Hey you! Yes, YOU! You need to GET YOU!

The post has been approved by sexy park rangers everywhere.

Nathan and I have a tradition of doing a new outdoor activity every New Years day. Rock climbing! Golf! Kayaking! Unfortunately, on New Year’s Day this year, we slept in WAY too late. One of my two non-weight/health related resolutions this year is to “chill out” and, in that spirit, we decided to just do it on the 2^nd of January.

So yesterday Sarcasman and I went to Florida Caverns State Park. We hiked a lot. The Florida Caverns has two nature trails that explore the beautiful limestone bluffs and Florida swamps. It’s north Florida nature at its finest. There is very diverse biology in the area and you can see rare plants and cool animals like bats!

We hiked for nearly two and a half hours at a leisure pace before we went on the guided tour of the caverns. The Florida Caverns State Park  is one of the few state parks with dry (air filled) caves and is the only Florida state park to offer cave tours to the public. The cave has dazzling formations of limestone stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, flowstones, and draperies. See?

Holy stalagmites and stalactites Batman! And, oh yea, a BAT!

As we left the park I realized my legs were “feeling” the activities from the day. The uneven terrain forced me to utilize muscles that are usually neglected. I was bending and squats most the time during the cavern tour as we had to frequently pass through low cave ceilings.

Point of this (picture-laden) post? There are more ways to get exercise in than hitting the gym or doing a fitness DVD in front of your TV. I get bored easy and find adding outdoor options to my workout regime keeps me excited and feeling like a kid.  Working out outdoors also has many other benefits besides the gorgeous views and fresh air:

• Little or no equipment needed to get a good workout
• No crowded gym or obnoxious people to put up with
• Vitamin D enhancing sunshine on your skin (but still wear sunscreen people! Seriously!)

After enjoying all this nature-y goodness I implore you to GET OUT! Seriously people! It’s beautiful outside! GET OUT! Well… except for you people up in the North. Then don’t go outside. I don’t want to lose any of you to a blizzard. That would suck.

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Want to get out but don’t know where to start?

• Women’s Adventure Magazine has great information on lots of different outdoor activities (bike, hike, run, climb, surf, ski, paddle, swim, snowboard, backpack, etc).
• The American Hiking Association offers oodles of information including safety checklists, beginner’s guides, and a interactive search to find trails near you!
• Hiking too vanilla for your bad-ass self? Check out this A-Z list of outdoor adventure activities! I’m adding zorbing on my 30 x 30 list!