A Review of 2014

2014 was a rather laid back year for me. Let’s just call 2014 a rest year. Here's a few memories that stand out...

January: Finished working at Cabela’s. Tried dehydrating a bunch of different foods. Quickly found out that there is an art to dehydrating food and I need lots of practice.

January 18th-25th: Went dog sledding with Outward Bound. Learned that dogs DON'T do all of the work when traveling. Dog sledding is quite the task in deep snow and you must run along side the sled to minimize the amount of weight the dogs are struggling to pull. 

February: Moved to Springfield, IL to prepare for my new job.

March 2nd-7th: Took a week long road trip to Brandon, Florida to see my Godparents! Spent most of the trip playing in the Gulf of Mexico. The trip was exciting because I saw string rays and manatees for the first time (in the wild). I learned a new hobby while in Florida: searching for shark teeth.

March 9^th: Became a park guide for the National Park Service at Lincoln Home National Historic Site!!! The job I have is a yearlong position so I will be returning back to Wisconsin March 2015. I really enjoyed my time as a park guide and I could see myself as a full time park ranger in a few years : )

April: Found out the area around Springfield, IL is rather flat and lacks hiking trails. The area offers a variety bike paths so I bought a bike.

May: Joined the local disc golf club. Springfield has four 18-hole courses so I kept busy teaching some of my co-worker how to play disc golf.

June-August: The summer tourist crowd made work crazy busy and I didn't feel like doing much after work. Spent most of the summer catching up on movies, TV series, and books all while relaxing in my air conditioned apartment. Rented Season 1-4 of Game of Thrones and LOVED IT!!! I almost forgot… I also caught up on supporting my Milwaukee Brewers : ) I made it to two home games and if watching the Brewers play the Cards at St. Louis from the top of the Arch counts, I made to one away game.

Game day with my best friend Emmy Lou.
Doesn't she look like a fun person to be around?!?!

Helmet size nachos

Game Day with family

September 6th: Scheels hosted a free 3D archery competition. I didn’t shoot the greatest but I did win a $100 gift card from the raffle. A few days before the competition, I was browsing through the store and I noticed there was a traveling disc golf target on sale for $99.99. Guess what I bought with the gift card!

October: Had this crazy idea lurking in the back of my mind that I should re-try thru hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT). To get into trail worthy shape, I started hiking on a regular basis with Chin Music, a gentleman who thru hiked the AT in 2013. This year Chin Music is going to tackle the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). While on the AT, Chin Music did an amazing job at narrating his journey and he plans to do the same for the PCT. If you would like to read about his journey, click here:  Trail Journal

November: Nothing much happened except for family coming to visit. Still hiking on the weekends to get in shape for the AT.

December: Badly sprained my right ankle. I established a new short term goal: strengthen my ankles before I start my hike.