WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Off the Trails: Thankful for Thanksgiving Adventures

Episode Date: November 23, 2025

Join Nicole Sighiartau and Storm Drexler as they discuss some of their wildest experiences in the great outdoors! This week they talk about their love for Thanksgiving and all the adventures it can bring. 

You're listening to Radio Freehillsdale 101.7 FM. Welcome to Off the Trails. Thanks for introducing me. I'm Storm Drexler. And I'm Nicole Segueratau and we'll be your adventure buddies every week as we discuss some of our wildest stories from our outdoor endeavors. This week we're doing a Thanksgiving episode. It's Thanksgiving. Guys, why do we need a day, a week really, to remind us that we're.

We should be thankful for everything in our wonderful lives. We should be thankful every day. We should be. Today, actually, it was Day of Thanks at Hillsdale, where basically we write a bunch of cards to donors, to our friends, to family, whoever we're thankful for. And honestly, I was sitting there, and I kept remembering people I wanted to write to, and I ended up thinking of 22 different people to write cards to. 22 million people.

22 different people. That's crazy work. crazy work but it's it's wild when you sit and you think about it and you're like wow there's so many people i'm grateful for my life and i just want to say thank you to i hope someone's listening to this episode in march and then they're like you know what i should be thankful in march i agree because march feels like a selfish month i guess so yeah storm are you thankful for trail marker time nope trail marker time is what i'm the least thankful for nice do you happen to have one or are you going to make one up like you normally do i'm going to make one up in the

spot yeah every week storm makes up a trail marker Yeah, yeah, I just have been lying the entirety of the show. No, they're somewhat true. You just embellish. They're somewhat true. The trum marker is I was walking around in downtown Hillsdale at 2 a.m. Nice. It was like, there was like actually stars, even though it was in the town.

Oh, that's pretty. It's like there's like there's a minor amount of light pollution. I guess they turned off that sinewy green sickly light at the top of the clock tower in the town. Oh, yeah. That one's kind of gross. It's like, this is a Scooby-Doo. literally what are we doing this is a crystal cove for reference for all you scuba do mystery incorporated fans out there heater um but uh but i was walking around i was like well stars

you know i'm so glad you mentioned the night sky it was on that 50 degree day every day recently it's been like 30 or 40 oh yeah that was a beautiful day that was last saturday yes yeah no that was beautiful and you know what i'm so glad that you mentioned the night sky because for second i was having difficulty thinking of a trail marker but then i remember the northern light. The Aurora Borealis. Yeah, that happened. Localized entirely within your kitchen. Okay, Andrew. There's a reference to the Simpsons out there. Nicole just accidentally called me, Andrew, but we're going to gloss over that. That's a reference to all you Simpson's fans out there. Aurora, all right, and you saw the Aurora Borealis. I was out that night and didn't see it. I didn't know

it was happening. I didn't look up, I think. What time were you out and about? At like, like, 1 a.m. So Andrew and I watched it around 9 to 10.30. After 10.30, it started to disappear. Although, although they say online that like peak hours are 10 p.m. to like 2 a.m. But it started disappearing and we were like, it's not coming back. Because even when we saw it was very weak, if you take a picture with your phone, it does start to show up a bit more clear. But. Okay. Anyway, I didn't know it was happening

And so I didn't like know to look for it either Got it And then the next morning they were like Did you see the Aurora Borealis? I was like, no Well, we were also far away from lights Because it was super faint Like you wouldn't have seen it

Unless if you were far away from light pollution Yeah Well So anyway Now it's time to talk about What it could or shoulda But you know Instead of harping on the things we've missed

Let's harp on the things that we're thankful for Yes Do you want to go first? Go first? Everybody's going back and forth. Arbitrary thankfulness. Arbitrary. You know, I'm thankful to be put on the spot.

Guys, in times like these. No, I'm thankful for like the opportunity to grow up in a household being encouraged to like go do crazy experiences. I've talked a bit before about my dad and his big motto of always wanting to like live frugally and then go to crazy places because experiences are the only thing that ultimately you keep with you. a long term in your life, you know, material possessions come and go, but the things you saw with your eyes live on. And the moments that you have with your family and with your friends out in nature, those are the things you remember the most. I mean, I keep thinking back to like one of my favorite weekends from this entire semester

was when we went to Indiana Dunes. Genuinely. And it even though it was rainy, soggy, terrible. It was kind of gross. It was so fun. And it was just nice to go on a hike with you guys. and to laugh about all the silly things that are really dumb. But no, I'm also thankful for just being able to go out and adventure with my friends.

