Spring Broke
Posted by Toni | Filed under Adventures at Home, Day Trips, Get Outdoors, Local Adventures, Parenting
If finances are keeping you close to home for spring break this year, read on.
While many families are heading someplace warm or with water slides for spring break, due to current budget constraints, we’ll be spending our week off closer to home. Even if I’m a bank-account-mostly-empty parent right now, I’m also a coffee-cup-half-full kind [...]
Familiar Adventures
Posted by Toni | Filed under Day Trips
I suppose I could just call these “traditions,” but where’s the excitement in that?
This year, I was all set to research the best pumpkin patches and corn mazes within an hour or two from our home, when my seven-year-old (seen jumping for joy, above) came to me and asked if we were going to visit [...]
A Hike Into the Past
Posted by Toni | Filed under Day Trips
You can almost hear the eye rolls when you mention the “h” word. I’m not talking double hockey sticks here; I mean History.
“BOOORING!”
I often tell my kids that boredom is a choice, but they still don’t get particularly fired up about history, unless it involves what Yoshis appear in which Super Mario Bros. games. [...]
Tags: "bring the family", "Living History", autumn, Conservation, Day Trips, family travel blog, Hiking, History, Illinois, local, Midwest, Nature, October, Toni Klym McLellan, trail
A Surprising Spring Hike
Posted by Toni | Filed under Day Trips
A couple of weekends ago, our family headed to Starved Rock State Park, a popular outdoor destination for people in the Chicago area and Northern Illinois. Of course, as many who visit well-loved parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Smoky Mountain National Parks know, “popular” often equals “crowded,” unless you know the secret to avoiding most [...]
Quaking Bogs and Boy-Eating Plants
Posted by Toni | Filed under Day Trips
As I mentioned in my previous post lamenting our lack of snackage, the boys and I did a brief but fun hike at Volo Bog State Natural Area in Ingleside, Illinois (about 45 miles northwest of Chicago) last weekend.
Carved by the glaciers that ambled through here a few thousand seasons ago, we learned that Volo [...]
Tags: "quaking bog", "Volo Bog", Day Trippin', fauna, flora, Hiking, Illinois, January, Midwest, Nature, On the Road, trail, Winter
