Here in Central Oregon, we’ve entered the season of pink sunrises and cold frosty mornings. There may be a new dusting of snow on the ground which will soon be marked with critter prints as they come out from cover to search around for their next meal. Living so near to a river, we see its story each day as we look out the window and venture out to walk along the riverbank.
We’ve had plenty of foggy, misty mornings this month and sometimes it takes until noon for the fog to disappear, but we almost always have a bit of sunshine at some point each day. My husband and I try to take advantage of the sun’s warming rays to get outside for a quick walk. I was able to get an image of a coyote trying to sneak along the river one foggy morning last week. He was on the hunt and would occasionally stop and stand as still as a statue before he rushed along some more and then eventually out of sight. We often see the coyote prints in the snow and mud, so we know they’re out there roaming around but we rarely see them in the daytime.
This January we’ve experienced a great thaw. A warm rain caused the snow and ice to almost disappear from the landscape; the melting snow making great pools of water where the ground is frozen underneath. We actually can see green grass and the violets are blooming in a few spots around our yard.
I think the most interesting aspect of the great thaw has been the revealing of the habits of the mice that live around our property. At first, we could see their trails underneath the snow, like tunnels that lead from their warm little homes under the earth that then lead out to where they can scurry under the birdfeeders to gather fallen seeds.
Now that the snow is all gone, you can see the paths among the vegetation. I wrote about this survival method a few years ago when I discovered that critters live and thrive in the “subnivean zone” during the cold winter months. They do not hibernate like other animals which fascinated me. They create a world underneath the snow where the snow acts as an insulator from freezing winds and temperatures.
The most exciting story this month is that of the elk returning to our neighborhood. They are early morning visitors, so most mornings I open my blinds the minute I’m up and around. We put up our critter cam again to get some video of them as they walk majestically by in the early hours of the day.
We’ve had a much milder January than is normal, so we’re bracing for the possibility of a wintery February. Time is moving along quickly and as always, we have plenty to occupy our thoughts as we venture out each day to notice the drama and excitement that happens right outside our door.
I invite you to join us this month for the Outdoor Hour Challenge as we work our way through the Winter Nature Study Continues ebook.
Please use the discount code NATURE5 to receive $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist membership.
My last Outdoor Mom post was way back at the end of August! I think my life hit the accelerator in September and is just now easing up as we enter the winter season here in Central Oregon. Our autumn was a little warmer and longer than normal and we took full advantage of it with hiking, kayaking, gardening, and birdwatching.
I kept telling the family that we needed to take advantage of the weather and get outside! We made some sweet Autumn 2020 memories.
During our outdoor time, we went…
We’ve been on several new hikes since August, thanks to my new hiking guide that I bought featuring local trails. We found a beautiful park in Bend, Oregon (Shevlin Park) that goes along Tumalo Creek. The aspens were in the peak of their autumn color and we enjoyed the sound of them blowing in the breeze. We sat for awhile on a log near the creek and just took in the sounds and sights of a perfect autumn day.
We also hiked to the top of Bessie Butte on a day after a snow shower. Our son often hikes to the top of this particular butte to think and refresh himself after work. It makes my heart happy that he sees being outdoors in nature as a way to balance his busy life. We made it to the top of the butte where the wind was howling in our ears. It was cold but so incredibly beautiful!
One morning I woke up and just had an itch to go to the beach and put my feet in the sand. My amazing husband loaded me up in the car and we took the 3 hour drive to the coast! We brought our picnic lunch and enjoyed it in the sunshine while sitting in the sand. We walked the shoreline for a long way and just took in the salt air as we did a little beachcombing. I feel so very blessed to live where I do and that I’m able to indulge my heart from time to time with a spontaneous trip to the seaside.
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
We had a crazy COVID influenced wedding in our flower garden in September. My son ended up marrying his best friend among my sunflowers in a simple, socially distanced wedding with a few family members and friends. One of my favorite moments of the day was when a chickadee landed on the sunflower right over their heads as they said their wedding vows. It was a beautiful way to celebrate the beginning of their life together.
