I am Matthew Emde, and many say I am an alluring, fascinating and frankly delightful man.

If it was a life or death situation, and I was asked what my favorite thing to do is, I'd probably say “being with my family, friends and loved ones”. Thankfully, as of right now, there are no guns to my head, so I'll probably say my favorite thing is hiking and being outside.

For my whole life I have been consistently camping and hiking. My parents put me in scouts when I was 7, which, in hindsight, was a huge contributing factor. During my tenure as a wee boy scout, I realized being outdoors is simply the coolest thing out there. When I was young, we just did small trips to different places around Georgia, but as I grew, so did the scope of our trips. I ended up getting to do a lot of great things I wouldn't normally have done.

I've traveled a lot of places. I went canoeing on the border of Canada, hiking in the backcountry of New Mexico, and sailing in the Florida Keys. Ironically though, the coolest place I've been wasn't in this list, nor did it have to do with scouting. It was when I went to visit my brother in Italy, and we traveled together through the Alps. There aren't a lot of things comparable to the scale of those mountains. The only caveat was every single thing in the stupid nation of Switzerland is twice as expensive than it needs to be. But I'd argue that the view of mountains that extend miles above you may make it worth it… it's still up for debate.