Sunny Montgomery

Whether you enjoy exercise, meditation, watching TV or reading, there are several ways to stay happy and healthy while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Look to the list below for budget-friendly ways to stay sane while you are stuck at home.

Parks across the state are temporarily closing as cities urge or, in a growing number of places, order their residents to stay at home.

As creator of Good Day, Chattanooga!, a daily newsletter dedicated to happy stories, I worried the coronavirus crisis would make it impossible for me to do my job. Weeks ago, I remember joking about it with another reporter.

In recent weeks, between coronavirus concerns and home quarantines, record numbers have been turning to parks for relief — in some cases, causing so much congestion, parks have been forced to close due to overcrowding.

The North American passenger pigeon was once the most abundant bird in the world. In the 1600s, settlers wrote of flocks so large they darkened the skies. Then, those settlers discovered the native bird was an easy food source, and by the early 1900s, they had hunted it to extinction.

With its vast network of rivers and creeks, the Tennessee Valley is a mecca for paddlers. Options abound. In fact, it can be a little overwhelming. Where does one begin? How does one find the put-ins, or check the gauge to ensure the river is navigable?

From Georgia to Maine, the Appalachian Trail winds through forests, gorges and over mountaintops. But just as important as the trail's scenic beauty are the communities through which it passes.

Welcome to the world of micro campers, where cozy, towable trailers weigh less than 1,500 pounds — meaning you can haul them with almost any car.

Among all the endurance events in which Sydney and James Mason have competed - open water swims, triathlons, half-marathons - Sydney calls last October's SwimRun "the craziest of them all."

As a little girl, I used to make backyard "fruit stew" on summer days.

How do you define a prized possession? Is it an object characterized by craftsmanship, imbued with memory, or that simply makes life better?

Anger is like fire. It can be as helpful as it can be harmful.

The use of alternative medicine is growing.

In 2016, Tiffany Herron asked her husband, Michael, for a DNA test for Christmas.

Dreaming of deluxe accommodations for your next vacation?

The latest trend doesn't require one to buy — or eat — literally anything at all (at least for a day or two each week).

Is it really 2020 already? Reflections on songbirds wintering in East Tennessee.

I met Santa Claus at the Hamilton Place mall office on a clear, hot, autumn day. He arrived to the boardroom sporting a white button-down and a gold-embroidered vest. In his fist, he clutched his signature red fur-trimmed hat.

Within the past three issues of Get Out, we have featured a different conservation group's newly hired executive director — and all have been women.

Skin-to-the-wind season may be over, but cool weather doesn't have to cost you all your summer paddling gains.