And I'm so grateful for my family for fostering this in me at a young age. Because as you mentioned, it really starts when you're little. If you don't grow up doing those things, you know, all little kids hate hikes. But if you force your child to go hiking, eventually they're going to develop an appreciation for it. and that way when they're like a teenager they actually want to go do it and it's not a chore for them if you come from an indoor family all hope is not lost just find an outdoorsy spouse true yeah absolutely no because i think so many people come to realize how beautiful it is just to be able to go sit out in nature even if they grew up being an indoorsy person not really liking to hike

but all it takes is one person who genuinely truly loves it and then you just have such a fun time being around them and before you know what you're like wow this is amazing yeah pretty much but yeah I'm thankful for that the goes without saying one is always family and friends but like seriously like if you think about it and you dilute it everything we do is for those people absolutely and that's just like the point of it all yeah so you know you can have a starry night sky on the top of a mountain but if there's somebody up there holding your hand it's 10 times better okay storm just saying um yeah no you're right it is the people that you share it with and that you get to just be around.

Because don't get me wrong, I love being out in nature by myself, but it's totally different when it's a shared experience. And you're both watching a meteor fly across the sky. That's so much cooler than it's like, oh, I'm sitting here by myself, and I saw a meteor, and it's kind of cool. But when you both see it, you're like, whoa! That's so much more fun. Yep.

More special. Truly. Yeah, one? I mean, I was just kind of tagging off what you said, but I think I'm really great. grateful for just loving to push myself physically. I don't think a lot of... And having being blessed with the body to do so.

Yeah. The health to do so. The health to do so and just the appreciation for it. Again, this kind of starts off when you're young. Like, if you don't grow up doing sports, you may not necessarily enjoy that pain. But I'm just grateful that, like, my body has grown up doing these things. So now I can look at any mountain, not any mountain. I can look at most mountains and confidently say, yeah, I could probably go climb up there if I would want to to be able to see the view.

So, yeah, I'm just grateful for my health, my love for running, biking, swimming, climbing, skiing, all of the above. It's like my life is enhanced so much by all of these things. Running's great. I'm thankful for cars. Can I think of for cars? Well, no, I'm thankful for cars too. I'm thankful for outdoor. No, outdoors.

I'm thankful for warm weather. I'm thankful for warm weather and where I'm from because sometimes we get to have Thanksgiving outdoors. My family usually hosts our extended family for Thanksgiving and sometimes we put up tables outside in our backyard and do Thanksgiving out there and that's really, really fun. I can't say we've ever done a Thanksgiving outdoors, which is kind of crazy because sometimes it'll be fairly warm. But normally Thanksgiving for us is in the 60s, like 60, 65. One year it was really cool. It was in the 50s. That's kind of an outlier for SoCal.

But, no, I don't think I've ever done an outdoors Thanksgiving. I should, I should try to do that one of these years. Okay, this is important. Turkey or ham? Ham. Oh, that's crazy. This is an insane. Ahy tuna.

Ahy tuna? Ahi tuna. Thanks even tuna? Yeah. We've had Ahy Tuna for the past couple of years and I love it. But I was just on the phone with my mom yesterday and she informed me we're having turkey. This is good news. And I have to say I'm a little converted.

I'm a little disappointed. You will never have as good of a nap as after you stuffed yourself with turkey, I think. The thing is, I've had turkey for Thanksgiving before. Yes, I have. You need to have true turkey. True turkey. You need to have a lot of it, first of all. You can't just have like one serving.

No, no, no, no, no. You need much turkey, and you need to have it, like, mixed up with, like, rolls, like, stuffing and gravy and everything. What are your favorite sides for Thanksgiving? Anything but cranberry sauce. I'm not a cranberry sauce guy. I don't like it either. We also don't make it. I think my mom made it once and everyone was like, what are we supposed to do with this?

Yeah, I'm a potato fiend, so mashed potatoes are really, really good. Anything with potatoes is gas. I get that from my mom, and she loves potatoes. Those are good. Makes really good potatoes and everything. But just stuffing and gravy is elite. I'm grateful for organic produce. Yes.

That's so random, but my grandma has a garden, and so we'll get a lot of vegetables from our garden, like in the summer we get tomatoes and cucumbers and belk peppers and lettuce and carrots and potatoes sometimes. They're little potatoes. They're super small potatoes, but they're fantastic. Thanksgiving, top three holidays. Really? I think so.

I'm going to put it up there. I think Thanksgiving, I think it's a solid third place right behind Christmas and Fourth of July. Okay, you know what? I agree, because Fourth of July is my favorite. Then Christmas. Christmas is undefeatable. Fourth of July's got nothing.

Christmas is miles ahead of everything. Well, okay, no. Here's why I think I like the Fourth of July. You're listening to Off the Trails on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. So why do you like the 4th of July? I think I like the idea of the 4th of July. I love being outside and I love like barbecue and the pool and being with friends and family. Yes.