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…I am dreaming about…
We spent a few days pruning, weeding, and cutting things down in our garden spaces. One week of below freezing temperatures at night really hurried the process along. We saved seeds and cut flower heads and then tucked it all in for the winter.
As planned, we put over 120 bulbs in the ground for spring flowering. This is our first time planting bulbs in Central Oregon, so it’s a bit of an experiment to see how successful we are with bulbs making it through the winter. Hopefully we’ll see some crocus, grape hyacinth, and daffodils next spring. I’ll be thinking good thoughts all winter as I think of the bulbs all cozy under the ground awaiting the spring warmth and sunshine to wake them up.
One last image…
It was a wonderful summer with my daughter living here with us. Spending time outdoors with her will be my fondest memories of the summer. She has since moved back to California and she’ll be getting married very soon. I hope she will come back next summer and spend time with me on the trails and on the river…probably with her sweetheart along as well. She’s starting a new adventure, but I know she loves it here as much as I do!
You can follow me on Instagram to see more of our outdoor life here in gorgeous Central Oregon.
Want to join in the Outdoor Mom post?
Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.
During our outdoor time this month we went…
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about) …
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…
To refresh your memory, here’s a list of my nature study goals for the year 2020 along with our efforts towards reaching those goals.
Goal 1- Keep a nature journal. I shared earlier this year how my life has been full of so many unexpected responsibilities and this has impacted my ability to stay current with my nature journaling. But now that things have slowed down just a bit, I’m back on track to “catching up” with a lot of the pages I imagined creating when I was crazy busy with life. I’ve been sharing a few images of my nature journal pages on Instagram, but here are a couple that I hope inspire you in your efforts.
Goal 2 – Add to our backyard habitat. This really has been a focal point of our outdoor life in 2020. I’ve found such comfort in being outside digging in the ground and walking in the garden. We tackled a huge section of lawn and transformed it into a wildflower and sunflower garden that attracted birds, bees, butterflies, and toads over the summer and even now into the autumn. I’ll be sharing the process in future posts.
Here’s a short list of what we did to add to our wildlife garden so far in 2020.
Replaced grass with natives and wildflowers.
Planted bushes that have flowers for pollinators and berries for the birds to eat.
Added two crabapple trees.
Moved a bird bath where we could keep it full every day.
Added more nesting boxes – attracting swallows, western bluebirds, chickadees, and wrens.
Added more large rocks and moved a stump for shelter.
Goal 3 – Take local hikes. Using a local hiking guide, we’ve been on a couple exciting new hikes this summer. I really need to share blog entries for both (add them to my writing schedule). I must admit that at first, we were hesitant to get out and hike during the COVID-19 pandemic. But, once we gave it a try, we realized that we could safely be outdoors and for the most part we observed others being as cautious as we were by wearing masks and staying distanced.
Goal 4 – Make notes in my field guides. I find such joy in recording in my field guides the dates and places I observe subjects. The problem is that I don’t do this consistently, either because I don’t take the time, or I don’t have a pen to mark it down. So, I took a morning and paged through my wildflower field guide and at least made a check mark next to all the wildflowers I can remember seeing in real life. If I remembered where I saw the wildflower, I noted that as well. Now I am keeping a pen inside each of my field guides so there is no excuse for not keeping notes when the time comes.
Goal 5 – Continue to participate in Project Feederwatch and the Great Backyard Bird Count. We participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count back in February and we are eagerly waiting for November 14, 2020 when we start counting feeder birds again as part of Project Feederwatch.
Goal 6 – Visit a new national park. This sadly may be a goal we do not reach this year because of all the COVID-19 restrictions. We had a road trip all planned out for June 2020 to Olympic National Park (in Washington state) but we had to cancel all of those reservations. I’m not going to give up on those plans and since I have all my notes and itinerary still in my planner, I can easily book another trip when we can travel more freely and into Canada. Yes, our trip even included a jaunt up into British Columbia! Another change since making this goal is that we sold our rather large travel trailer. We may need to wait until we find a new smaller trailer that fits our needs as we ease our way into retirement.
