Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

Friday, July 13, 2018

This post is sponsored by Babbleboxx.com.

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

Summer is the perfect time for taking advantage of summer weather, stepping outside and enjoying local parks! I have long been a lover of City parks, both large and small. Parks offer a refuge amidst the hustle and bustle of traffic and people, a place to catch a glimpse of nature in an otherwise cement world, a spot to enjoy a swim, walk, hike and bit of sunshine or shade, depending on the day.

Parks are the perfect location for a picnic, gathering of friends or breath of fresh air. I like to think of each park I visit as a little haven to be discovered by the visitor passing through. From New York's Central Park to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park to Seattle's Alki Beach, every City park is unique and worth a wander.

Whenever I am in a new City I love to visit at least one new park. In addition to the opportunity to spend time outdoors, I also find parks offer some of the best places for people watching and enjoying the local culture.

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

Seattle has over 485 parks and 3 are in walking distance from my house in the West Seattle neighborhood. In just these 3 parks I can find hiking trails, a community garden, a dog park, tennis courts, ball fields, playgrounds and a spray park the neighborhood kids love!

A few of my favorite Seattle parks include Golden Gardens, Alki Beach, Green Lake, Volunteer Park, Lincoln Park, Seward Park and Westcrest Park. All these, plus many others, are well worth a visit if you live (or find yourself!) in Seattle, particularly during the beautiful Seattle summer season.

Whenever I'm planning on heading outside to explore one of my local parks in summer, I always make sure to prepare with 5 essential items to make my experience even more enjoyable, which I'm sharing with you today!

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

My 5 essential items for heading outdoors this summer include: AfterShokz Trekz Air Open-Ear Headphones, Brew Dr. Kombucha, Heliocare® Daily Use Antioxidant Formula, Skratch Labs Drink Mixes, Energy Chews & Energy Bar and T-Rex® Tape.

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

AfterShokz Trekz Air Open-Ear Headphones

Entertainment is at the top of my list as an essential item to make park visits more enjoyable, specifically music. Whether a walk, run or meander through the forest or along the beach, I need some fabulous headphones. The AfterShokz Trekz Air Open-Ear Headphones are the perfect headphones for enjoying music and summer moments outdoors.

I love that AfterShokz Trekz Air Open-Ear Headphones allow you to still hear it all, without shutting everything out around you! The open ear design, using the next generation of bone conduction technology, leaves your eardrums open to your environment, so you can tune in without tuning out!

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

Inspired by the demands of elite and aspiring athletes, I particularly love that Trekz Air offer a more secure fit and better sound. Using titanium whenever possible and cutting the bulk, these organically designed headphones are super lightweight (sometimes I even forget I'm wearing them!) and super comfortable (yay for a bud free listening experience!).

Trekz Air are available in Midnight Blue, Forest Green, Slate Gray and the newest color (my personal favorite) Canyon Red, a deep earth red hue, which is perfect for embracing the heat of summer and the hottest of adventures, and also trending as one of the most popular colors of 2018!

Want to take AfterShokz Trekz Air Open-Ear Headphones on your next summer adventure? Find out more and purchase AfterShokz HERE!

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

Brew Dr. Kombucha

Another essential I always bring with me when I head outside in summer is a refreshing beverage. To combat the heat, there is nothing like that first sip of something cool. I like to pack my beverages in a small soft sided cooler (a small one that fits into my pack is usually my preference) to keep them nice and cold until I'm ready to consume, either along the trail or my final destination.

First in my cooler is almost always a Brew Dr. Kombucha (often for my husband, as he is a huge kombucha fan!) A fermented tea, kombucha is perfect on a hot summer day. Brew Dr. Kombucha is 100% raw kombucha and the same whole leaf teas and botanicals they serve at their teahouses.

Brew Dr. Kombucha is live and active, 100% RAW and unpasteurized. It's also non-alcoholic, as they use a form of non-heat distillation to gently take out the alcohol, but still keep all the good stuff. Super tasty, low in sugar and low in calories, it's the perfect summer day treat yo' self but better-for-you beverage!

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

On a recent park outing I brought along Brew Dr. Kombucha in the flavors of Clear Mind and Strawberry Basil. With notes of rosemary and sage and a botanical flavor, Clear Mind is the most popular Brew Dr. flavor and each herb in the recipe is noted for an ability to assist in focus and mental clarity.

My personal favorite, Brew Dr. Kombucha Strawberry Basil, is delightfully refreshing! It's this year's summer seasonal and combines two of my favorites summer flavors - strawberry and basil. Strawberries and 2 types of basil, along with high-quality green tea, make this delicious, light and fizzy kombucha, with an ideal clean and balanced flavor, the perfect summer beverage to enjoy on a hot day outside.

Find out more about Brew Dr. Kombucha on their Instagram!

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

Heliocare® Daily Use Antioxidant Formula*

Protection from free radicals is super important, especially when spending more time outdoors in summer. Heliocare® Daily Use Antioxidant Formula* is a clinically proven, dermatologist-recommended (for more than 25 years) natural dietary supplement with antioxidant effects on the skin.

