Find Adventure Anywhere
Affordable tips for family fun.
by Heidi Evans
No matter where you are, there are opportunities to learn and some are as close as your own backyard.
1. Peruse your library and peek through the local interest section. These books will highlight the history, geology, biology and culture of the area. It may also contain guidebooks written for families. Visit the children’s section. Ask the librarian for help finding children’s books with local fables and stories.
2. Read the newspapers. Look for special publications that highlight the area’s festivals and cultural events. Many areas have special parades, foods or sports. Be on the lookout for science spectacles like animals migrating, leaves changing, wildflowers blooming, or crops ripening. If something special occurs, like a whale visit, drop everything and go.
3. Stay close to home. Visit local museums, historic sites, cemeteries and state and national parks. Call ahead and see if they have special displays or tours for children. Ask when it’s an off-peak time or month to visit and see if someone might be able to guide you. Ask local experts for advice in Native American tribal offices or ethnic lodges, like Sons of Norway.
4. Be prepared. Always bring food, water, towels, baby wipes, and a change of clothes. Trolling through farm fields can be wonderful, until someone trips in the mud. Hunger can sour the best adventurer. An accidental tumble in the water might end a great trip without a change of clothes.
5. Go local. Look for bugs and plants in the backyard. Sample water in a nearby creek and look at it with a microscope. Look at the stars with binoculars. Research the name of an area street or landmark. Visit a historic house of worship or take the time to actually stop at historic markers.
6. Take a map. Carry cash for parking and emergencies. Call ahead for directions if you can.
7. Find materials related to your trip. Many destinations have a store filled with children’s books and videos perfect to drive home great lessons, literally.
8. Ask your children lots of questions. “Why does that look like that?” “Why would that happen?” “If you saw that 100 years ago, how would you explain it?” Never be afraid to say, “I don’t know. Let’s find out!”
9. Reflect on your trip. Over dinner, have your children explain in their own words what they learned. Have them take pictures and compile them into a scrapbook they can share with friends and classmates.
What Heidi did
When summer arrives we spend at least one day each week learning by doing. No matter where we live or where we travel, there is something educational. From museums to nature hikes, cultural fairs and ethnic neighborhoods, a whole world may lie just down the street.
Hawaii, our last duty station, is great for learning with its cultural mix, delightful weather and unique environments. For the thousands of military families who live there, educational adventures are minutes away.
My favorite adventure began after reading the morning paper. I read that a new trail would open the next day outside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park allowing folks to walk to an area where lava was flowing to the sea. We decided to leave the next morning and surprise our three boys.
A few hours later, we witnessed a slow, constant river of black ooze steadily creeping into the crevices only a yard or two from our feet. Waves of heat from 2,000-degree lava drifted over us, curling our eyelashes. Unstoppable ooze melted or ignited all in its path from trees and ferns to the metal and plastic signs used just that morning to mark the path to the sea. When you thought it stopped, you glanced back to watch it engulf another foot or two. Its cooling surface crackled like burnt sugar cookies. Smoke and sulfur nestled in our noses and hair.
It was better than any geology lecture and worth every penny we put on the credit card. We slept that night at the Kilauea Mountain Camp, a resort for military families on the volcano’s edge. Our dreams were filled with new respect for the earth-giving and life-taking mountain that pulsed beneath us.
Heidi’s military-living advice
Visit the Barking Sands Cottages at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai. Thanks to its isolation, Barking Sands has some of the best star-gazing on the planet. For an unforgettable astronomy lesson, bring star charts and binoculars. See the Milky Way plainly for the first time. The visible stars gathered in the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, can easily be counted.
Closer to home, Oahu has great opportunities for learning. Try Chinatown in downtown Honolulu. A mix of Asian cultures is represented here including merchants from Vietnam, Laos, China, Japan, the Philippines and Korea. The area is especially interesting in January when the Chinese New Year is celebrated. Be sure to eat lunch, choosing from dozens of unique vendors. Just the aromas wafting through the air are almost worth the trip.
No matter where you live, take advantage of all your home has to offer. Your children will learn to appreciate the planet, taste new things, travel without fear, and acquire the confidence to tackle anything.