Five Steps To Take In The First Five Minutes Of Being Awake
Waking up with a full day ahead is a feeling very familiar to us. Sometimes there are not enough hours in the morning, let alone in the day to manage everything that is going on in our lives. However, I have adjusted my morning routine in efforts to be a more positive, organized, and effective individual. I want to share this with you in hopes that you, too can wake up and feel ready to take on all the day has to bring. It has worked for me, and while I’m not saying every morning goes as planned, I have noticed an overall change in my attitude and productivity in work and life. Not to mention my new-found love for mornings!
Here are 5 things to do in the first 5 minutes of waking up that will help you to have the best morning, and day, possible.
Avoid your phone. This can be difficult because we are used to being “plugged in” during the waking hours but it’s imperative that you spend your first 2-5 minutes that you are awake with yourself. This gives you time to collect your thoughts, create goals for your day and be present in your surroundings. My suggestion is to place your phone somewhere out of reach, even if it is your alarm clock. Nothing great ever came from the snooze button.
Ten deep breaths. It may sound cliche but this is not just a practice used to relieve stress or calm the nervous system. Taking deep breaths after a night of low and steady breathing will fill your cells with oxygen from head to toe and pull you out of that morning fog that will keeps you wanting to stay in bed.
Drink a beverage. OJ, water, coffee, whatever. This will engage your system and encourage your body to start moving. A big glass of water is best in able to hydrate after not drinking water during sleeping hours. My go-to is hot water with lemon and honey.
Open the front door and greet the world. Even if this involves putting on a coat (gasp!). If you are getting up early, there is a quietness and tranquility in the morning that is relaxing yet invigorating. Even if you’re not an early-riser, going outside and feeling the fresh air will be stimulating both physically and mentally. This helps to increase cognitive function and alertness. Even if you only have 30 seconds, it will make a world of difference.
Make your bed. Before you continue on to the process of beginning your day, make your bed. It takes less than a minute and helps you to start your day already accomplished, a small task to check off but a task nonetheless. Making your bed encourages a healthy sleep cycle by placing a barrier between your time spent sleeping and your time spent awake. An added bonus is the comfort that comes from getting into a freshly made bed at the end of the day.
No matter what kind of morning person you are, making some or all of these a part of your morning routine will significantly help you to feel invigorated, yet relaxed in the mornings. I have listed them in order of my series and can testify that my mornings, and in turn, my days are much more productive and smooth than before I took these 5 minutes to myself. We are all busy in our own lives and it’s very important to our physical and mental health to take time to check in with our bodies. If you have morning or other healthy life hacks to share please comment and lets share our tips to get everyone feeling good.
The blog that brings you all my favorite adventures that I’ve experienced in Montana. Below, you will find all the information that I’ve used and what I’ve done throughout my time here. With all these adventures that I have experienced have made Montana one of my favorite places on earth.
Here is a list of my favorite adventures that I have experienced in Montana (Scroll down to find more information about them)
Hiking & Backpacking
Rock Climbing (Indoor & Outdoor)
Whitewater Kayaking
Skiing & Snowboarding
Mountain Biking
Hot Springs
Hiking and Backpacking
One of the best ways to experience this beautiful state is by hiking in the great outdoors. There are so many amazing places to explore including my all-time favorite, Glacier National Park. This national park is located in the north-western part of the state and it extends up into Canada. I’ve traveled to Glacier many of times and every journey has been more beautiful than the last.
Here is the website where you can find a ton of information if you’re interested in taking a trip up there any time soon.
Freestone Climbing gym is the best climbing gym in Missoula. I love going there after my classes to free my mind with some climbing. It’s got awesome people and enough routes that will keep you coming back for more day after day.
Here is their website, go check them out if you like to climb!
Around Missoula there is a bunch of awesome areas to climb, go grab some buddies and start sending! Summer and fall days are the best to go out and explore these beautiful areas.
Here is the website with more information about the incredible outdoor rock climbing located close to Missoula!
Montana has some of the best whitewater kayaking in the country. This is where I learned to kayak a few years ago and it will always hold a special place in my heart. One of my favorites, and usual after class run, is the Alberton Gorge section of the Clark Fork River. This is an amazing section of class III-IV rapids just 30 minutes west of Missoula. There is also the Blackfoot River that is just north of Missoula that offers great scenery and whitewater in the spring.
Here is where you can find more information on my favorite run as well as the current flows for this section.
