When I was a kid (in the 60's and 70's) my great-outdoors was my grandfather's dairy farm in upstate NY. There, I could roam seemingly endless acres of pasture, creek and woods. During school, I would daydream about what I would do there on the weekends.
In high school I hung with a great group of guys who all liked to read Tolkien and CS Lewis, and go on canoe trips in summer, and back-country ski trips in the Adirondack High Peaks over Christmas break. A few of us also liked rock-climbing in the nearby Niagara Gorge. Our gear was meager, but developing - piece-by-piece. We seldom let our lack of equipment prevent us from going to the wilderness.
When it wasn't possible to go to the wilderness, I rode my bike everywhere and ran, a habit I picked up from my father. Dad was a road-runner before there was a running-shoe industry and was still running well into his eighties.
When I married my wife, (31 years and going strong!) we honeymooned in Algonquin Provincial Park on a week-long canoe trip. We have spent our lives always planning for the next adventure: kayaking off the coast of Northern Newfoundland, Mountaineering in the North Cascades, or exploring the Mountains of Colombia and Ecuador. Every weekend, we go for a hike on a local trail to reconnect with each other and to de-stress from the week.