I was quite a ways in to postpartum recovery when I realized I’d stopped going outside. Not literally, we went to parks and such of course. But I wasn’t getting outside. For context I have always loved outdoorsy activities and traveling. Road trips, study abroad, weekend getaways–all of it. In 2019 my now-husband I logged 29.6 miles on Alltrails; in 2020 it was a whopping 61.5 miles, much of it done with my stepdaughters (gosh, about 6 and 8 years old then). As we hit summer of 2021 we found out I was pregnant, so of course our mileage dropped accordingly to 20.1 that year–mostly because I couldn’t breathe well a lot of the time. Then he was born in spring of 2022 and we fell to an all time low of 4.7 miles.
Now, okay. Freshly postpartum, brand new baby. Not great, but we’ll give it a pass. Then in 2023? We got to summer and had not logged a single mile–not one. I was miserable, grouchy, and feeling so utterly disconnected with myself. Who was this woman and what had she done with Sarah? I was doing the mom thing, working, nourishing a very small human’s neurological development–and somewhere along the way I had completely lost myself. Sooooo I booked us a trip to Phippsburg, Maine for July 2023. Turns out that was a fabulous moment of impulsivity.
First of all, Phippsburg is just about the cutest little fishing village you’ve ever seen, complete with a local mini-beach littered with tide pools. It’s about a 7-hour drive from CNY, which was definitely a journey with a one-year-old, but you could feel the collective exhale when we arrived.
We played in the water, poked around tide pools, started a sea glass collection, took a little walk on the Mica Mine Trail at The Basin Preserve, and did a puffin boat ride with Cap’n Fish’s Cruises out of Boothbay Harbor.
As an aside, the puffin boat was a very chilly 10/10 experience. Definitely bring your sweatshirts and bundle up regardless of the season! Despite the cold and sea spray all three of the kids loved seeing the puffins. The Mica Mine Trail was fine if a bit anti-climactic. There was indeed a great deal of mica, so at least the kids had a blast finding sparkly rocks everywhere. We also spent a day exploring at Popham Beach State Park, which was undoubtedly the single most foggy experience of my life. Needless to say we had an absolute ball running around.
By the time we left I felt human again for the first time in a LONG while. Even the kids were buzzing with enthusiasm. Sure, we ended up logging a whole 1.6 miles of “hiking” on that Mica Mine Trail, but this was the trip that reminded me how essential traveling and being outside are to my sanity.
From there we kept building. 2024 saw 15.7 miles logged. As of November 2025 we’re at 49.7 miles with four new states visited (we have a side quest to hike in every state). I’d consider us a proper outside family now and every one us is happier for it. Looking back though, it all started with Maine and realizing that I was going to have to forfeit a huge part of myself or learn to do all of this with a small child.
I am grateful every day that I chose to learn how to make it work, and I hope this space gives you some tips, ideas, and inspiration so that you can make that same choice with perhaps a few less growing pains. I look forward to talking about doing all the things with you. Make sure to say hi and stick around–there’s always more to come! Happy trails 🥾💚