Footsteps

 

 In-Town Tourist: Hello Summer! [1:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Don’t let the temporarily (I hope!) damp cold weather fool you.  Summer has arrived here in Ohio.  My oldest son started a full-time job in downtown Columbus this morning.  My younger two are undoubtedly wriggling in their seats at school today, minds wandering ahead to Wednesday morning, when their own summer vacation will finally begin.

Like many, I’ve been planning how best to accomodate the summertime shift to our schedule.  In years past we kept a basket of our written activity goals for summer.  These goals ranged from kayaking and biking to picnics and “ice cream walks”.  From going to the fair to cleaning the garage (one of mine)…  We all wrote down three or four choices and emptied the basket over the summer months.  I kept the slips of paper as “evidence”, however, for the inevitable “we haven’t done anything!” moment of boredom that typically ocurs in mid-July.

My aim is to designate an afternoon each week for an “In-Town Tourist” type activity.  Dawes Arboretum, Blackhand Gorge, The Kokosing Trail, The National Airforce Museum, The Columbus Zoo…  we have a lot of choices around here.   A weekly afternoon devoted to exploring won’t begin to uncover all that Ohio offers us, but it will hopefully buy me some uninterrupted work time during the rest of the week.  ~And kids are the best excuse to enjoy the activities you never quite outgrow…  like racing at the local go-cart track and skipping rocks across a quiet river.  Hello Summer.

More “In-Town Tourist”

Tags: North Central Ohio, Southeastern Ohio, Midwest, Central Ohio, Ohio, "In-Town Tourist", Heart-to-Heart, USA, 1 Adult/3 Children by Heather
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 In-Town Tourist: Neighborhood Parks [1:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I drove past a couple of memories the other day. Heischman Park was a little neighborhood oasis, far enough from my childhood home on Halligan Avenue to be an adventure, but close enough that Mom could easily track me down.  All the original play equipment has now been replaced by newer and undoubtedly safer versions.  Gone are the tall metal poles we shimmied up in hopes of ringing the bell at the top.  The long swing chains that groaned and creaked as we tested their limits have also been replaced.  -But the tree I regularly and impulsively climbed only to realize I had no idea how to initiate a descent… it was still there.

Our one-time neighborhood in Elida, Ohio also had a park, a vast field used for community events, bordered with all varieties of antiquated play equipment.  My oldest son (around five or six at the time) and I would run the mile or so from our house, and I’d stand close by as he tested himself by climbing up and over a ten foot metal sphere, jumping on and off of a spinning merry-go-round and on odd looking horse swings that took more than a little coordination to get started.  We usually walked back home, kicking a rock back and forth between us the whole way.

There is no neighborhood park where we live now, but there’s a woods, stream and pond to explore.  And, I recognize that independent, “off on an adventure” look in my youngest son’s eyes when he heads into the woods with his buddies as a match for the surge I felt -as I pedaled my bike to Heischman Park and that confounding tree.

Tags: Cycling, Central Ohio, Midwest, Ohio, USA, "In-Town Tourist", Outdoor Adventures, Heart-to-Heart, 1 Adult/3 Children by Heather
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