Always taking inspirational cues from the dynamic, active women we meet, we were especially excited to partner with American author, chef, outdoor adventure expert, and TV personality, Georgia Pellegrini for an Adventure Weekend this past September.
Georgia, the author of Girl Hunter and Modern Pioneering, teaches outdoor skills, including wingshooting and fly fishing, to women looking for an authentic outdoor adventure. “It’s a great opportunity to expand your limits and the perfect opportunity to transform body, mind, and spirit,” Pellegrini told us. Here we’d like to introduce you to Georgia Pellegrini, in her own words.
I grew up in upstate New York on the same land that my great grandfather lived on, a place he called Tulipwood. As a child I’d sit on a boulder by the creek with my dad, push a fat worm onto a hook, and fish for trout for breakfast. I snipped wild chives from the bottom of the back stairs for omelets, and proclaimed myself the wild raspberry queen, battling the birds every late July so I would have enough fruit to make jam.
After college I took the path of least resistance and was recruited into finance —at Lehman Brothers. But as I sat blurry eyed night after night, I yearned to be disconnected from the virtual and reconnected to the rhythms of nature. What I’ve accomplished is a return to the natural order of things, to be more fearless, do things that scare me, and to find a way to get back in touch with a time when things weren’t so secure. I believe, as Eleanor Roosevelt said, that we should “do things every day that scare us,” and push through our fears. It makes us more grounded, better stewards of the land, and better to one another.
For the last few years I’ve been offering women a chance to try new and daring things with abandon. They get an Amazonian look in their eyes and the feeling that comes with that changes their lives forever. These Adventure Getaways continue to motivate me to find new and accessible ways to offer a broader audience the opportunity to “step off the grid” in their own way, even from their own studio apartment in the heart of the bustling city. Self-sufficiency is not only the ultimate power, but also brings you immense joy.
Don’t miss our upcoming report on our own Orvis Adventure Weekend. We will be featuring a first-person account by our Merchandising Assistant, Cori Brago, who attended the weekend with Orvis Vice President of Women’s Merchandising, Kendra Ovesen.