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MacBeth
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Hey folks! I was wondering if you could give me a hand...  . I'm working hard on the book-that-is-taking-forever  , and I'm hoping to include a few quotes from moms who have discovered great places for nature study. I just have a few quick questions:
Where do you go?
How far is it?
What does it cost (if anything)?
What kind of environments does it have (pond, forest, etc.)?
How often do you get there?
Thanks! I'm looking forward to your answers!
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MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
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lapazfarm
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You are writing a book??? Fabulous!!!
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Theresa
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MacBeth
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I've been "writing" the books for 10 years.
Writing=procrastinating while playing with words, doing "research" (hiking about), and surfing the net.
But I seem to have figured it all out now, and I am flying through chapter by chapter...could just use a little help from around the world (beg, beg).
Have you found a favorite spot yet? 
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MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
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lapazfarm
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Does Denali National Park count? It's kind of a BIG spot!LOL!
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Theresa
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mellyrose
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We have lots of favorite nature places around us!
One of Nate's current favorite spots is the Riparian Preserve. It is about 10 miles from our home and is free (well, you can purchase a membership which helps program costs, etc. but you don't have to.)
Nate loves it because there are lots of birds and there are plenty of places he can just sit by the water and be quiet. (which is very unusual for my boy -- he is usually not quiet, so I try to encourage that feeling in him!)
We don't get there much in the summer because of the heat, but we'll go every few weeks when the weather is cooler.
Another thing that gets us closer to nature is geocaching. There are so many caches hidden around here and they give us the opportunity to hike into many areas!
And, our old standy is the Desert Botanical Garden. We've been members since we moved to AZ, which is almost 10 years now. Once again, when the weather permits, we go often -- although probably not as often in the past due to gas prices and our own personal budget this year. It's good for the kids though because they get extremely familiar with the exhibits and plants, etc.
Good Luck with your book!!
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MacBeth
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lapazfarm wrote:
| Does Denali National Park count? It's kind of a BIG spot!LOL! |
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If Yellowstone and Algonquin count... 
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MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
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MacBeth
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Thanks Melanie! That's perfect!!
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MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
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Sarah M
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We have found several new favorite nature spots this past year. Our goal is to visit one new nature spot and visit at least three others we are familiar with each month (this works out to once per week, which fits nicely into our Naure-Day-Fridays plan). Sometimes we find a gem and visit it again and again throughout the seasons, to see how it changes over the course of the year.
Our very very favorite is Point Defiance Park, here in Tacoma. It's only about 15 minutes from where we live, and is free. It's also located right next to the Zoo, so if we're feeling really ambitious, we might tackle both in one day. There are countless trails here, so even though we go back almost weekly, we haven't seen them all. The wildlife here is incredible- just last week on our nature walk we saw 5 racoons, a fawn, a red-tailed hawk, a turkey vulture, and several kinds of songbirds. We've also spotted some deserted birds nests and a whole host of insects that I've yet to identify. The trails are forested. There is literally no end to the nature study to be found here- we would easily pick this as our local favorite.
The Nisqually Wildlife Refuge is a new favorite of ours. The birding here is amazing, and quite a variety of wildlife habitats are offered: saltmarsh, mudflats, a protected estuary, woodlands and open grasslands. The cost to visit is $3 per family. There is also a gift shop, where I found some neat books on nature journaling, and excellent local field guides. We get there about once per month- it's a 30 minute drive from where we live.
Another favorite is the Trail at Snake Lake at the Tacoma Nature Center. There is a donation-only mini museum inside, where kids can see native turtles and snakes up close, as well as a gift shop. The trail loops around a couple miles, though we take the .5 mile shortcut loop with our little ones. We love to scout out the wood duck, the mallards, and the native turtles that live in the wetlands. Huge ant hills can be seen in the forest area, as well. We visit this place once or twice per month, and it's only about 15 minutes from where we live.
One more gem we've found- though it's about 2.5 hours north of where we live, is the Tennant Lake Park and adjoining Hovander Farm in Ferndale, WA. We visit whenever we visit my family that lives up there, usually a couple of times per year. The wetlands boast a narrow boardwalk that provides excellent specimens for my little birdwatchers and bug cathers. The kids love to dip their jars into the pond to see what they can catch. We always stroll through the fragrance garden (my 4 year old is our resident botanist-in-training, and this is her favorite part), and then we wander over to Hovander Farm, just around the corner for a picnic lunch, a play on the swingset, and a gander at all the farm animals that live there: sheep, rabbits, chickens, and cows. Visiting here is free!
