What's in a Name?

We “wordy” types (Arlen and I are both editors) agonized over the title of this blog. I wanted something punny; he wanted something alliterative. Arlen flat-out nixed “Hiking Schitck,” my idea for a comedy take on weekend hiking. He suggested “Leaving the Living Room”; I said it makes us sound like a couple of couch-potato losers: “Look at us! We actually get off our butts!” And while we certainly do spend our fair share of downtime planted in front of television crime dramas, there was a time when we did spend more of it exploring the outdoors. In fact, when we met, Arlen had never been on a bona fide hike; it was I who encouraged him to give it a try. Well, he tried it and loved it, and eventually came up with a goal of hiking every high point in the U.S. So far, so good; he's conquered nine. But high-pointing, as it's known, is not so feasible with our busy lives, and we can't exactly afford to travel to far-flung peaks as often as we'd like. And while our 5-year-old daughter Jordyn may have the stamina to join her dad on such adventures, I am notoriously unfit for hard-core vertical climbs. (Though I do have a few under my belt.)

So here he were, eager for a way to put some regular outdoor time back into our own lives while attempting to get our daughter hooked on the wonders of nature. Thus our plan was born: Visit every state park in Massachusetts, ideally one each weekend, weather permitting, beginning in March 2012. Thus, “Weekends in the Woods” was born.

While Arlen and I have visited several Mass. state parks over the years, we decided to start from scratch, so our daughter could be in on every bit of the fun. We thought about doing it alphabetically, but decided we would need to let other factors dictate the order. For nostalgia's sake, Arlen chose the site of our first state park hike upon returning to our home state of Massachusetts in 2004, Moore State Park in Paxton. One down, so many to go! (Sara)