There is a reason so many people come to Montana for the mountains. THE SKIING IS UNREAL. From the local Snowbowl just 20 minutes north of Missoula to the massive Big Sky Resort a few hours away there is enough powder to go around. These are 2 of my favorite places to ski, yet there is so many more places out there that I’m excited to go explore.
I just started mountain biking around Missoula last year, and I have no idea why I didn’t start a lot earlier! Not only is it a great leg workout but it is a blast to go out and explore the single tracks throughout the mountains. My favorite trials start from Sawmill Gulch just up the street from where I live in the Rattlesnake Recreational area.
Here is a great website with tons of information on trails just outside of Missoula!
From cool summer nights to frigid winter days hot springs are a great choice for an adventure. There are awesome hot springs spread out all over Montana. My favorite one has to be the Boiling River hot springs in Yellowstone National Park. If you haven’t been there, it is a MUST if you live in, or are even passing through Montana.
Here is a website that has information about all the hot springs in Montana.
I grew up loving the outdoors just outside of Portland, OR. While growing up my parents always took me and my two brothers out to go skiing and hiking along with many other adventures throughout my life, and because of this I began to have a deep appreciation for everything around me. This made it a very easy decision when I was comparing colleges all over the country. I have to say moving to Montana to attend the University here in Missoula, MT has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. I have only widened my appreciation for nature and all the things you can go do in this life. I can’t wait to go on more adventures in the future and I can only hope to see you out there!
Wildwood Brewery is located in the Bitterroot Valley, on Hwy 93, North of Stevensville, Montana, just south of Missoula. Jim Lueders is the owner and head brewer who moved to Montana in 1979 and is taking the brewery world by storm. Wildwood Brewery is three years old and is home to some of the most delicious organic beer in the state! Here are a few reasons why Wildwood Brewery is one of the area’s best breweries and why you should go down and check them out!!
1.) The Beer
One of the most important factors when deciding to visit any brewery is the delicious beer. Wildwood Brewery does not disappoint. A few simple ingredients brewed together just right makes these beers an attraction for any craft beer lover. They are Organic and they are amazing!!
Organic Mystical Stout
Mystical stout is an Irish style dry stout similar to that brewed by a renowned brewery in County Cork, Ireland. Organic two-row barley and black roasted malts give this beer a flavor and aroma reminiscent of coffee. This beer is easy drinking and user friendly.
5.4% alc./vol.
Organic Bodacious Bock
Bodacious Bock is a traditional German spring bock. Three organic malts are employed to give a complexity, which hints of honey. Only German noble hops from the Hallertau region are used for a soft bitterness and floral aroma. It is decoction mashed in the old world tradition. This is a strong beer, imbiber beware!
7.5% alc./vol.
Organic Discerning Pilsner
Discerning Pilsner is a Bohemian style lager like the original brewed in Pilsen, Czech Republic. This beer is made only with organic Pilsner malt, Czech Saaz hops and very soft water. This beer is decoction mashed in the old world method. It is well balanced between floral hop bitterness and malty sweetness.
5.2% alc./vol.
Organic White Bark Wheat Ale
White Bark Wheat Ale is a classic Bavarian wheat beer, often called Weiss Bier or Hefe-Weizen. This beer is fermented with a special yeast from Southern Germany which lends some banana and clove flavors. The yeast creates these flavors naturally and there are no additives. Only certified organically grown wheat and barley malts are used and double decoction mash programs in the tradition of German brew masters.
5.6% alc./vol.
Organic Ambitious Pale Lager
Ambitious Pale Lager is a classic Munich style lager. Only certified organically grown barley malts are used. It is cold conditioned, well balanced between malt and German noble hops.
5% alc./vol.
Organic Karapiller Red Lager
Karapiller Red Lager is made with organic Caramunich malt from Germany and pilsner malt made from two-row barley grown in Montana. The roasted malt gives it a subtle caramel flavor. There are just enough hops to balance the malty sweetness. This beer does not fit any classic style, but it is the brew master’s creation.
5.0% Alc./vol.
Organic Loquacious Duck
Loquacious Duck is a classic German Dopplebock. Malty rich, very subtle hop character. A good choice when trying to keep warm on those cold Montana nights!
8.5% Alc./vol.
