Admission

What are your most-prized possessions?  My music collection: vinyl, cassette, CD, and digital – I value it all (though, I surely prefer the seek/find process for the non-digital). My high school years were all about soul and funk; college radio in the early 80's exposed me to punk (and post-punk), new wave, reggae and world music, and electronic and industrial music (among others); and working in an independent record store in a university town from 1990-95 only poured gas on the flames. Twenty years later, they're still burning. Oh, and my mountain bikes: I have two Specialized Stumpjumpers – one set up for road riding, and the other for off-road use, because, as the saying goes, the fun begins where the pavement ends!

What are your "go-to" nature destinations?  If I had an hour, it would be a walk around the New Concord Reservoir with my dog, Woody; a day, the AEP Recreation Lands a half-hour south of town; a week, the Jefferson National Forest and the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains in my beloved homeland of SW Virginia; a month, the Clearwater National Forest in northern Idaho (specifically, the Kelly Forks area, near the Montana border). Great – now I'm daydreaming and worthless for the rest of the afternoon!