Gee, Your Sweat Smells Terrific!

We spent a lot of time at various state and metro parks over Labor Day weekend, in part because it was too expensive to drive around seeing things through the windows of our air conditioned car (which is what we were doing when it was 95+ on the weekends and we were sick of spending time in yet another mall). We did have to drive to the parks, which kind of defeated our "save gas!" plan for the long weekend; however, we used only a little more than a quarter tank of gas over the past four days, so I'm pretty pleased overall. Thanks to Nashville's sprawl-free "lots to do in a little area" planning for this! Remember, we moved here from Detroit -- Land of the Free (Sprawl).

This weekend ended up being a little bit hotter than the meteorologists were predicting, and I found myself breaking into a very unladylike sweat on more than one instance during our hikes around the park (especially those "strenuous" trails at Radnor Lake!). Although I did not officially check, I am sure that I smelled more like sweat and less like my Glacier Fresh deodorant as the day progressed.

During the course of our hike, we passed nine or ten people headed the opposite direction. Although I am not known for my heightened sense of smell and am not the type of person who sniffs at other people as they walk by, I couldn't help but noticed that at least five or six of them smelled fantastic (a few smelled neutral and one smelled kind of sweaty) as they walked by, tricking my nose into believing that we had just wandered into a field of wildflowers or that we were walking among freshly laundered sheets, drying in the sunshine-infused summer breeze.

I will be the first to admit that I am not really "up" on the latest perfume brands or body sprays. Although I have smelled a few that I've liked over the years, in general I feel that many of them are too heady for everyday enjoyment, and make you smell as if you're going to the clubs to get lucky rather than out for a summer stroll through the woods. What I smelled on these woodsy paths, however, seemed as natural as a flower or a moss or a wind off the lake. It was remarkable.

I don't know their secret. Is it something they spray on before heading out, something they wash their hair with, something infused into their clothes in some way? I have to find out what it is, and plan to take a poll of the good-smellees the next time I'm hiking through the woods. Scent-challenged People of the World, I am on the case.