Each week (give or take one or two here and there) I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.
1) Outlander Day Pack
Some time back I was heading out of the country and wanted to pack light. I didn’t want to bring a suitcase, a back pack, and another bag for various day trips. I knew the group I would be with would be touring quite a bit and would be on a bus a lot as well as out walking a lot, so I needed a versatile lightweight bag that could hold everything from changes of clothes to books to a laptop. That’s when I found this day pack, and it has been a favorite of mine in the eight years since. It is super light weight, folds and zips down to a small purse size for packing, can hold a whole backpack’s worth of stuff, and is durable. I have taken it to multiple countries and on numerous hikes. Just this week I used it for a day hike to a water fall. If you are a traveler, it is awesome.
2) Great Smoky Mountain National Park
The national parks out west rightfully get a lot of good publicity. They are majestic, magnificent, and awe inspiring. They are also a million miles and many thousands of dollars away. Enter Great Smoky Mountain National Park, a mere three-and-a-half hours from Nashville and about four hours from Atlanta. If you are not terribly outdoorsy, you can hang out in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg (or Hillbilly Vegas as I like to call it) and make some lovely driving day trips into the park. Dollywood, a legitimately wonderful theme park is just outside the national park too. But if you love remote forests and sublime beauty, this park is for you. My wife and I drove about twenty minutes into the park this week and did a hike, the Ramsey Cascades trail, that was almost like visiting the Pacific Northwest with all its waterfalls and ferns. There are rustic cabins and places to camp. The whole place (once you leave the neon of Gatlinburg) feels like something Tolkien would have loved–old trees, deep valleys, green everywhere. It feels old and whimsical and subtle. I have visited several times, and I suspect I will go back many more, and I will never see all of the goodness of Smoky Mountains.
3) John Randle Highlights
NFL training camp is upon us, and that means nostalgia time. John Randle was my favorite player growing up and maybe my favorite to this day. He was undersized, a Tasmanian devil, a motor mouth, and an absolute monster pass rusher. And his face paint was awesome.