2.) The Experienced Brewer
If you’re going to drink fresh, local beer, you might as well drink beer brewed by one of Missoula’s most experienced brewers. In 1987 Jim Lueders, owner of Wildwood Brewery, was hired as assistant brewer at the Bayern Brewery in Missoula and thus began his commercial application. In 1990, Jim traveled to Munich Germany and spent 9 months studying brewing, malting, and soft drink technology at the prestigious Doemens Academy. After finishing at Doemens, Lueders went on a tour through 12 countries getting behind the scenes tours of nearly 100 breweries and related facilities. Upon returning to the USA, Lueders found himself in demand in the young craft brewing industry, which was growing fast. He was first hired as a start-up consultant and head of production for the Saxer Brewing Company in Portland, Oregon in 1993. With youth still on his side he left Saxer to continue consulting for brewery start-ups across the US and overseas. The Wildwood project started in earnest in 2002 when Lueders’ bought all of what was left of the Saxer Brewery, from his past employer. Wildwood Brewery officially opened their doors in March, 2012.
3.) The Surrounding Area
Wildwood Brewery is located in the heart of the Bitterroot Valley. The Bitterroot Valley is nestled between the Sapphire and Bitterroot Mountain ranges. It is home to some of the best recreation spots in the US, including hiking, biking, fishing, whitewater rafting, skiing, wildlife and nature viewing ~ you name it! Whatever takes you outdoors; you can find it in the Bitterroot Valley! Whether it is winter or summer, there is always something to do in the Bitterroot Valley. This surrounding recreational area makes Wildwood Brewery the perfect stop after a day of outdoor activities.
4.) The Sustainability
Wildwood Brewery is building an integrated production system, which will transform waste streams from the brewing process into inputs for a network of industries. The cyclical, efficient use of raw materials and energy will reduce operating costs, allow the associated businesses to sustain themselves at lower production levels than their competitors, and provide a model for sustainable development. In a traditional brewery, producing beer results in a significant waste stream. This waste is a business expense, an inefficient use of resources, a burden on the environment and community, and a loss of opportunity. The Wildwood Brewing Company offers a better way by turning wastes into value added inputs to support other productive enterprises. Eventually, the cycles will be completed so these enterprises provide the majority of needed inputs to each other. The Wildwood Brewing network will be based on a flow of materials from one enterprise to another, making the best possible use of generated “waste” of each process. In this manner, value is added at each stage, and costs are lowered.
5.) The Brewery
Wildwood Brewery has a great small town, community vibe and is located in a beautiful area. The view you have of the Bitterroot Mountains while sitting outside having a beer is unmatched. If you want to sit inside, the taproom has a great, old school brewery feel to it. The state of the art brewing system is feet away from the taproom, so you really get a feel for how the whole brewing process works. You also have the opportunity to help in the canning process. Not only do you get to experience and help in canning the beer, but you will also get paid in beer for it. What could be better? The Building: Wildwood Brewery is a large stucco, timber-framed dairy barn originally built in 1901. Lueders found the rundown structure in Wisconsin, and it took two trailer loads to haul the pieces to Montana. Lueders lined the 22-inch-thick walls with straw bales purchased from a farmer in Corvallis and installed radiant floor heating. The bar is made of salvaged timber from another barn, this one built in Pennsylvania in the 1880s, and the roof is made of recycled metal purchased in Missoula. Lueders made all of the tables in the taproom from old wheel rims and sawed log pieces. The wooden tap handles were sustainability harvested from the top of St. Mary Peak. The building is a really unique and fun place to stop in and have a beer.
6.) The Equipment
The Wildwood Brewery is a state of the art brewing system. It starts with three malt silos, which can hold nearly 100,000 pounds of bulk malts. The malt is brought into the building with a cable and disc conveyor and empties into the malt hopper where it is electronically weighed. An intermediary hopper is used to add specialty grains, which come in bags. The malt gravity flows from the malt hopper through a Künzel 4 roller mill and into the grist hopper. The Künzel is the BMW of malt mills. The grist is brought out of the bottom of the grist hopper with a screw auger, which empties into a bucket elevator bringing the grist up more than 25 feet. The elevator empties into a chain drag conveyor, which gently moves the grist to the mash kettle. A grist hydrator is used to evenly mix the dry grist with temperate brew water. The mash kettle was designed by Mr. Lueders in 1992 and custom made by Mueller, Springfield, Missouri. The other three vessels of the four-vessel brew house were made by BAM, in Freising, near Munich. These vessels include a Brew kettle, a lauter tun, and whirlpool. There is a 50 hp high-pressure boiler, two 50 bbl hot liquor tanks, and a 30-ton chiller. A 1000 square foot cooler building is built in the shadow (North side) of the larger brewery barn. For additional efficiency, there is a 600-gallon glycol reservoir inside the walk in cooler. An outside 600 gallon water/ice tank which includes a heat exchange coil can be used as a pre-chiller at times when the temperature outside is below 30°F. There is cellar capacity of 240 barrels.
