Meet our 2017 bloggers!
Name: Aimee Junget
Crew: St. Paul Crew
Hometown: Chaska, Minnesota
College (if attended): University of St. Thomas
Favorite food: Pad Thai
Hobbies: Running, hiking, brewery-hopping, and NPR.
Favorite outdoor activity: Camping!
Person or experience that has most influenced your life: My Grandpa. He is someone who never stops learning and is always curious! Whether it be building his own telescope or learning how to sail in his 60’s, he is always eager to try something new. When I was younger, he was always patient in answering my questions and inspired me to never stop discovering the world around me.
Name: Alaine Dickman
Crew: Central Water Trails
Hometown: Merrill, WI
College (if attended): McNally Smith College of Music
Favorite food: The Lornacita – a family secret.
Hobbies: All music activities, running, writing and exploring the great outdoors
Favorite outdoor activity: Walking and running with my boxer, Marco
Person or experience that has most influenced your life: My parents and four older siblings.
Name: Erika Birnbaum
Crew: Duluth
Hometown: Iowa City IA
College (if attended): Iowa State University
Favorite food: Strawberries, Mac and Cheese and Potatoes
Hobbies: Reading, Hiking, Watercolor, Sketching, Photography
Favorite outdoor activity: Snowshoeing or Mountain Hikes
Person or experience that has most influenced your life: I spent three and a half months in Newfoundland Canada and fell in love. I found my people and was able to go snowshoeing and hiking up mountains everyday if I wanted. Living with very little taught me what I value most which is being able to pursue hiking, photography, friends and cooking. My dream is to get a job working with all the tourism and natural resource management there. The decisions I made after returning to the States has been with that goal in mind.
Name: Kristina Luotto
Crew: Rochester Aspens
Hometown: Sunnyvale, California
College: Seattle University in Seattle, WA
Favorite food: Burritos
Favorite outdoor activity: Bike riding
Hobbies: Cooking, reading, crocheting, listening to podcasts, hiking, traveling
Most influential experience: Studying abroad in New Delhi, India for 4 months
Name: Lauren Waldrip
Crew: Youth Outdoors 3 / Bridges Crew
Hometown: San Antonio, Texas
College (if attended): University of Texas at San Antonio
Favorite food: All Food. Fried mushrooms with Ranch. Jager schnitzel. Enchiladas verdes. Bread. Plantains.
Hobbies: I’m on the hunt for a good hobby, but I do enjoy sleeping in with my dog, Cash.
Favorite outdoor activity: I like to go on hikes and take an absurd amount of iPhone pictures. I volunteer with citizen science surveys. Those are pretty fun. I went caving recently, which was also super cool.
Person or experience that has most influenced your life: My boyfriend, Cody, and I just moved from our hometown of San Antonio all the way to Saint Paul, MN. While there have been some “cooler” experiences in my life I could mention, I think this is the big game-changer. It was one of those decisions that really changes the path your life is taking.