Now coming from a small family, I can't say that we've had the most exciting 4th of July's, but I have a vision. I have a dream. I have a dream of having a large family. Of having a large family and having a big 4th of July celebration outdoors with sparklers and fireworks and hot dogs and hamburgers. And I have this vision storm and I'm so excited even though it's never happened. You could just come one year and have fourth of July with me because that's what ours is like.

Okay, maybe I should do that. But I just have a dream and I think I love the idea of it so much that that's why I'm like it's first place. Also, I love America. Oh, it's the best. We are the best. You know what I love a little bit more than America? Christmas.

Jesus. Yeah, and also just like general good tidings of comfort and joy among humanity. Christmas feels like the holiday that unites the world also. I love that. Yeah, no, I agree. Christmas is wonderful. Last Christmas. Also, it's unbranded.

Last, yeah, anyway. Well, last Christmas was fabulous because we had a bunch of my family over. And someone gave you their heart? No. I'm sorry to tell you, Nicole, but the very next day. No one gave me their heart for Christmas. But we had a bunch of family over. And so that was really fun.

I think I just want a Christmas with a lot of family. Yeah. So sure. I think like all of your holiday idealizations are just like more people that I sired or related to me. Sure. Yeah. You know what? Yeah.

But back to Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving is a solid third place. No matter what the top two are. Mm-hmm. Can you get behind that? Or is there anything else that you're like? No, I agree because... I used to think Halloween, but Halloween's lost in the last two years. Easter is nice.

Easter is good. Like, it's an important holiday. Dude, Easter is like eighth place. But it's not fun because it's not supposed to be fun, you know? Easter's just nice. Like, church's great. Yeah, church is great. Meal with your family.

Big fan of Easter, but like, there's just so many better ones. Yeah. And then otherwise, we don't have, like, other holidays. What? St. Patrick's Day? I like St. Patrick's Day. For the drinking. Yeah, because St.

Patrick's Day is awesome. I'm a legal age, by the way. St. Patrick's Day is fantastic. I think it's Thanksgiving 3rd, a solid third, Halloween 4th. Halloween 4th. Then I'm going to go 5th, New Year's Eve. Love New Year's Eve. Oh, New Year's Eve is better than Halloween. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Halloween has more buildup and I like dressing up. Okay. But New Year's Eve, solid fifth for me. And then I would run St. Paddy's Day right that right after it is 6th. Okay. And then I think Easterlands 7th place and then everything else and then Valentine's Day at the bottom. Doesn't matter. Going back to Thanksgiving, so you mentioned that you and your family

normally eat outside? Well, we are able to sometimes. Okay. Once every like four years maybe. And so Thanksgiving is a home holiday for you. Yeah, we've always grown up being the hosts and like opening our home up to extended family and people to come over. And everyone like brings part of the dish kind of public style. We run a big old family Thanksgiving. I have a lot of good memories of Thanksgiving and watching family members argue about politics to the point of hating each other and they'd be like, see you next year. See, I can't entirely relate to that because for quite a few of our thanksgivings, we haven't been home. So you've been out and about, out and about. We've been

out and about. When I was four years old, we went to Zion National Park for Thanksgiving and it snowed on us. So it was beautiful and white with the red rocks in the background. And we We hiked, or I didn't make it all the way, but there's this trail there called the subway. And so my dad hiked all the way, took some pictures. My mom and I went part of the way. But there's a lot of water running through the river, so our shoes were going to get wet. But that was also the first year I watched Elf for. When you were four?

When I was four, I watched Elf. And you know, there's some things happen in that movie. That was fine. I was fine. But we ate Thai food for Thanksgiving. So that. horrible. No, but it gets worse, storm. It gets worse. Because when I was in fifth grade, we were in Washington, D.C. for Thanksgiving. And we ate Chinese food. So you know that scene in a Christmas story? In that Christmas story where they go to the Chinese restaurant. Yeah, yeah, yeah, because the turkey burns. That is you guys in a nutshell. And also, I just want to say, I'd like to remind you that Thanksgiving is the second most American holiday right behind Fourth of July. Yeah, I know. Oh, because we know what we also did. So right before we were in Washington, D.C., we were over.

were at Plymouth. Eating Japanese food. No. We were at Plymouth and we watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade, which is the oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States. See, this is good news. So that was very American of us. But yeah, no, we ate Chinese food in a Chinese restaurant

and they literally had fish tanks with crabs. And it felt very a Christmas story-ish. And then sixth grade, we went back to Zion with some other family. And we had Romanian food for Thanksgiving. So we've had quite a variety of foods not being traditional Thanksgiving turkey. We had ham one year as opposed to turkey and we never, and we were like, nope, not again. Oh, really? Yeah, that was the extent of our divergence from tradition.

