Hi! I’m Taylor Estep, a Muncie native and a sophomore at Ball State University. I graduated from Yorktown High School (a few minutes away from Ball State) in 2018. While at Ball State, I plan to major in Risk Management and Insurance and Finance. I plan to graduate in Spring 2022. I have a blended family consisting of my mother, her boyfriend, his two sons, Nick (16) and Kyle (20). They love being outdoors and every decent Saturday evening is spent in our backyard playing Home-run Derby and different variations of baseball. My father and his family are very appreciative of nature and used to go fishing when they were younger. However, their leisure time is mostly spent on their back porches in the shade watching for wildlife and living in the moment.

I am co-creating this blog because it is interesting to me and honestly a bit outside my comfort zone. While I find peace in the outdoors, my family never really went camping or did anything adventurous involving nature. My grandmother and father both live in the country, and I am at the most peace when sitting on their properties staring into the woods and listening to the insects and birds around me. A few outdoor activities I enjoy include kayaking, walking in parks, being by the water, and boating. I often go kayaking seven to ten miles down White River in the spring and summer, walk outside daily, and my family used to have a houseboat in Dale Hollow, Tennessee. While I am not the most experienced when it comes to the outdoors (or blogging), I am excited to learn throughout this process and share my findings with you.

Through my posts, I hope you will learn many things, a few of which include how to identify different types of flowers, how to grill, how to spot signs of heatstroke and compare them to signs of heat exhaustion, and various other useful tips and tricks that will come in handy while you enjoy the outdoors. While I will make most of my posts generic, I will tailor a few towards Muncie natives and Ball State students, since they spend the most of their time in this region. These posts will include peaceful outdoor spots on Ball State’s campus, the best places to camp in Indiana, and the best pools in Indiana in case they are in need of a destination for a weekend getaway.

The goal of this blog is to educate and entertain you on various aspects of nature and the outdoors. Things like how to build a fire, how to pack for a camping trip, hunting, and more will be covered by other members throughout this blog as well. I plan on covering fun activities like outdoor Twister, my family’s love of Home-run Derby, and other similar topics. This blog will be incredibly beneficial to experienced and beginner outdoors people alike, and I really look forward to seeing where it goes!