Those are our top picks, MacBeth- hope that helps! I'll be the first in line to buy your book(s) when they're done!
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CandaceC
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Oh, we definitely have a favorite, it has been AWESOME for us!!
We live in a very small city in a neighborhood, but if we walk just a little over a block away, nature treasures galore await us! There is a wildlife conservation spot just behind our neighborhood. It is the end of a lake, very marshy, lots of trees. They built 2 observation decks that we go on at times. Or sometimes we "trudge" through the tall grass on the semi-paths that are there.
In our favorite spot we have seen 14 turtles at one time! We have seen too many birds to count, beavers, huge fish, small fish, lots of insects, ducks, zebra swallotail butterflies and lots of wildflowers which we are starting to identify!
The best thing about our "spot" is that it is FREE! Oh, and we can walk there in just a few minutes! We try to get down there 1x per week. Sometimes more, sometimes less.
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Candace - wife to David since 2000...mommy to Hannah (Feb. 2002), Emily (April 2003) and Caleb (March 2005)
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SuzanneG
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Carkeek Park is our all-time favorite place to go. The beaches of Puget Sound are marvelous. It's only a couple miles from us. It's wonderful for low-tide-beachcombing, as well as lots of wooded areas for hiking and nature walks. We've spent hours turning over rocks on the beach and exploring. There is a very short trail in the woods that I can do with only me and the kids, where there are streams, beautiful trees and lots of birds. At least once every summer we defy all scheduled bedtimes and head out here to watch the sun set.
We see lots fun creatures at around a jetty at "Brackett's Landing", which is about 7 miles from us.....another great low-tide area. It's near a ferry dock; there is something relaxing about watching a ferry go in and out.
I put all the low tide dates on the calendar and try to go whenever we can. In the summer, about 3-4 times/month. In August when we are having warmer weather, sometimes more. The rest of the year, we go about once/month. Cost: nothing
We also go to pond/park about a half-mile from our house. We try to get here at least once/month. The cost is nothing, except snacks or a packed lunch. It takes anywhere from 20-60 minutes to walk around this pond, depending on what we find to explore or observe. The trail is stroller-friendly and even the toddlers can walk around most of it. We always wear our rain boots, so we can walk wherever we want to. We see all kinds of animals, pond life and foliage here and watch lots of babies grow up! Lots of berries and flowers. There are picnic tables where we sometimes sit and draw and a playground. We have a tradition at this park: On Labor Day morning, we have breakfast at the pond with Daddy. It's just us, the ducks and the birds!
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lapazfarm
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Although we love Denali park, we have not had a chance to explore it very much yet. We hope to get to know it well, but so far she is still just a beautiful stranger to us.
So...I asked the kids and they say their favorite so far has been tidepooling at Fort Abercrombie State Historical Park in Kodiak all last summer. We absolutely loved exploring the rocky tidepools and went as often as we could (nearly daily). We saw so much wildlife there, not only in the amazing tidepools, but in the whole surrounding area. Kodiak Island as a whole really is a naturalist's paradise. Imagine tidepooling in an emerald island paradise, with humpback whales breaching in the inlet, eagles flying overhead, streams full of bright red salmon and big brown bears prowling the shores.
All of the photos in this post were taken at Fort Abercrombie. It really is a little piece of heaven.
Fort Abercrombie State Historical Park
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Kathryn UK
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Our favourite place for nature study is Stockgrove Country Park, which is about two miles away from us.
The environment there is very mixed. The heart of the area is ancient woodland, designated an official "site of special scientific interest" and managed using traditional coppicing methods. There is an area of reintroduced native heathland, some open grassland, and a conifer plantation. In addition there is a lake and a small pond area with a platform for nature study. There are a number of organised nature activities, particularly during the school holidays, ranging from bat spotting to bug hunting and building nesting boxes. The rangers are homeschooling friendly and very happy to arrange activities for homeschool groups.
How often we go depends largely on the weather. Typically at least once a month, but more during the summer.
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Donna
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Choosing one would be difficult!
For years Montour Preserve has been a favorite, especially when the kids were younger. The trails are very doable with littles and the calendar of activities is always filled with great nature study: birding, pond studies, wildflower walks, butterfly study, there is even a fossil pit. Rare is the visit that we don't see turtles from the lake crossing the trail, or beavers in the pond. The naturalist at the Preserve is awesome and always eager to set up private studies with just our family or our entire homeschool group. Montour Preserve is about 25 miles from our home and we travel there about 5 or 6 times a year.