All in all, I think we’ve done a pretty good job of working towards and reaching our nature study goals this year. I’ve now made a few notes in my planner to work on fully accomplishing the goals we can achieve by the end of the year.
Did you make goals for 2020? Were you able to reach some of them?
Join my Instagram to see more of our family’s outdoor adventures.
Now that autumn is rolling on in and I’m winding down my garden season, I thought it was time for an update to my July entry on what was going on in my yard’s wildside. To get you up to speed, you can read the first entry in this wildside series here: Keeping A Wildside – Oregon Style.
Mostly, autumn is a time of mowing and cleaning up what’s left and reflecting on what I might do differently next year.
The whole idea of a wildside is to keep an area of your yard “wild” to see what grows there naturally. This provides a natural habitat for your native bees and birds to use for food and shelter. Allowing the plants to go to seed will keep your wildside growing from year to year.
I left a large patch of plants growing along the fence until I knew for certain what they were. It turns out they were prickly lettuce. They aren’t an especially pretty plant and I’m thinking next year I’ll pull them up when they sprout in the spring. (There will be a prickly lettuce nature study coming soon!)
My lovely mullein has sort of taken over the one side of our berm garden. I love mullein but we had so much of it that I went ahead and pulled it up by the roots to clear a space in the garden for some more yarrow. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of mullein for our family to enjoy along with the birds and bees.
The experience of allowing a wildside allows for me to change my mind about a particular plant once I identify it. I allow something to grow until I can see if it’s a native, if it’s beneficial to birds or birds or other animals, and if it isn’t something that’s going to completely take over the area. It’s a lot more work to allow things to grow before you decide if you need to weed them out, but I learn a little more each year and I’m getting much more proficient at knowing what should stay and what should go.
We mowed most everything down once it went to seed so we’re sure there will be a new crop of dandelions, yarrow, tansy mustard, purple dead nettle, and collomia once spring comes again.
We have one thing left to do this year before the weather turns too cold and the ground too hard to dig. We’ll be transplanting some native grasses from one side of our yard to fill in a bare spot. The grasses will help create more of a “wildside” on the side of my husband’s shop. Transplanting grasses is fairly easy and as long as you get a good root ball, they take off growing like nothing ever happened.
Observations
The ground squirrels are all back in their burrows until next spring. I’ll miss them periscoping up out of their holes to scurry along the tall grasses. Their holes are all still visible but there has been no sighting of them for weeks.
Our swallows and bluebirds are all gone from their nesting boxes and we’ve cleaned the nests out for the season. I find nests so interesting. Each species of bird has their own way of going about building a nest and with our attempt at keeping a wildside, I think it helps the birds have the right kind of nesting materials they need to successfully raise a clutch of eggs. You can see how the bird artists use the grasses, leaves, and twigs gleaned from our yard.
Good night wildside. We shall see you on the other side of winter!
I highly recommend that members read this post for important information.
Sitting in my office looking out the window, I see the very first signs of the autumn coming. One thing about where I live in Central Oregon, summer is very short. It barely feels like we’re in the rhythm of summer and then the air turns crisp, the willows start to show color, the leaves rustling on the aspens have a different sound as they twirl in the afternoon breezes and the air just has that certain autumn feel to it if you pay close attention. It all rushes in too fast.
Unlike many of my readers, autumn is NOT my favorite season. I feel unsettled and restless.
With the turn of the calendar to September, I find myself thinking about what is to come as far as creating nature study ideas for the Outdoor Hour Challenge family of participants. 2020 has been a life changer for many of us and with those changes we sometimes see more clearly where we need to be on our personal journey. I’ve loved every minute of my work here on the Handbook of Nature Study, but I think change is in the air here as well. My thoughts are turning towards what comes next.
Don’t panic! The next year here on the blog will go on as usual but behind the scenes there will be a slowing down of writing new materials. Not a true “retirement”, but a slowing of the pace to allow room for exploring the next chapter in my life.