All these reasons make Wildwood Brewery a prime stop for any authentic craft beer lover. From the beer to the atmosphere, Wildwood Brewery is a great place to enjoy a delicious organic beer.
Where you can find Wildwood Brewery:
Wildwood’s driveway is about 1/4 mile north of the Stevensville cut off road, just east of where the middle Kootenai Creek Road intersects highway 93. We are across the highway (East) from Lucky Lil’s Casino. Look for a big yellow building with a rust colored roof and three large grain silos in front about 200 yards from the highway. 4018 US Hwy 93 North Stevensville, Montana.
The taproom is presently open everyday from 4:00pm to 8:00pm.
Living in a mountain town, there are a lot of great dogs in need of a home. Here is a list of some of our favorite shelters where you can find your canine adventure buddy!
Everyone loves to travel. You see spectacular places, meet amazing people, and make memories you’ll never forget. As it turns out though it’s a pretty expensive hobby to have. After an accumulated one year abroad spanning some twenty-one different countries I’ve learned a few things about traveling and how to do it right, but more importantly how to do it cheap. Being homeless for two weeks in Northern Europe and sleeping on beaches across Southern Europe are great character building experiences but my tips will help you avoid them.
Disclaimer: Backpacking is not vacationing. Anyone that’s ever properly backpacked knows you’re in it for the experiences and not the comfort.
1. Travel Light
If you go two weeks without touching something in your bag, take it to the nearest lake, river, or ocean and throw it in (please don’t actually do this). You’d be surprised how many people lug around a 62 liter backpack while also wearing another small backpack backwards. This is WAY too much. It’s a fact you’re going to be doing a healthy amount of walking during your trip so do your shoulders a favor and stick to a 42 liter backpack and one other small bag for easy access. If there’s no way you can fit everything you need with this setup then take less. You want to be prepared but don’t over do it. You probably don’t need the fifth snap back or more than 2 pairs of shoes and don’t take camping gear unless you think you’re actually going to camp. Remember you can always buy most anything you’ll need wherever you are. For those that still can’t make it work stop reading and go buy a suitcase. Here’s a list of a few useful items to take:
-Norwood mini LED flashlight
-REI Multitowel Quick Dry Towel
-Alpine Collapsable Spork
-Travel Journal
-Simple first aid kit
2. Airports=Cheap Hotels
You have a flight from Heathrow airport to Istanbul leaving at 7:30 AM. You could spend the night in an expensive hostel just to wake up at 3 AM and pay an exorbitant rate for a forty minute shuttle ride, or you could just sleep at the airport. You’ll save on transport, you won’t have to pay for a hostel, and let’s be honest you really wouldn’t have gotten much of a last night in with that 3 AM wake up call anyway. You can attempt the party all night, crash on the plane method but weigh the consequences, missing a two or three hundred euro flight when you’re already broke could be detrimental. Besides there’s nothing like getting drunk with your travel mates in an airport (Again I’m not officially advocating this). It may not be the most comfortable night but then again you’re backpacking not vacationing.
3. Exchanging Currency is for Rookies
Never…Ever…EVER bring all your money planning to exchange it upon arrival. Besides not wanting to carry that much cash you’ll get taken over the exchange rates offered by most banks. Travelers check are a thing of the past and prepaid cards are the worst of all because if they’re stolen and you’re having trouble reporting it, the process is difficult, you often can’t get the money back. They also have the added handicap of not being as wieldy as cash. Whenever travelling take two debit cards so you can incrementally withdraw local currency from ATM’s. Sure, most banks charge a withdrawal fee if you’re out of country, but it’s usually pretty comparable to the fee you pay for exchanging anyway. Also you only have to withdraw as much as you need so you won’t end up in Thailand with one hundred thousand Cambodian Riel. As a backup take a credit card and one or two hundred US dollars that should only be exchanged in case of an emergency. Oh, and it should go without saying but notify your bank that you’re leaving so your cards don’t get cancelled the first time a charge from Phnom Penh, Cambodia shows up.
4. Kindle for the Win
You might think you’ll be too busy trekking through jungles, taking in the culture, and meeting interesting people to read. You’re wrong. While you’ll do all those things the truth is there will also be endless hours of transit and more than one night where all you’ll want to do is curl up in bed and take it easy. Traveling is one of the best times to catch up on your reading because that’s just what you have, time. A thirty-six hour trans-mediterranean ferry provides a great opportunity to finally read Game of Thrones like you’ve been saying you want to do since season one. Most likely the one book you thought would get you through six weeks will be done in three days and you’ll be stuck deciding between the Hunger Games in Turkish or an an abandoned copy of Crime and Punishment to occupy the rest of your trip. Just bring a Kindle and have access to as many books as you want while taking up barely any space in your bag.
