Vicki's Supporting EE in Florida

I am not sure when my love for the outdoors started but I think it might have been the time I was old enough to go outside by myself as a toddler. I was raised in southeastern Washington State, up a gravel road about 10 miles from the nearest small town (no stoplights but it did have a gas station and a post office!). Since we were so far from ‘town’, my two sisters and I didn’t play with friends; instead we played with our pets and farm animals, roamed 160 acres of hillside, and made our own adventures. Mom would send us out to play in the morning and caution us to be home before dark—and I remember a few instances where we were just too busy ‘adventuring’ to get home on time. Climbing trees, catching little water snakes in the creek, herding the cows back to the barn, finding our own lunch from the wild apple trees, elderberry bushes, and mountain lettuce—these were all part of our childhood experiences.

While in college, I met my future husband who was a career military soldier from South Carolina.  He grew up on the beach and I grew up in the mountains so we combined our curiosity and knowledge to explore all sorts of environments.  Early in our marriage we started our pursuit of ‘adventures’—sometimes small and sometimes grand.  During our years of moving to several locations with the military, we adventured to the bottom of the Kilauea volcano caldera, hiked up mountain streams in Hawaii and Alaska, camped on the slopes of Mt. Rainier, and canoed the Okefenokee Swamp.  On many of our adventures, we collected ‘treasures’ including rocks, leaves, twigs, shells, bones, and other small items to add to our memory collections at home.  And speaking of our home, it changed at least 17 times while my husband was still on active duty so we had lots of places to adopt, learn to love, and explore.  Outdoors was always more appealing than any of the houses in which we lived!