If you are like the average person in America, you sit on your behind at least 8 hours every day! And if you have kids, chances are that they spend at least 7 hours a day starring into something electronic like a computer, television, or I-pod. Just 25 years ago, the only such devise in a home was the television: the rest didn’t exist or weren’t widely owned by the average person, and kids played in the yard with sticks and the dog, or a shovel and dirt! Show me a kid today who thinks that digging a hole in the ground is high entertainment!
How times have changed, and not all for the better. As a result of the electronic age, the American society has lost a large portion of our connection with the outdoors. Many believe this has lead to an increase rate of depression and attention deficiency disorder. A very large portion of our society is actually afraid to go for a walk in the woods because it has been impressed into their minds by the media and Hollywood that forests are a dangerous place to go, and that a murderer or bear will spring from the trees at any minute. To those of us who grew up in the outdoors, this is astonishing and simply hogwash! In reality, your chances of getting hit by a bus or killed by a golf ball are thousands of times more likely than having anything bad happen to you on a walk in the woods.
Virginia is a state that overflows with safe opportunities to get outside, allowing you to improve your physical and mental health and help your kids get connected to the natural world. Hiking, biking, swimming, and canoeing will help build muscle, burn fat, and strengthen your cardiovascular system. And camping, birding, and fishing will expand your mind and help you not only see nature, but interact with it. With what has been ranked the number one state park system in America, plus thousands of additional acres of public land and waterways to enjoy, the time is now to take advantage of all Virginia has to offer.
So what are you waiting for? Explore this site to find a park where the air is clean and the forest is friendly, and get outside today!