adventure and travel to discover the unknown and uncommon…with kids
The season was just beginning to settle into fall. The day had been filled with dramatic clouds, dark against the sun, and on and off downpours. As evening approached, I headed out of Knoxville towards the Smoky Mountains. My destination was the Foothills Parkway.
“Mommy, I think we’re going to have to live here!”, my daughter cried as we realized that we had been in this spot already. We were lost! Not only were we lost but we appeared to be walking in circles. My son pointed out a rock that we had passed two previous times. I looked up at the sky. The once blue sky had grown cloudy and threatened rain. I wondered just how many hours had passed as we wandered, heads to the ground, hoping to find our way. Our map was useless. Huge parts of it were missing, providing us only pieces of where we were and needed to go. We came to a fork, the path split in three different ways. My two older kids fought over which path to take. I was pretty sure one of the trails looked familiar. We had traveled on it during some of our wanderings. My husband ended the argument by stating that we would take the third option. Skirting a mud puddle, we continued our journey. “This is crazy” I thought and yelled up to the girl sitting on the deck high above us, “Hey, can you give us a clue?” Continue reading “purposely lost”
There’s a tree a little ways down the road from where we live. It’s a huge oak tree that stands alone in the middle of a field. A couple weeks ago I noticed that the tree’s leaves had started to turn; a few brilliant red and orange leaves on the very top of the full green tree. I thought of how summer was definitely over and fall was coming. This morning I looked at that same oak tree as I drove by and was shocked to see that the whole top half of the tree was bare! The leaves had not only turned but fallen off. All it’s going to take is a good wind storm to blow off the rest. Where has fall gone?
I love this time of year, but it is so busy. The move from the lazy, hedonistic days of summer to the fast paced craziness of autumn is always a jolt. There’s usually not even time to mourn the end of summer! We are off in a never ending stream of work, school, activities, homework, meetings,and events. I want to notice that oak tree, but it’s so hard to do as I zoom by at 50mph. That’s why I cherish our annual fall weekend in the Adirondacks in New York state. We abandon all activities and commitments in order to head north and gather as a family and just relax…. Continue reading “fall in the adirondacks”
7feetnorth 