July 21, 2008

Adventurous Woman: Michelle Halbsgut

From the Bucks County Courier Times:

Get ready for adventure, women
By CRISSA SHOEMAKER DEBREE
Bucks County Courier Times

In the past few years, Rosemarie Dziedzic has been kayaking, target shooting, tubing and hiking. She draws the line at skydiving, anything with snakes or crocodiles and caving — in that order. But count her in for any other adventure that Awesome Adventure Women cooks up.

The company, started three years ago by Michelle Halbsgut of Milford in Upper Bucks, arranges adventure tours for women like Dziedzic, who have an adventuresome spirit but aren't likely to plan their own trips.

“I have no time to organize or even think about what to do for entertainment,” said Dziedzic, a day trader and part-time chiropractor who also lives in Milford. “It's perfect for the working person. ... That's the uniqueness of the club. You just wouldn't have done some of these things on your own. And you don't have to go by yourself.”

Halbsgut, “49 and holding,” said she has always enjoyed outdoor activities.

“As a child, I just always liked the adventure,” she said. “I was climbing the rocks at the lake when I was 3 years old. My grandmother was nervous, but my mom said, "Let her go, she'll know when she needs to come down.' ”

Halbsgut stayed home for several years raising her two children, who are now 19 and 21. When she got divorced, she said she realized she needed to go back to work and started her own massage therapy business. Halbsgut also teaches leadership skills for organizations in Chalfont and Philadelphia.

She said she “makes good money” from massage therapy, but Halbsgut really wants to help women overcome their fears.

“I had always been an adventurist,” she said. “I kept hearing that other women wanted to try the same thing. You don't want to go alone. I want to give them that opportunity to get over fears, take the challenge and exceed at that challenge, and feel good that they did it.”

Read the rest of the article here.

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