5. Negotiate!
Don’t underestimate how much money you can save by negotiating and I don’t just mean over souvenirs in a market. Negotiate for everything from tour guides to renting rooms in a hostel. Maybe you hate it and think your chances of success are low but you’ll get better and find that more often than not people people would rather drop the price a few euros than see you walk away. Getting better at this process is essential to backpacking especially in certain countries like Morocco where everything is negotiable and simply saying “no” to vendors sometimes feels like it requires a business degree.
6. Live Together, Die Alone
If you’re traveling with friends for any extended period of time you’re going to get sick of each other eventually. If you travel alone you’ll get sick of the alternate personalities you make up to keep yourself company. Either way, other people are going to be your saving grace. Not only will you get to spend time with anyone other than who you’ve been stuck with for the past five weeks but you’ll save money too. Group rates are very real and it’s a lot harder for a hostel owner to say no to your negotiations when there are five rooms on the line instead of one. Most importantly traveling is all about meeting people and sharing your cultures and experiences. Dont be shy! Go make new friends and build that international network so you’ll have a couch to crash on no matter where you go.
7. Bread for Days
One of the best parts of visiting somewhere new is trying the food and restaurants know it so anything even remotely related to the local cuisine is going to be sky high expensive. You need to come to terms with the fact that every meal in Italy won’t be gourmet pasta or pizza. Allow yourself one nice meal a day and scrape by the rest of the time on freshly baked bread. It’s dirt cheap and made fresh every morning, so learn to love it. Oh, and don’t forget to eat fruit every few days. You don’t want scurvy.
8. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
You’ve probably heard that a Eurail pass is the best way to traverse Europe. This is definitely true if you know the exact countries you plan to visit and order the pass months before you leave. If you’re like me and travel more spontaneously (or anywhere other than Europe) you need to master the art of finding cheap transit. This might mean cramming shoulder to shoulder into a rickety bus, praying it doesn’t topple off a cliff as it chugs along winding roads through the Luang Prabang mountains in Laos. Your wallet will thank you and if you survive you’ll have a great story to tell. Talk to the locals and find out what they use to get from place to place because though it can be tough to find it’s almost always going to be cheaper. For example MeinFernbus is a bus company in Germany that offers rates at nearly one fourth the price of trains but can’t be easily found in a Google search.
9. Go With the Flow
Things are going to go wrong. That’s the nature of traveling so you need to be ready to pivot and make the best of a bad situation. If you’re island hopping in Greece there’s a decent chance you’ll stop somewhere for a day only to learn the ferry to the next island you want to visit doesn’t leave for a week. If this happens don’t get caught up trying to stick to your plan. Go with the flow and pick a new destination even if it’s only to connect somewhere else. Maybe you want to go North but you meet a cool group of backpackers heading East. Be flexible and don’t live or die by your plan so you don’t miss out on an unexpected, spontaneous adventure. If you planned to spend five days in Athens but feel like you’ve seen everything you wanted, talk to people and pivot, you might end up trekking to the clifftop monasteries in Meteora. 10. Timing and Planning
In essence this tip boils down to being knowledgeable about where you’re going and what’s happening while you’re there. A few friends and I planned a four week road trip through Morocco and upon arrival learned that Ramadan had just started. For those of you that don’t know, Ramadan is a month long holiday where members of the Islamic faith fast while the sun is up. We could eat but it made finding a meal during the day more difficult. Normally bustling streets looked like a ghost town during the day as everyone, not eating or drinking, took shelter inside to avoid the blistering heat. Where once we would have seen many backpackers we only met a handful for our first few weeks there. Although I enjoyed the cultural experience it was a very different trip than we had planned and it would have been tough to do alone and nearly impossible, or at least quite expensive, if we hadn’t rented a car. Don’t give up your spontaneity just do a little research before you leave. Trust me, you don’t want to miss a full moon party in the Thai Islands by a day because you booked your trip months in advance without ever looking into it.
Bonus Tip – Put the Camera Down
Pictures are a great way to remember the amazing experiences you’ve had while traveling. Despite this it’s important to remember you still need to live those experiences. With so many social media networks we spend a disproportionate amount of our lives being social online rather than in the real world. Take advantage of down time to send pictures and give updates but don’t try to instagram every photo you take as soon as you take it. Don’t view the world from behind the lens of a camera.
