A shout out to all the new followers who have come on board since the beginning of this year. I appreciate your readership.

I love being outside. The sun, the heat, the beautiful weather. Now that summer has officially begun, I look forward to biking, hiking, and sitting by some body of water. Also, I’ll spend plenty of time in my backyard hammock reading from a stack of books to inspire me.

Stay-cation or vacation? Do you have special events, destinations or activities that you look forward to each year? What are your big plans? As a kid, our family went to Cedar Point every year. My dad always planned it for August so we could look forward to it all summer long. We took a big cooler packed with all our favorite picnic food, and two metal thermoses filled with red Kool-Aid. We’d open the tailgate of the station wagon and grab our food and talk about all the fun we were having and what rides we wanted to go on next.

Florida for me, was the land of summer. For nine month of the year I spent a lot of time in the sun. I could go sailing, visit the sunny shores of the Gulf or Atlantic Ocean, or golf. We often explored the area and ate outside. There was always some art show to see and some place fun to be.

There are so many classics about the great outdoors: Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer; A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson; The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain. Do you have any favorites? Any that inspired you to go on an adventure? Check out the reading list link below.

Do you have a favorite summer memory? I remember riding for miles on my bike with my sister out in the country and picking apples in the woods. One August, our whole family went on an eight-day camping trip in the northeastern United States–a different state almost every night. Had I been writing then, I would have journaled about our comical trip. A few titles that come to mind are: Tracks: A Woman’s Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback by Robyn Davidson; The Call of the Wild, Jack London; and The Ascent of Rumdoodle by W.E. Bowman.

My favorite summer trip memory is when my daughter was grown. We took a 10-day road trip from Columbus, Ohio to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Partly to complete the writing of my book, Painting the Rain. It was the best adventure of my life. Which book inspired you to do summer differently? Drop a comment in the box below. I look forward to hearing what you’re up to. And let us know what books inspired you!

Outdoor adventure book reading list.

BONUS! List of 13-travel books.