I think we've had ham a couple of times. Another year, my dad and I went to Mammoth and we were skiing and we left Thanksgiving afternoon evening. And so we got fast food on the way home and that was the worst. That's bottom tier. That was, like, absolutely horrible. McThanks. It wasn't McDonald's, but I don't remember what we got. We've been doing recently over the past few years a Friendsgiving with my high school

friend group from back home whenever we go home for Thanksgiving break. And it's pretty, it's kind of wonderful. We all, like, bring a little thing. That's sweet. And you have a little meal somewhere. It's very, very nice. So it's just like Thanksgiving just is niceness. Like, you can't say anything negative about Thanksgiving.

No. I think a lot of people hate on it because it's become forgotten as a holiday. because Christmas is, like, so pushed in America these days. Um, and so I think people don't like Thanksgiving as much because they're like, I just want to get through Thanksgiving to get to Christmas. Well, Christmas has been like consumerized. Yeah. I don't know if that's a word, but well, Black Friday.

Consumers are the most taken over Christmas. And then people like, you can't really like make, uh, like consumerization. I don't know, English. You can't really like consumerize. I'm going to say that as a word. You can't really consumerize Thanksgiving. Like, it's hard to like make Thanksgiving. something where you have to go buy all this stuff.

So like Thanksgiving gets overshadowed by corporate America being like, we're going to get Christmas. Well, because Black Friday now starts at the start of November. It's not even Black Friday. And it's more it's like, it's the whole month. Black month. Black month. No, that's February, I think.

Black History Month. Okay. No, but yeah, yeah. So Thanksgiving continually gets overshadowed. But I think Thanksgiving truly is like the last like holiday bastion of like real holiday cheer and spirit. Like obviously we can have those on the other holiday. days. And I think that the people that I'm around make Christmas that way. And Mr. Christmas

has always been special for me. But like Thanksgiving is hard to, it's hard to muck up the spirit of Thanksgiving. It's in the name. Like you at least are going, your mind is going to cross over. Oh, wait, maybe this world and this life and this day isn't about me. It's about the things around me and the things that have led to me having good experiences in my life. Yes. I agree. It's hard to mess it up. And which is why I think Thanksgiving is like the spirit of Thanksgiving is up there with the spirit of Christmas, which is just joy, and then the spirit of the Fourth of July, which is just we are awesome and the best. We are the best.

So, like, those three, I think, like, consolidate my favorite three things about America. Also, just about life in general. Yeah. Of, like, joy, family, happiness, you know, then also America, because that's just one of the best three things in existence. Yeah. And then it's about the people, and it's about being thankful for the things that are around us.

So I have a quick question. If you were to go somewhere for Thanksgiving. like stray from tradition. Yeah. Where would you go that you think would just kind of like illuminate your thankfulness for life? Because I think certain places evoke that in us. Yes. Like being in Washington, D.C. is like, wow, I am really thankful that I live in America.

And just being on the East Coast, because we started off in Boston, went through that, went to New York. So we did all the things. And I was like, I'm so proud to be an American. Yeah. I don't know. I probably got to be somewhere in America because I want to celebrate it with other people. They don't celebrate Thanksgiving abroad. No, they don't.

So, yeah, I probably want to end up, I like Boston a lot. I think, isn't that where they first celebrated it? Plymouth, so close to Boston. Yeah, I'd love to run Boston. Plymouth, Massachusetts. I think that I could give up the southern comforts for one northern Thanksgiving. I feel like Vermont, but I, I think that's just because of the turkeys up there.

Vermont and Maine, they have a lot of wild turkeys. You know, it would be really fun to catch a wild turkey and then... With a blowgun. Where'd you get that idea? I don't know. I just, I've seen it around campus lately. Just like some hunters and bushes. Base paint smeared down them, trying to catch turkeys.

This is the most vulnerable season to be a turkey. You don't want to be a turkey right now. No, you don't. Or a goose. Or a goose. Or a squirrel. That's true. Or squirrel.

Yep. well there you have it folks go have some squirrel meat for thanksgiving and uh make sure to remind the people around you that it's not always about us yeah i mean we're thankful for you listeners i know there's some of them out there at least at least tad tad tad from uh georgia he's going to he's listening i'm sorry that was just it was really nice to hear that i'll see you for friendsgiving i'm excited to see you buddy yeah that someone's listening um I know my family's listening, so thank you. But yeah, we really appreciate all the listeners,

and we hope that you get to go outside. What a feel-good episode. Yeah, just be grateful for the outdoors, for your health, for your family that you get to share this life with them. Get to go see beautiful things in our country. We'll be back in two weeks, a week, to talk about more of those beautiful things. Yeah, we'll do a little Christmas episode, and then I think we'll be on a little hiatus for winter break.

It's going to be good. It's going to be great. Thank you for. for listening to Off the Trails on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. We hope you have a great week and make time to go outside and enjoy the great outdoors. We'll see you out there. Happy trails. Don't buy anything. Bye guys.