As much as I love Montour Preserve, I have to say my favorite place on earth is the Pine Creek Rail Trail which runs through Lycoming and Tioga Counties along the Pine Creek Gorge. The 62 mile trail, which runs through the PA Grand Canyon, has the most magnificent scenery I've ever seen. Once an old rail line, the trail's right-of-way is now owned by Bureau of Forestry. Biking the trail is never really just "biking the trail" as we stop so often for birding, snake identification, creek exploration, and wildflower photos. We often see Great Blue Herons and have even viewed several magestic bald eagles that nest along Pine Creek each year.
We choose different starting points each time we go. Since the trail is 62 miles it can be just 20 miles from home...or up to 80 when we travel further north. We ride the trail up to 15 times a year.
Oh, and there is no cost for either location !
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lilac hill
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The natural area of our shale hill includes forests grown up from farm fields still bordered by hay and evergreen farm fields and pasture. The small creeks and runs are often seasonal.
Because I walk it often,I have a more intimate knowledge of the small , almost daily changes of this "natural area" as it moves through the seasons.
Seasonally I can watch the changes in plant and animal life due to the effect of ice storms, falling trees, mild winters, maturing forests, fluctuating deer populations and drought. The changes caused by man made actions, logging, paving, and mowing the side of the road also have an observable impact as well.
My nature area becomes my point of referents when I leave our hill. I compare wildflower bloom times, understory plant success,animal paths and tracks to small creeks and I listen for familiar bird calls.
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Viv
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Mackfam
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| Posted: July 24 2008 at 9:40am | IP Logged
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lapazfarm wrote:
| You are writing a book??? Fabulous!!! |
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My thought exactly!
Instead of re-writing - this is a post from our "Signs of Spring" nature walk that is most descriptive of our favorite place...
family farm down the road
about 5 miles away - anything further and we wouldn't go as often.
Quote:
| What does it cost (if anything)? |
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nothing!
Quote:
| What kind of environments does it have (pond, forest, etc.)? |
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120 acres of marshes and wetlands, forest, natural spring, pasture, river and beach
Quote:
| How often do you get there? |
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it varies with the seasons, sicknesses around here, etc. We shoot for weekly - sometimes it's just once a month.
Can't wait for the book, MacBeth!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
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hereinantwerp
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I tend to go to the places right near our house--or not go at all!! But I like the idea of really knowing the land right around me, of noticing the little daily things.
There is road leading behind the local bank that quickly turns to gravel. The Palouse "River" (which to me looks more like a creek!), runs along here, and there are all sorts of trees and dead tree snags, it's a wonderful place for bird watching. Then some high rocky hills on the other side side of the road, some blackish birds seem to have nests way up there in the rocks, and they swarm all around in the evening. Lots of tall grasses, bushes, and reeds--bright green and browns and golds, so beautiful an hour before sundown. There are certain spots along this road where the birds congregate. One nice thing about this road is it is flat!!
Another area behind the big baseball field, a paved walking trail of sorts, also along the Palouse river. From this one there is a place where you can walk down to the bank of the river, where you can find minnows and crawdads and water-skippers. Lots of bushes and low trees, reeds and grasses, thistle, lots of birds. The river itself here is very pretty, with high, brushy hills in the background which are a mixture of green, gold and brown, and reeds and cattails along the side. Next door is the golf course, with lots of different trees.
There is a road that climbs up, up, up behind our house, with loads of wild apple trees that nobody picks, some berries, lots of brush and wild flowers like bachelor button and another very pretty purple one I can't find the name of (I want to learn these things!), and almost always, deer munching on the grass or resting in the shade of the hills. On the other side of our house (another climb!), you can walk up to the St. Patrick's Catholic Church which has quite a bit of land surrounding it--wide grass fields, lots of beautiful trees, lots of deer trails and deer scat and sometimes in the morning or evening, the deer themselves (they are quite a pest around here!!). There is a little grotto I climb up to, with a little stone bench--if I make the climb, sit on the bench to meditate and look out on the trees and pray for 5 minutes, and then make the descent home, it is exactly half an hour, so this is my regular morning walk!
