Category: Personal

Spectacular Campsite – Photo

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Here is my wife and I’s favorite campsite in the Red River Gorge. It’s not always available, but this is frequently our goal when we head out to go camping. This is also the spot we normally picture when we think of camping. It is located out along a ridge, not far from the main trail. When the leaves are on the trees, it is invisible from the trail and can only be seen from the neighboring cliffs across the valley. As you can see, when the leaves are in full fall glory, it is an amazing place to camp!

Not only does this site hold our little dome tent perfectly, but there are some perfectly-spaced trees to hang our hammocks! We first tried a hammock in addition to our tent, and then returned with just our hammocks. With our bugnets in place and a slight breeze to rock us, we had a wonderful night’s sleep here!

Click to see full-sized.

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10 Ways to Get More Adventure in Your Life

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Here are 10 simple ways to put more adventure in your life.

  1. Do something new
    Big range available here… do something that is new to you. This could be trying a new activity, meeting new people, or going somewhere you have never been before.
     
  2. Do something old in a new place
    Any every-day action can be made new exciting when you do it in a new setting. Your lunch will be much better if you eat sitting in a park instead of at your desk. Your supper tonight will be more exciting if you have a picnic instead of a “normal meal”.
     
  3. Pursue an interest
    Pick out something that you have always wanted to try, and start today! What are you waiting for?
     
  4. Go somewhere familiar and look at it in a new way
    There are many places that you visit on a regular basis and because of this familiarity you don’t really look at them. Go somewhere familiar and explore it as if it was new!
     
  5. Travel in a new way
    Either take a new route or try a new mode of transportation. You might be surprised how much you overlook out of familiarity on a habitual route.
     
  6. Try a new version of something familiar
    Do you purchase the same things every time you go to the store? Take the few extra moments next time and try a different version or brand of a product you use!
     
  7. Try a new food
    New food is one of the easiest things that you can introduce some variety into your life. If you don’t like it, you don’t have a large investment, and you can easily avoid it next time. You never know where you will find a new favorite!
     
  8. Take a break
    Sometimes the best thing you can do is give yourself a chance to recharge. On the way home from work, stop and sit in a park for a few minutes. Sit in the yard and read a book for an hour. Enjoy a hot bath.
     
  9. Turn off the TV
    Take control of your time and go have an adventure of your own, instead of watching someone else’s adventure.
     
  10. Plan your next adventure
    Want something bigger than the other 9? Sit down and plan your dream adventure!

Which of these are you going to try today?

Natural Bridge Patterns – Photo

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There are many different things to see when one approaches the Natural Bridge. One can easily be over-whelmed by the sheer size and magnificence of the bridge itself, or be captivated by the views out across the valleys (especially when the fall leaves are in their full explosions of color). If you take the time to look even closer, though, you can see that there are even more, less-obvious beauties ready for viewing.

This pattern is a part of the bridge itself. Located on the base of the bridge (it’s foot?) this pattern in the stone caught my attention when I first approached. The multitude of colors surprised me, and the pattern was interesting to try and follow. Even though many people walked by, only my wife and I stopped to look at the less “spectacular” of the views.

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How Do You Define a Place?

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What makes somewhere worth visiting? After leaving, why do you gush about one place and forget another? I’m sure that everyone will answer these questions differently. However, there is an easy way to determine your personal definition of a place. Think about your favorite trip (or the one you dream about.) What first comes to mind? Is it the people, food, the landscape, music or something else? Whatever it is, that is how you define that place (it may be different for different places).

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The first few weeks my wife and I spent here in Ireland, we visited the largest cities. Dublin and Cork are fabulous places, full of amazing buildings and historic places. However, we came away less than thrilled. Neither of us are city people, we much prefer the wild places. When we pictured Ireland we both saw a rolling green countryside criss-crossed with stone walls, the fields dotted with sheep all watched over by thatched-roof buildings. The cities, of course, offered none of these things.

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Finally, we headed to Galway and spent all of one night there before heading out to The Burren (Irish for Rocky Place). This was the country that we had been picturing; we saw our rolling hills, endless stone walls and sheep. We also visited the Cliffs of Moher. (I got to wave “back home” across the ocean.) The weekend was far too short, and the bus did not stay at any of the stops nearly long enough. We will definitely be returning.

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When you go somewhere, be sure and seek out what really interests you. Don’t allow yourself to get caught in the trap of seeing what everyone else recommends! You might have different tastes than they do. Many of our fellow students are most interested in seeking out new pubs with traditional music. While we enjoy the music, we have no interest in visiting the pubs. So we seek out our own adventure.

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Our own adventure includes not only the amazing landscapes, but also local foods. We are visiting local eateries in search of traditional foods (and yes, this did include a stop at a pub for a pint… gotta try it out, after all!) Our collection of recipes is growing, so that we can prepare our favorites when we return home. You can see a soup recipe here.

As you can see your definition of a place might not be a single thing, but a combination. My wife and I view Ireland as the places, the food and the people. In the places where we don’t experience all of these things to our satisfaction, we will leave disappointed and they will slip from our minds. Once you know how you define a place, you will know what you need to search out in places you visit, to ensure that you have a fulfilling and warmly remembered experience.

Natural Bridge Views – Photo

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The Red River Gorge in Daniel Boone National Forest is full of amazing features and views. My wife and I have spent more than one weekend exploring around the Natural Bridge there. Here are a couple of views from the top of the bridge.

Click to see full-sized.

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Irish Soda Bread

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The idea of making my own bread fascinates me. There’s nothing like the smell of bread fresh from the oven, and there’s nothing like the taste of that same bread sliced while still warm and then smothered in butter. I haven’t tried many bread recipes, and none that involve a packet of yeast (there’s an art to yeast bread, it seems). I’ve learned from the ones that I have tried and will continue to make them.

