Outdoor guide, tour leader and Norwalker Deborah Lewis wants to bring out the hidden adventurer in you. She'll walk, or bike, or snowshow you through some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Deborah owns Bredeson Outdoor Adventures and guides active tours to destinations as challenging as the French Pyrenees and as tranquil as Litchfield County, Connecticut.  

As for herself, she says she's hardwired for adventure--a theory based on an unauthorized trip she took at age two. “It's one of our family lore stories," she says. "My mother put me down for a nap. We lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan then. She went off to read a magazine--finally having a moment’s peace--and I climbed out of my crib and went to downtown Ann Arbor. I was found by a neighbor on Washtenaw Boulevard which, on a recent visit to Ann Arbor, I saw is one of the busier roads there.” It's also about a half a mile from her family's house.  

Oh, and there was that time she leapt off the end of a dock into a lake, even though she hadn't been taught to swim yet. “It just looked like fun,” she says. Her achievement-oriented family (six girls and two boys; one brother was a legendary four letter athelete) had many adventures together. "One of my most enduring and beloved memories of childhood," Deborah says, "was when the entire family (all ten) got on a huge toboggan and went sledding together. Quite a sight!"

During a college sabbatical, Deborah lived in southern Germany and took up skiing and hiking in the Alps. “I loved the active lifestyles of the Europeans…their physical activity was such a huge part of their lives it really inspired me to seek out a career in the States that would help people to lead healthy, active lifestyles,” she says. Corporate fitness was her first step on this path. Leading hikes came next.  

Deborah stays busy, leading many of Bredeson Outdoor Adventures' tours (http://www.bredeson.com/outdoor_adventures/index.html). Her upcoming itinerary includes: a May hiking tour in Sicily, a hike in Bavaria in July and, in September, a guided hike through England's lake district. But the trips Deborah looks forward to most are those with her family--husband Lance and their two pre-teens--to their Vermont weekend cabin, where adults and kids are all gung-ho about playing outdoors. How many moms do you know whose favorite hobby is “sledding on my Mad River Rocket with my kids”? Visit Deborah's Facebook page.