A few other things about where I live: This Fall, I took a walk along our own street, and the trees were so beautiful I went and got a camera!! We live in an older neighborhood (our house was built in 1890, as were many around us--well, old for the West!!), and I LOVE all the huge, established trees, leafy green in the summer and brillaint gold, orange, red, rust, pale brown, and deep plum in the Fall. One thing I never seem to see here is squirrels. I don't know why (?). We have seen several garter snakes in our yard and in the park nearby, we kept one over the winter as a pet! Many birds frequent our yard, especially sparrows, robins and wrens. Although we are right in the heart of our little town, not too far away neighbors keep sheep, horses and even pigs, which are fun to check in on as we walk by! Driving through the wheat and lentil fields it is very common to see hawks, soaring in the sky, often in pairs, or resting on the telephone poles and fenceposts. I do believe I have seen a golden eagle or two!, also occasionally a Ring-Necked Pheasant. In a nearby town where we lived we had tons of magpies, but for some reason I never see them here. You can hear the owls at night, though I haven't seen them either. When I was small we used to find the Indian Paintbrush and suck out the nectar. We have WAY too many wasps. That's all I can think of for now!
PS, Can't wait to read your book!!!
PPS, My favorite "travel to" places would be Hug Point near Cannon Beach in Oregon or Ecola State Park. Also in the Cascades, near Leavenworth.
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Angela Nelson
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MaryM
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I was going to ask for a little clarification myself, but you seem to have answered some of the questions - like the fact it can be a "big, famous" place. I still am wondeirng if your main goal is creating a listing of actual places around the country (world) or if your hoping for a collection of example of the types of places to look for nearby? Does that make sense?
Of course Yellowstone would be a favorite here as well but we only make it there every 5 years or so.
The Arizona-Sonora Dessert Museum in Tucson, AZ. It’s a combination zoo, botanic gardens, nature center. It is amazing as this is such a unique ecosystem for the US. Since we don’t live here we don’t visit very often, every couple of years. Depending on time of year cost is $9.50-12.50 for adults, $2.25-4.25 for children, under 6 free.
Castlewood Canyon State Park is a park in our area which we enjoy for nature study. It is about 30 miles from us and we go several times a year, mostly in summer. There is a $5 vehicle entrance fee. The environment is stream/creek, canyon, short-grass prairie.
Highline Canal and trail is just on the outskirts of our neighborhood so maybe a quarter mile away, but can be followed for miles in either direction. We go there in spurts, sometimes daily sometime not for weeks. There is no cost. The environment is waterway and wetlands habitat. Last year was especially wonderful for our nature study as we happened upon a roost of a Great-horned owl pair. Eventually over the course of the several months we did determine that they were a nesting pair with babies and watched as they progressed to fledgling. Very exciting.
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MacBeth
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MaryM wrote:
I was going to ask for a little clarification myself, but you seem to have answered some of the questions - like the fact it can be a "big, famous" place. I still am wondeirng if your main goal is creating a listing of actual places around the country (world) or if your hoping for a collection of example of the types of places to look for nearby? Does that make sense?
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I have several goals  . I want to make it clear that nature study can be done without spending a lot of time driving or paying large fees. I also would like to get a feel for what kind of places there are across the country. In other words, while local places for us include seashore and forest, what would a park in Colorado have? Or Arizona? Or Michigan?
Thanks for all the replies so far...I am not sure how I will arrange the info in the book, but I am enjoying reading about everyone's favorite spots.
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MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
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Kristie 4
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When we lived on a small island (Flores Island) off the west coast of Vancouver Island we had a fabulous trail we hiked all the time called the Wild Side.
We got there by walking out our door (car gets left on the big Island) to the trail head, about 10 minutes down a dirt road.
No cost.
We went a few times a week.
The beginning of the trail had a small creek running along it. Next up was the cranberry bog. After that you were right into a temperate rainforest- huge trees, lots of oxygen and out of this world (in my opinion). Then it was onto a rugged white sand beach. From there you hiked way down the beach to join the next boardwalk through the woods and then onto the next beach. We never made it to the end of the trail (or the end of the beaches) even though my dh and ds hiked for many, many hours some days.
Sorry, a bit of a reminiscing on my part (can you tell I live downtown in a big city now and am missing my trail?)
Have fun with the book....I will be looking forward to seeing it!
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MichelleW
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Our favorite is tidepooling at the beach which is free, except for the gas. It is 45 minutes away, but we make it there often enough to see it change through the seasons.
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Michelle
Mom to 3 (dd 14, ds 15, and ds 16)
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Describe your favorite nature area?
