Outdoor Pilgrim is about our quest to enjoy the beautiful outdoors and make it the focus of our lives.
So many us spend our days inside working the dreaded 9-5 with only a few hours on the weekend to get outdoors. We decided to break away from this paradigm and shift to a life filled with travel, outdoor experiences, and appreciating all that nature has to offer.
Hopefully, our pilgrimage to spend more time outdoors will inspire you, whether it’s starting with an overnight camping trip, committing to that dream vacation a National Park, or setting off on a full-time adventure like us.
Meet the Matiskella family
Keith grew up in the Northeast, living in upstate New York and Connecticut. He moved to Vermont to get his B.S. in fisheries biology, and then to Massachusetts to get his M.S. in the same field. He is an avid runner, fisherman, and golfer.
Paty grew up on the West Coast, living in California and Oregon. She moved to Texas for her undergraduate degree, and then the Southeast for law school. She loves to hike, and has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and completed a rim-to-rim-to-rim hike (R2R2R) of the Grand Canyon. She dreams of someday thru-hiking the North American Triple Crown (i.e., the PCT, CDT, and AT).
Finn is our son. He spilts the difference between our East Coast vs. West Coast rivalry, and was born in Kansas City. He shares his birthday with Mark Twain (author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)…though it’s also quite possible Keith’s fishing passion may have played a part in his name too.
Our Story
We’ve always been a little unconventional compared to other families. For over 20 years, we moved to various parts of the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia while serving in the Army. This military lifestyle afforded us an opportunity to see so many different parts of the world, but there never seemed to be enough time (or freedom) to enjoy it the way we wanted to.
As Finn approached middle school, we began to consider how little time was left to shape him as a person. We wanted more time together as a family, and hoped to instill in him a genuine appreciation for the outdoors. To do this, we needed more than weekends or school vacations.
We never really set down roots any one place of the U.S. because of how frequently we moved while serving in the military. Our community was always wherever we made it along the way. Once we realized this fact, we had a blank slate for where and how to live in the future. In May 2018, we sold 90% of belongings and moved into a 34’ Class A motorhome so we could hit the road full-time for an extended adventure.
With this new found freedom, we are excited to experience the outdoors at our own pace. Our goal is to travel and document our journey to inspire others to live a more deliberate life.
Thanks for learning a little about us. We look forward to sharing our adventures with you, and hope to inspire you to get out there too!