The Ultimate Naturalist Library
I feel like by the end of August 2021, I’ll have enough materials, printables, and activities in the Ultimate Naturalist Library to provide a complete nature study curriculum to most families for many, many years. Just think, I’ve covered the complete Handbook of Nature Study several times through with the Outdoor Hour Challenge.
Way back in 2008 when I started this project, I could’ve never imagined how much we would accomplish here with the Outdoor Hour Challenge. In addition to using thecontents of the Handbook of Nature Study, there are additional topics that were of interest to my family and to participants like regional wildflowers, herbs, more birds, and different habitats. We worked our way through all of the seasons by closely observing many subjects together. The Outdoor Hour Challenge has helped families all around the world to develop a relationship with their own habitat and subjects.
Changes to the Outdoor Hour Challenge
I plan on adding to the Ultimate Naturalist Library for the next year (September 2020-August 2021). After that, I will be keeping the website up and active with weekly challenges from the archives.
What do I plan on releasing during the year from September 2020 to August 2021? I’ll be adding new printables to the library and eventually two new nature-related ebooks (topics to be determined).
Starting in September 2021, I will no longer be adding anything new to the library. Members will still have complete access to the library of Outdoor Hour Challenges and ebooks, newsletters, and printables for the foreseeable future. Your memberships will still be rich and full of all sorts of nature study ideas by gleaning from the library topics of interest to your family.
New Ebooks – Writing and Releasing in the 2020-2021 School Year
During the next year, I have time blocked out to write two final ebooks. I have so many ideas swirling around in my head but I thought it might be a good idea to ask you readers what topics you would like to cover with the Outdoor Hour Challenge.
Here are a few of the ideas I have and you can add additional ideas if you have them:
Herbs – additional herb challenges
Wildflowers – one last wildflower ebook
Gardening for Kids ebook
General nature study ebook with more “how to” ideas and printables
Nature Journal ebook with simple ideas and examples drawn from past examples
A particular habitat that we haven’t already studied
Planning My Future
I’m not ready for a complete retirement from writing for the Outdoor Hour Challenge yet. It still feels relevant and valuable to keep sharing my love and passion for nature. But I want to take the time to see where the next path is going to lead me. I started off as a busy homeschooling mom of teenage boys who had a love for the outdoors. Now those boys are in their mid-twenties and I’m retired from homeschooling. We’ll be celebrating the first wedding of one of my four children. It’s a time of change.
Thanks for taking time to read my thoughts and PLEASE email me with any questions or comments. Send me your ebook ideas and then keep on going with your family’s nature study plan as we all work through the end of 2020 and face 2021, braced for what that will bring.
This has been a month for insect watching! It’s been a long time since I picked a “focus” nature topic for the month and it’s reminded me of the value of being alert to seeing things I might otherwise miss.
Dragon flies were the star for several of our outings on the water. I have a fun memory of floating on the river with blue dragonflies landing on my arms and hat. Then there were the larger black and white dragonflies that look like small hummingbirds. They were spotted high up on tops of reeds and sticks, hanging out over the water where they sat waiting for a meal.
The wildflower garden has been abuzz with all kinds of insects. It makes me happy to sit nearby and listen and watch as they hop on, hover over, and dip into the colorful flowers.
We decided the meadow out behind the house should be called “grasshopper acres” this month because of the abundance of hopping and leaping that happens as you walk through the grasses. They are everywhere.
I’m keeping myself accountable this month with an insect page in my nature journal. It’s nothing fancy but it will remind me of a few of the insects I encountered during this month of looking for insects.
Our bird list this month has some surprise entries. The most inspiring addition was the Common Nighthawk. I wish I could post a video of the flying acrobatics of this amazing flyer! We noted the pointy wings, the white patches under the wings, and watched it on several late afternoons and evenings over the river.
Then there was the exciting visit of five Great Egrets. We observed them flying down at the river with their long thin necks, stick-like legs, and long yellow beaks. This is the first time we’ve seen a group of egrets here in our Oregon neighborhood.
