught us anything....it's that sometimes we need to pause and appreciate the good that is all around us.  As imperative as it is that we focus our attention on the trail or road in front of us...it is also just as beneficial to slow down and take in the natural world that surrounds us.  With all of the challenges that every single one of us have faced this past year, taking a moment to appreciate all that is good on planet Earth can be quite rewarding...mentally, physically, and spiritually.  To quote a famous movie..."Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around you might miss it." What follows is a series my favorite pictures that I captured in 2020....each taken at a moment of time when I paused and took time to look around do a little sightseeing.  Enjoy! This spectacular view of Michaux State Forest can be found a few hundred yards from the where Blueberry Trail and Dead Woman...

I first heard of REI's  #OptOutside initiative back in November.  GUNG HO BIKES , the bike shop at which I work, followed  REI 's lead and decided to close its doors on Black Friday to host a series of rides.  What a great idea...encouraging more and more people to take a break from the stress of everyday life, disconnect from screen time, and enjoy time outdoors...reconnecting with nature and spending time with family and friends!   The three inches of snow that fell overnight might keep me off my road bike...but it won't stop me from opting to be outside! -- January 13, 2019 The new year is a time for new resolutions.  Typically, I don't make them...but this year, at the suggestion of my wonderful wife, Robin, the two of us have one.  We are going to try to commit to doing 52 hikes in 2019.  That's at least one a week for the next year...and, as of right now, we are three for three:  three weeks in and three hikes in ...

There is a folder on my computer titled PICTURES. Currently, it contains (as of this writing) 1,919 sub folders which house (again...as of this writing) a total of 41,307 photographs...the oldest of which are some old family photos that I'd inherited from my mother.  Heck...just in the sub folder named 2018 there are 6,049 pictures! I love pictures and the memories that they contain.  Cell phones and muliple gig memory cards have made capturing memories easier than it has ever been.  Every once in a while, I'll manage to take a picture that really resonates with me. Not that I think that any of my photos are worthy of winning any photo contest...but because, by blind luck, I managed to do justice to what I was actually seeing, and feeling, in that moment as I pulled out the cell phone to capture the beauty surrounding me.  So...out of the over 6,000 pictures I took this past year...I think I found the twenty best from the past twelve months. Only one of the pics fea...

We all need "me time," but nothing pulls me out of a seasonal depression funk better than time with family and friends.  I think about this a lot this time of year when...as the sun sets earlier and the temps hover around the freezing point... the amount of time that I spend outdoors and the frequency that I am able to get together with friends to soak in some Vitamin N drastically decreases.  A little GROUP THERAPY can go a long way...it doesn't matter if it's a hike in the woods with my family or hitting the trails with the guys in my mountain biking circle...togetherness feels amazing.  So yeah...nothing seems better for my mind and body than doing things that I love, in places that I love, with people that I love (yes...that includes you too, Glenn).  So, here are  (in no particular order)  some pics of recent group therapy spanning the past two years.  Enjoy! Taken after we had just finished riding Grave Ridge Trail in Michaux State Forest ...