In college, I enjoyed wandering the mountain trails of the foothills in Boulder, Colorado. Then I came out to Chicago and, for many years, I thought there was nothing comparable here. It was only a few years ago, but my life is definitely better for knowing about them.
I don't get out there as much as I might like, life gets busy, but I always leave happier than when I started. I like to drag my boys out there too. And though they don't always start super excited to be out there, they always leave happier too.
This most recent visit was to check off another thing from our summer list. We have visited this reserve many times, and in the last year or two they've been adding more visible trail markers. It's really been helpful; we still find new trails!
Hiking with a two year old sometimes gets exciting, but Moon's stamina is increasing! We walked for over an hour and he made it the whole way! Our trail followed a river for a while and, boy, the mosquitoes along there were BIG! Despite our bug spray, we all got a few nibbles, but we made it out ok.
There were patches of the trail that had obviously been under water recently. Happily, it wasn't too muddy anymore as we were walking through, but there were some really great animal footprints. We saw some deer prints and (probably) some raccoon prints too.
So we wandered all over, played and explored.. then we headed back. We were about ready to be done, when we discovered a book walk. It was a funny book too, kept the boys walking even though seconds before discovering it, they were so ready to quit.
Then, to finish up, we headed into the nature center. It's a great place, all sorts of toys and places to explore, inside and out.
Yep, I'm happy to have discovered that these places exist.
1 comment:
Looks like a real fun place! Story trails are always fun!
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