Why You Should Take Your Grandma Camping, with Brad Ryan

Surely you know someone who has eaten the most nachos at apres. Maybe you have the fastest Starva segment on your local lunch loop bike ride.  But if you’re aiming for a truly impressive outdoorsy goal, you’ll need more than quad strength to pull it off. Take Brad Ryan for example: Brad’s best known as one half of the viral duo “Grandma Joy’s Road Trip.” Brad and his grandmother, Joy Ryan, visited all 63 U.S. National Parks, making Joy the oldest person to complete the circuit. What began as a way to show his Grandmother her first mountain became a transformative adventure for Brad and Joy to grapple with long-buried familial secrets and harms. All of this is vividly told in Brad’s new book, “Grandma Joy and Me: a Journey of Healing, One National Park at a Time.” Octogenarian camping and road tripping for a record-setting adventure is outlandish. But our nation’s most beautiful outdoor spaces can create the space for reconciliation, empathy, and healing.