Strenuous Life Adventures

Theodore Roosevelt traveled the world and had daring adventures in an age before jet travel made it easy to hop continents and visit the most remote and exotic locales. Roosevelt also extolled the strenuous life, a philosophy about hard work and strife as a means for individuals to succeed and for America at the turn of the last century to become a great nation.

In the spirit of Roosevelt’s wanderlust and call-to-action, the Theodore Roosevelt Association sponsors Strenuous Life Adventures, in which we follow in TR’s footsteps, touring and revisiting the history of places of importance in TR’s life and legacy.

• traveling to France to follow the paths of Roosevelt’s four sons in World Wars I and II
• visiting Medora, ND, for a long weekend of horse riding, gun shooting, lasso practice, hiking and branding for a taste of Roosevelt’s life-defining experience as a cowboy and rancher in Dakota Territory
• taking a US government-licensed educational trip to Cuba to walk in TR’s footsteps up Kettle and San Juan Hills, where he had his self-described Crowded Hour in the Spanish-American War.
• In 2014, TRA Members traveled to Panama to commemorate the centennial of the opening of the canal and retrace Theodore Roosevelt's steps from his visit in 1906 to check on the progress of the Panama Canal.
• In 2016, retracing Theodore Roosevelt's visit to Rio de Janeiro and the Amazon to gain a real understanding of his greatest and most harrowing adventure, officially the Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition, but better known today as TR’s River of Doubt journey
• 2018 Strenuous Life Adventure in Dakota Territory