Irish Soda Bread

When people talk about Irish country bread, they mean bread made without yeast, leavened by bread (baking) soda or baking powder. The Irish love this traditional bread and its solid nourishment gives them more pleasure than almost any Irish food. It also gives them a feeling of continuity with the past; the Irish have never stopped making soda bread at home.
It is doubtful if anything was weighed much in the old days, people just didn’t have time. They threw handfuls of flour and oatmeal of different sorts into a bowl and mixed them with buttermilk. When the texture felt right, the dough was crossed deeply and bundled into a hot oven or cooking pot. Forty minutes later, it had become a loaf which was robust and individual.

Making Soda Bread

No bread pan is needed for country bread. It bakes far better when placed straight onto a floured baking sheet in the oven. You will need a wire rack and a clean tea towel (dish cloth) to wrap the loaf in after it is baked.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup white (all-purpose) flour
  • 3 cups brown (whole-wheat) flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp bread (baking) soda
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (approx.)

This is the classic Irish recipe for brown soda bread. You can make white soda bread by using 4 cups of white flour. Some people put herbs into their bread, with good results. After you’ve tried it a time or two, feel free to experiment and see what you can come up with.

Directions
Sieve/sift the flour, salt and baking soda into a bowl. Make a well in the center. Pour in most of the buttermilk to make a loose dough, adding more if necessary. Turn the dough on to a floured board and knead it lightly. Form a round loaf. Turn the smooth side up. Flatten it carefully and cut a deep cross in the top of the loaf.
Place on a baking sheet and bake at 400 F for about 40 minutes. The loaf should sound hollow if you tap the base (you may need to turn it over for 5 minutes or so to achieve this.) Wrap the loaf in a clean dish towel and put it on a rack to cool.

Some Advice

I’ve made this hearty loaf a couple of times now and plan on doing so well into the future. While I greatly enjoyed my first loaf, be careful not to add too much buttermilk, as you can end up with a sticky mess of dough to contend with. Likewise, it does make a difference if you flip the loaf over for the last 5 or so minutes to let the bottom fully bake, you might have some doughy spots in the bottom if you don’t. If you don’t sift the flour you can end up with a brick-like loaf; if you don’t have a sifter, use a spoon to scoop out the flour so that it doesn’t get compressed in the measuring cup.

Enjoy!

A few slices of this bread make for a quite filling sandwich, or a single buttered slice for a snack. A thick slice goes wonderfully with a soup or stew. I’m comfortable enough with the recipe to start experimenting now. I will be trying various herbs, some sugar, perhaps even some molasses. Who knows what I’ll end up with!
Now it’s your turn! Spend a few minutes mixing, set the timer for the oven and enjoy your freshly-baked homemade bread!

Fresh Drinking Water – Photo

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During the second week of our honeymoon, my wife and I returned to the Red River Gorge, in Daniel Boon National Forest, Kentucky. This park is where we were engaged and also where we were married. It seemed only fitting that we also visited for part of our honeymoon. A multi-day backpacking trip was in order! Along the way, we used our filter to get safe water. Is there any fresher water than some from a spring in the mountains? Nice and cool, definitely refreshing, I don’t think it gets much better than this!

Click to see full-sized.

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Hiking Above the Clouds – Photo

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This photo was taken shortly after Saturday’s. My wife (who had just become my fiance the night before) and I were walking back to our campsite in the Red River Gorge. We were on a ridge, above the clouds down in the valley. They were evaporating and the valley below us was beginning to emerge. Here you can see the forest slowly “waking up”.

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Sitting Above the Clouds – Photo

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Took this picture one morning in the Red River Gorge in Daniel Boon National Forest. My wife (girlfriend who became my fiance the night before) woke up early, walked down the trail a short way and sat on the cliff’s edge. We watched the clouds in the valley dissipate.

Click to see full-sized.

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Pick Up an Old Skill

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Following up on Wednesday’s post about learning a new skill, maybe you are unable to pursue new interests at the moment. Perhaps the necessary equipment costs more than you can currently afford, you really don’t have time for a new hobby, or some other reason (these become more than excuses when they are true.) If that is the case, and you still want more excitement in your daily life, what about pursuing a previous interest? Perhaps you used to paint, play a sport or instrument, or maybe you collected baseball cards. It could be that you have a punching bag hanging in the garage or fishing tackle in the attic. Whatever it was, you likely still have the necessary equipment, you just have to invest some time and energy into it.

Personally, I have always had an interest in juggling. I bought a copy of The Klutz Book of Juggling some years ago and learned the basic three-ball cascade. After a few weeks of messing around with it (I worked at a grocery store as a stock-boy and would juggle the bruised fruits in the back of the store) I quit progressing and gradually lost interest.

During my tour of the school here in Ireland, I discovered that there was a juggling club. My interest was piqued. I went to the first meeting that I could and there I learned the basics of juggling clubs. I also had some good practice with juggling balls. I did some research online and discovered many new tricks that I could learn.

Want another example? I’ve been drawing or painting in some form since I can remember, at least up until recent years. I allowed myself to get busy with other things and quit making the time. However, I have a pretty good supply of materials. Recently I stumbled across The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain at the library and decided that I should work through it. Not only would I get back into practice, but I could learn some new skills while I was at it. My re-entry to this beloved hobby cost nothing more than the time. I checked out the book, grabbed a drawing pad that was lying around, and the pencil that was beside it.

Your hobby doesn’t have to be new and “in fashion”. As long as it is something that interests you, that is all that matters. So get out there and pursue your interests!