Be Out there! On June 27th join the Great American Backyard Campout with the National Wildlife Federation Great American Backyard Campout. Planning your campout is helped along with this website. Campfire songs and crafts and activities are linked here. And don’t forget to review my earlier post about camping with children!
Great American Backyard Campout
June 9, 2009
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Nature Activities, Places to Explore | Tagged: backyard camping, camping, Camping With Kids, child, children, family, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, Green Hour, kids, Places to Go | 
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Posted by mygrandmasue
New Whitewater Park at Rock Park
June 8, 2009There is a new Whitewater Park at Rock Park in Sparks, NV. Now there is quite the rapids to get through if you start at Reno and float your way down to Sparks on the Truckee River! Overcoming early obstacles, the revamping of the river at Rock Park is the start of river restoration that’s taking place. More info is here.
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Ten Tips for Camping with Kids
June 7, 2009Ten Tips for Camping with Kids was an article in the 6/6/09 Reno Gazette Journal that called out to family campers. The attitude of the GROWNUPS is key!! Plan for fun but still have rules! This is well worth your time even if you aren’t in the Reno area – apply it to your area!
1 Comment | Nature Activities, Places to Explore | Tagged: backyard camping, camping, Camping With Kids, child, children, family, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, Green Hour, kids, nature, Places to Go | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
Free Fishing Days!
June 6, 2009This next week (June 6-14) is National Fishing and Boating Week. It is every year for the first full week of June. It coincides with Free Fishing Days in most of the States. Free Fishing Day means Grandpa can take the grandkids fishing and not need a license to do so! Check out the details at www.takemefishing.com. You can select your state to see if and when your state’s Free Fishing Day is.
The Reno Gazette Journal article identified June 13 to be Free Fishing Day at Nevada’s Division of State Parks parks. According to Dave Morrow, administrator of the Nevada Division of State Parks, “all of our water-based parks are participating by giving free entrance to visitors who show fishing poles at the park entrance.” Some of the participating parks are Washoe Lake, Sand Harbor, Dayton, Rye Patch State Recreation Area and Fort Churchill State Historic Park.
From the Nevada Department of Wildlife site, the Sparks Marina will have Rotary members from Sparks and Reno and staff from the Nevada Department of Wildlife on hand to assist those with little or no fishing experience. Fishing equipment will be available for children to use if they don’t have their own. Parents must accompany their children to the event.
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Posted by mygrandmasue
The Huntington – Library, Art Collection, and Gardens
May 29, 2009The Huntington is a beautiful place once owned by Henry E Huntington of railroad and Southern CA real estate fame. During his lifetime he collected fine and rare books to create one of the best libraries in the world, accumulated an impressive collection of British art – including Blue Boy and Pinkie, and constructed 130 acres into beautiful botanically-significant gardens.
The camillias are gorgeous – and one of the largest collections in the US.
The Huntington is at 1151 Oxford Rd in San Marino, Ca.
626-405-2100
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Posted by mygrandmasue
Fort Atkinson, WI, Indian Mounds
May 27, 2009Growing up in Fort Atkinson, WI, we periodically visited the local Indian Mounds in Indian Mounds Park as a school trip. There are eleven mounds consisting of tapering linear, conical, bird and turtle mounds. I found them fascinating back when I was 10 but I never thought I’d be studying Indian civilization when I was all grown up! Here is a list of Indian mound parks in Wisconsin (You have to scroll down to Jefferson County for Fort Atkinson.). The Princess Mound is at the Lake Mills Aztalan Museum at the Aztalan State Park, the site of a ceremonial and residential Native American town established around 1100 AD.
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Posted by mygrandmasue
Bonneville Dam
May 27, 2009Austin and Bella had fun watching the fish going up the fish ladder at Bonneville Dam in Cascade Locks, Oregon near the Columbia River Gorge. In May, a huge ball of sturgeon was discovered at the base of the dam by fisheries biologists, who at first thought it was debris. Sturgeon are one of the Columbia’s largest and most ancient fish. We have enjoyed feeding the fish and strolling the grounds at Bonneville Dam on several ocassions.
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Posted by mygrandmasue
Fishing or Birding with Grandpa
May 25, 2009A great place to fish or birdwatch with Grandpa is Horseshoe Lake in Southern Illinois near Cairo. It has lots of large-mouth bass and catfish. The whole lake is 4 feet deep (3 ft average). It used to be part of the Mississippi River. There are 15 bald eagles in the Horseshoe Lake area in winter – they like the over 150,000 Canadian Geese that show up too! There is another Horseshoe Lake closer to St. Louis that has Cahokian significance and also the same kind of outdoor experiences available: fishing, boating, hiking, camping, birding and picnic areas.
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Missouri Botanical Garden
May 21, 2009Lots of activities for little ones are on the calendar at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri. Then there’s the Butterfly House in Faust Park, 15193 Olive Blvd. in Chesterfield, EarthWays Center at 3617 Grandel Square – St. Louis, and the Shaw Nature Reserve at Hwy. 100 & I-44 in Gray Summit. Family classes and activities are offered at the Shaw Nature Reserve. The mbgnet is a wonderful, interactive learning and information tool that is a lot of fun to use. Virtual tours are also available!
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Avenue of the Giants
May 20, 2009One of our favorite drives is the Avenue of the Giants. It is a section of Highway 101 in Northern California. By chance I popped in the CD “Music to Disappear In” into the player. Grandpa Ron and I had one of our most spiritual experiences driving through the redwoods with the god-like music playing. It was just so totally awesome! I even got a photo of fairies dancing in the sunlight in a small clearing in the trees. I’ll have to get that photo posted so you can see for yourself!
Roadside America has its own take of the tourist attractions to probably stay away from! 😉
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Posted by mygrandmasue
MyGrandmaSue 