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

Heliocare® Daily Use Antioxidant Formula* contains Fernblock® PLE Technology, a powerful antioxidant extract naturally derived from the extract of a tropical fern native to Central and South America. Aiding in eliminating free radicals to maintain younger-looking and more resilient skin, these improved capsules are vegan, gluten free, free of artificial dyes and a super easy way to increase your daily intake of antioxidants and reduce the damaging effects of free radicals on the skin.

Find out more about Heliocare® Daily Use Antioxidant Formula at http://bit.ly/2MtxldX.

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

Skratch Labs Drink Mixes, Energy Chews & Energy Bars

Staying hydrated and maintaining my energy anytime I head outside to explore one of my local parks in summer is a top priority. I always make sure to bring along enough hydration and fuel to make it through my excursion (plus a little extra just in case). Along with bringing along plenty of water, I also make sure to pack plenty of Skratch Labs Drink Mixes, Energy Chews and Energy Bars.

For a recent summer outdoor parks adventure, I brought along the Skratch Labs Sport Hydration Drink Mix with passion fruit, Skratch Labs Sport Recovery Drink Mix with chocolate, Skratch Labs Raspberry Energy Chews, a Skratch Labs Anytime Energy Bar with chocolate chips & almonds and Skratch Labs Lemon Lime Anytime Hydration Drink Mix.

Skratch Labs Sport Hydration Drink Mix with passion fruit is my ideal sports drink for when I do an activity where I know a little bit of sweat is involved. From a long trail run by the sound to a tennis match with my husband in our neighborhood park, the Skratch Labs Sport Hydration Drink Mix is perfect for replacing sodium lost while sweating. Formulated with 800 mg of electrolytes per liter (twice the level of Gatorade), which is the average amount of salt a person loses when they sweat, this hydration drink mix keeps you feeling and performing on point! I love that Skratch Labs Sport Hydration Drink Mix is made with real fruit, nothing artificial, is Non GMO, Gluten free, dairy free, Vegan and hydrates you faster than water!

Skratch Labs Sport Recovery Drink Mix with chocolate is my go to after a really long run, a really far hike or any activity/workout where I really push my body and need to replenish it with just the right amount of amino acids, fat and calories. I love that this drink mix helps you recover faster than just carbs or protein alone.

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

Skratch Labs Raspberry Energy Chews are my absolute favorite! I love that they are made with real fruit, free from anything artificial and covered in powdered sugar instead of wax or oil. They give me instant energy without the crash! They are my new favorite go-to for energy during exercise and I can't wait to try the raspberry and matcha green tea & lemon.

Skratch Labs Anytime Energy Bar with chocolate chips & almonds is so good! Made with quinoa, brown rice crisps and nut butter, it's tasty enough to eat during a serious workout, a morning walk, an afternoon bicycle ride or a snack at any time of day! It's gluten free, dairy free, vegan and non GMO and has less sugar than traditional energy bars. I can't wait to try the cherries and pistachios flavor!

Not a fan of sports drinks or planning for a rigorous activity while outside? The Skratch Labs Lemon Lime Anytime Hydration Drink Mix is for you! This hydration mix gives you back the essential ingredient you need for when you're active and busy, but not necessarily sweating a ton. Made with natural can sugar, real fruit and nothing artificial, Skratch Labs Anytime Hydration Drink Mix keeps you hydrated!

Interested in trying Skratch Labs Drink Mixes, Energy Chews and/or Energy Bars? Get 20% off your entire order with code TRYSKRATCH at http://bit.ly/TRYSKRATCH

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

T-Rex® Tape

As an adventure trip leader in my early 20's (I lead kayaking, sailing, backpacking, canoeing, bicycling and camping trips for teens on the West and East coasts), I learned early on one thing that is an absolute essential on any type of outdoor excursion: Strong Duct Tape!

With a multitude of uses, such as making a rope, covering a blister, sealing packages of food and fixing pretty much anything, this is one essential I never leave on a summer outdoors adventure without. Unlike regular duct tapes, T-Rex® Tape is an extremely strong tape that is built for intense holding power to make any and all repairs and DIY's when you're on your adventure super quick and easy.

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

Ideal for camping, fishing trips, a boating adventure or pretty much any and every outdoor excursion, T-Rex® Tape's double-thick adhesive will hold up in almost any climate or environmental condition and is a weather-resistant tape. I love that the tape is strong enough to stick to rough and dirty surfaces!

Find out more about T-Rex® Tape HERE!

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

In addition to the above mentioned items, I also recommend packing the 10 Essentials for Camping and Hiking if you're planning on stepping into the back-country wilderness at any point during your park explorations, or even as a just in case.

The 10 Essentials for Camping and Hiking include: navigation (map/compass), sun protection (sunglasses/hat/sunscreen), insulation (extra clothing), illumination (headlamp/flashlight), first aid supplies, fire (waterproof matches/lighter), repair kit and tools, nutrition (extra food - like the above Skratch Labs Drink Mixes, Energy Chews & Energy Bar!), hydration (extra water) and emergency shelter.

What tips and trick do you have for getting outside this summer? What essentials do you use to prepare and what do you bring along on your park adventures? Please leave your tips, tricks and any questions in the comments!

Happy Summer Adventuring!

xoxo

Opt Outside: 5 Essential Items For Exploring Your Local Parks This Summer

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

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