Monday, July 23, 2018

Urban Explorations - Urban Ecology Center - Riverside Park


The girls and I decided to do some urban exploring today so we headed to one of the three sites of the Urban Ecology Center. I personally have been to the Riverside Park site before but never shared the experience with my daughters. After exploring, I told my daughter this was just one of three of the sites and she immediately asked if we could go to the next one after dinner.  Not quite yet. . .but we will get there soon.




We kicked off our adventure inside, discovering the live animal room and finding some amazing art.




Of course, Embry still found time to play.



After continuing our trip upstairs, we headed outside to climb the observation tower and see more of what Embry liked to call "masterpieces."





As we then trekked to some of the wonderful trails around the center, we stopped to climb, balance, and build. There were plenty of great nature play areas and we definitely took advantage of every spot we came across.









Walking through this restoration area reminded me of my first visit about four years back where seeing this area in an earlier stage of restoration inspired me to pursue a similar type of project on my own outdoor learning area. I am happy to announce that that process is well underway.




After a brief respite back inside, we headed down a new trail in an attempt to "find the river."





After a few play stops, we did find the river and caught a glimpse of a great blue heron. Look closely at the picture below and you might see this majestic bird in flight.



In two short weeks, this site will be one of three field trip sites for a very special nature-based conference I have been a part of the last few years. I am humbled in that my own site will also be a part of this same field trip. 




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