This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of TomTom®. The opinions and texts are all mine.
One of our travel goals is to visit the majority of the National Parks as a family. Individually, we’ve crossed quite a few off the list. My husband has summited Mount Rainier, I’ve taken a boat tour or two through the Everglades, together we’ve visited Glacier, Denali, Yellowstone, and the Tetons. As a family, we’ve made it to the Great Smoky Mountains. This winter we crossed another National Park off the list and did some snowshoeing in the Rocky Mountain National Park.
Since Brecken had never been snowshoeing before, we had to buy her some new gear, one of our favorite things to do! After looking at the various sites, we settled on some 17? snowshoes. We opted to forego trekking poles, as we thought getting used to the snowshoes would be challenging enough. She’s a tough kid and has hiked some challenging trails, but she’s not the most coordinated (she gets that from me) and we figured, the less to think about, the better!
Our hike started from the Glacier Gorge parking lot, which was almost full when we arrived around 9:30 am. My word of advice to everyone is to get up early to make sure you get a parking spot! I’m not a morning person and if Kurt had it his way, we would have been there at least an hour earlier, especially on a sunny, relatively warm day. We weren’t the only ones who thought a hike through the woods in the snow was a good idea.
Kurt and I carried packs in. When you’re in the mountains, you never know how the weather will change. I’m a firm believer in never getting cold, so that means I always pack an extra layer or two. Plus, when you’re hiking with kids, you need options. Some of those options include snacks to keep them motivated. We promised Brecken we’d stop for a snack break and melt some snow with our portable stove to make hot chocolate.
While we waited for the snow to melt, and eventually boil, I played around with my new toy, the TomTom® Adventurer GPS Outdoor watch. I’m a huge nerd when it comes to my workouts. I like to know exactly how far, how fast, how long and how many calories. I’m so bad, that when I run, I don’t listen to music, instead I watch the numbers on the treadmill, to make sure they keep going up (or down) as expected! When I run outside, I usually carry my phone in my hand so I can easily view the numbers on my fitness app. It’s not efficient and my phone has hit the ground many times.
The TomTom® Adventurer GPS Outdoor Watch can do about anything you want it to. It can track all of the outdoor things I like do, like hiking, biking and running. Plus, it differentiates between types of running. It tracks trail-running, treadmill running and your typical, every day run on the road. And, remember all those things I like to know about my workouts (far, fast, long and calories)? Well, this tracks even more numbers! I’ll admit the numbers nerd in me got really excited when I learned this!
The watch and I are learning about one another. With any type of technology, the more you play around with it, the more you actually use all the features it has. Unlike other sports watches I’ve owned, the TomTom® Adventurer gives you the ability to load trail maps. It also lets you load about 500 songs, which you can listen to with wireless headphones that come with it. While I’m not a huge fan of listening to music when I do activities, it may become one of those “options” for kids to keep them motivated!
On all of our outdoor adventures, however big or small, this watch comes with me. It’s my workout coach and my statistician. It tells me to “get going” and lets me know how far along I am in meeting my goals. When that watch vibrates, I know I’ve gone another mile or that I’ve finished another 10% of my goal. Now if it would only tell me how long this kid is going to sit in the snow!
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