A family road trip to South Dakota raises questions about the line between vandalism and art. When I dropped my daughter off at school last week, I noticed a giant multi-colored splotch of spray-painted graffiti on the school’s brick wall. It was unsightly and amateurish. Clearly, this was vandalism. Yet, […]
Leaf Creatures
October 9, 2012 by 8 Comments
Autumn is the Perfect Time to Turn Leaves into Roosters and Turtles. With the arrival of fall, leaves are bursting in fiery shades of gold, crimson, and orange. My favorite are the ones that remain stubbornly green at the center but rimmed with red and yellow. As if they’re not […]
Island Camping in Maine: Part II
August 1, 2012 by 28 Comments
High Adventure on Isle au Haut Click here to read Part I It wasn’t total deprivation. We did have a bag of those enormous oversized marshmallows, dark chocolate chips, and graham crackers. The kids roasted the marshmallows over a roaring fire and stuffed themselves with s’mores. After dinner we climbed […]
Nature Detectives on Wheels
June 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
This summer, after a decade-long hiatus from mountain biking—and when I say mountain biking, I mean the blood-on-your-knees, dirt-in-your-teeth variety—I was thrilled to find myself navigating roots and rocks and whoop-de-doos on a dirt trail with my two boys, ages 8 and 11. Until this point, my kids hadn’t done […]
Nature Detectives Kids Club
June 6, 2012 by 3 Comments
The first rule of hiking with kids is this: Never say “hike.” It’s a four-letter word. So earlier this week, when I took the kids on a hike to Walden Ponds, I told them we were going on an adventure. An outdoor nature treasure hunt. Arghhhhh! They were gung ho. […]
