Why do I like the outdoors?

I recently found myself wondering why I like the outdoors so much. Is it the fresh air? The peacefullness? It made me think back on my past outdoor experiences and try to decide why I did. I remember seeing a picture from when I was still a toddler of me being carried by my father on the back of what looked to be a extremely uncomfortable backpack, I guess that is where it all started. From then on I was hiking and backpacking in the summer and cross country skiing in the winter before I even knew how to ride a bike. Like any small child I despised these long forced marches up and down mountians, these grueling hikes that felt like the eco-challenge, but really lasted only a couple miles. Then it all changed in the vastness of the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Hiking up and down those dunes was the coolest thing I had ever seen; but what really made me fall in love with the outdoors is running. I started running cross country at age 13 and haven't stopped running yet (or ever will). I will run all day long (and have) as long as I'm outside. Maybe I'm a endorphin addict or something, only a few things have come close to the sense of calmness or rightness that I have felt on mile 20 of a marathon. Getting back to the outdoors thing. When I joined the Air Force and got stationed up in the wasteland known as Minot, North Dakota, I realized how much the mountains and the outdoors in general meant to me. Sometimes you have to lose what you love for you to really appreciate it. Everytime I went home was so awesome to me, I was like MOUNTAINS!!! YEAH!!!, truely I did. Now living in Idaho I can find some of the most beautiful scenery and best outdoor activities that this worldly adventurer has found anywhere. Idaho is definately the best place I have ever lived. Thank you Mother Nature for making some cool stuff.