Just Your Average Adventure Family

Hola, we are the American Family McDowell...just an average dad, mom, boy and girl who love getting out to nature and exploring while spending time together.

But you may like to know some additional details about us...

That's me, Alexis, with the goofball smile. For me, I think all this really began when I was little and would look out over the relatively flat Pennsylvania horizon and imagine the clouds as snow-topped mountains in the distance. I wanted to be there!

I have to admit, however, that my first foray into backpacking – well, I hated it. 5 or so nights sleeping on the ground, under a tarp filled with spiders, I was so dirty, uncomfortable and tired. And the bugs! My gosh! The bugs! It was New Hampshire at the peak of the black fly season (what are they, you ask? Have you ever been plagued by those little things called “gnats”?!) Who wouldn’t be turned off?

But, it toughened me up big time (although I didn’t realize that till I met someone who actually did love to hike). And when I finally did move to Colorado with my future husband, it was like “coming home to a place I’d never been before.” John Denver knows.

These two little goofballs, munching on their hobo dinners, are my heart out walking around. Andrew is a goofy, joke-telling, sensitive, kind and good big brother to his little sister, Annabelle. She is equally goofy and also a comedian, with a sharp wit and sensitive nature. They bring us much laughter and fun on our trips. I love hearing their perspectives, their questions, their thoughts as we careen across miles of open highway or hike up steep trails.

And big Andrew? Well, he's got a built-in selfie stick for an arm, so he is invaluable when it comes to picture-taking at places like Wall Drug (I know, I know, but you gotta do it!). He's been called to the wild since he was young, trekking off into the northern Michigan woods alone with only his dog and his tent. He's the one I hiked my first 14-er within Colorado and gawked at many amazing views with over the past 14 years. Having met in Philly, and moving out to Colorado together only 6 months later together, we had a love of nature and all things outdoors that bind us still today. Can't wait to continue this epic journey with you out there, honey.