Into the Woods, Part II

Hello, Gentle Readers:

I haven't posted in a couple of days. I'd forgotten just how hard teaching full-time and having two kids can be. Summer's like some crazy kind of high. I know, logically, during summer, that I will be stressed and overworked once we all go back to school; but my summer-high mind convinces me just to forget it. "It's all good," my mind says, "Read some more. Why not hang out on Facebook for six hours or so?" The idea that I won't have time to burn seems too unlikely to be possible. So now I'm back to "real life," which is considerably harder. I have been looking forward to having a few minutes to write something.

I thought I should update the "60 Hikes within 60 Miles" situation. Since I last posted about this in July, the kids and I (and sometimes one of my sisters) have visited Caldwell Park (#22 in the book), Cincinnati Nature Center's Rowe Woods (#24), The Fort Thomas Landmark Tree Trail (#55), as well as John Bryan State Park in Yellow Springs, Ohio. JB didn't make the cut. Tamara York listed Clifton Gorge Nature Preserve, which connects to JB. I'm still counting it, though. They connect eventually, so it's as good as going on the trail. We've had mostly positive results. I have to qualify my answer with "mostly."

The first of these was our visit to Caldwell Park. The book listed Caldwell Park as being a good site for looking at fossils. This is pretty much all we got to do. The children, their aunt, and I all walked in the creek, looking for fossils. Then we ate lunch. Then Lily needed to use the restroom. We had to leave the park to do this, driving to the neighboring Caldwell recreation center, since there were no working potties at the park. We took care of the situation, with the children looking longingly at the rec center pool. Then they both noticed the playground there, so we got stuck for another twenty minutes. The kids were not into the hiking idea after that. Their aunt got them to take a very brief hike after promising them Graeters, which we ate post-hike in Hyde Park Square. What I found kind of funny about this hike was that the kids did end up enjoying nature but in their own way, not mine. They love tromping in creekbeds, and they love the little park with flowers and a giant pine tree in Hyde Park Square. The kids hid under the branches of the pine tree after they got done with their ice cream. Does this count? I think so.

Rowe Woods was a better fit. The Nature Center is a pay park, but it's so worth the six bucks or so you have to pay. However, I feared we would never get out of the visitor's center. They have an indoor interactive center for children. They have a library with "books for grown-ups," as Lily noted. Most importantly, they have a gift shop. As gift shops go, this one has a lot of nice things. But I hate gift shops in museums, nature centers, parks, etc. I hate gettting hassled for gifts, the subtle suggestions of "(sigh) It's too bad we can't get anything here," countered with my terse, "Yeah, well, it's a shame, isn't it?" It took a lot of coaxing to get my kids outside again. Once outside on the trail, though, we had a great time. We saw the same deer on three different occasions, as well as a bunch of frogs in a puddle and some really pretty flowers. The trails are the best marked I have ever seen in my life. They use pictures, which is cool for the early literacy set. The Center's goal is to educate children and young people about nature, and I think this mindset is evident the minute you drive into the park.

The Fort Thomas Tree Trail was altogether a different vibe than the Nature Center. The NC was packed when we went on a weekday. We were the only souls in the tree trail. Still, the Tree Trail has a sort of educational mission of its own. The point of the trail is the identification of 25 notable species of trees. The trees are well labeled; the trail is straight forward. Finding the trail was more difficult than I would have thought possible, especially considering it's in the Fort Thomas Army Reserve complex. Folks, this is right next door to Tower Park, which is about a six or seven minute drive from my house. But it's a secluded trail for certain. We found the trail and the kids finished the whole thing. I think what makes hiking the trail fun for kids is the tree identification. It gives them a goal to look forward to. "Hey, where's number 16? Do you see number 16?" "There it is! I see it, Mommy!" It's also nice that it's right in our backyard. Better still, the excellent Tower Park Playground would be a great reward for finishing the hike.

Today, we went to John Bryan Park. It took about a month of Sundays to get there, or so it felt. I've been there probably forty or so other times in my life. The kids don't remember this, but they've both been there before, at least twice for each of them (maybe even three or four times for Lily). Once we finally parked our car and hit the trail, Lily gasped and said, "Oh Mommy, it's BEAUTIFUL!" I agreed. This was probably our most successful foray to date. I had promised them waterfalls, but we didn't end up on the trail with the waterfalls. Vince was the trail leader, and he was keen on staying right next to the river. After a point the riverbank trail petered out, so we ended up on some other trail that wasn't gorge or cliff. It wasn't as pretty as what I had remembered, so I got the kids to climb up a hillside, saying, "I think that's the trail over there!" It wasn't, but I could see a trail a few feet below on the opposite side of where we'd been hiking. We got on that trail, and Vince sprinted up a whole boatload of steps in the process. We ended up in the park's campground, which we stayed in for about half an hour or so. Vincent pretended he wanted to build a fire. Lily confided in me that she "might want to look into Girl Scouts." They both like the idea of camping. I'm just happy to continue a family tradition. Some of my happiest memories of my dad are of the times we spent hiking. I can't help but think he's smiling at me from wherever Heaven might be, looking at his grandson, hiking stick in hand, going off the trail like generations of Bachman men before him.

I've got to go bathe my filthy children. Have a lovely evening.