But, the most compelling visitor we had this month is the Cooper’s hawk. He’s been hunting at my bird feeder. Twice I watched him dive at the feeder as the little birds flew off in every direction. Afterwards, both times, he sat in the tree over the feeder, unsuccessful in capturing anyone. I was able to get a good look at him as he actually posed for a few photos. A rather large and handsome hawk, he sat and patiently waited for a long time before flying off.
It’s hard to capture them in a photo.
On another bird related note, I installed some window decals that are designed to alert birds and prevent bird strikes. Our living room has a HUGE picture window and it has been the scene of many bird strikes and deaths in the past. I purchased the Window Alert window decals in the hope of reducing the number of birds who run smack into our window glass. They were easy to adhere to the exterior of the window. I was worried that they would annoy me as I look out the window but I’m happy to say that I don’t even really notice them anymore.
Do they work? I can’t say they have eliminated ALL of the bird strikes from happening, but I have noted that the very few that still hit the window must see the decals and slow down enough that it isn’t a fatal collision. We haven’t had a single bird death since putting the Window Alert decals up.
I call that pretty successful. I purchased them at our local Wild Birds Unlimited store for $6.95. The package says to replace the decals every four months since the UV coating will eventually fade and not be as effective. I guess I’ll get another set next spring.
Here are a few more fun things we did outdoors this month.
We took a new hike at Sahalie and Koosah Falls. What a magnificent place to take a 3-mile hike alongside the McKenzie River. I think this is my top pick for a day hike here in Oregon.
My daughter and I had an awesome time cutting lavender at the Hood River Lavender Farm. What great memories we made that day! It was a hot day and the scent of lavender was thick in the air. We tasted lavender lemonade for the first time and loved its refreshing flavor.
Are you following me on Instagram? I post regularly about my garden, the Central Oregon habitat, and our adventures. If you add the hashtag #outdoorhourchallenge to your Instagram posts, I’ll come visit your images!
Want to join in the Outdoor Mom post?
Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.
During our outdoor time this month we went…
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…
I added nature journal pages about…
One last image…
All members here on the Handbook of Nature Study have access to the 2020-2021 nature plan for the Outdoor Hour Challenge. Look for it in your library.
I’ve wanted to share a little bit about the process we’ve gone through as we have designed the landscaping on our half acre plot here in Central Oregon. When we moved here 3 years ago, there was a large expanse of lawn and not much else. My husband loves green grass in the summertime but even he admitted there was way too much to mow and water.
After experiencing the process of removing lawn in our previous yard in California, he was very open to not expanding the lawn, and eventually removing quite a bit to make way for more native plants and shrubs. (You can read about our California wildside here: Keeping it on the Wildside – Part 1 and Nature Study on the Wildside – Part 2)
It really takes a change in thinking to adjust to the idea of less lawn to make room for more native plants. He still pushes back on my desire to keep the dandelions around the edges of the lawn. We have many, many dandelions here, so the compromise is to keep them to one side of the yard, in my Oregon “wildside”.
What is my “wildside”?
I define my “wildside” as a place to allow the natives to grow until we can identify them. Then we decide on a case by case basis whether to pull them out by the roots or to nurture them into beautiful plants that add such variety to our yard. This means a shift from calling a plant a “weed” to viewing them as a valued plant in our garden plan.
Restoring a wildside where we remove lawn and transplant native grasses and other flowering plants is also a part of the broad plan to create more natural habitat in our new place.
Short List of My Wildside Plants
Dandelions
Purple dead nettle
Mullein
Tansy Mustard
Yarrow
There are still some plants I have yet to figure out if they’re on the “pull them out” list or the “to keep” list. It’s truly a learning process as I gain knowledge and understanding of the new habitat I live in.
I have one main wildside area in the yard and then several smaller pockets of plants that I’m also allowing to grow and make decisions about as we go through another summer season.
One area of wild things is alongside the driveway and I’ve had so many friends comment on how I’m letting the “weeds” grow and I should pull them out. (They are trying to be helpful.)
Isn’t this an interesting and pretty native plant? It is called strawberry blite or strawberry spinach. I have quite a bit of it growing in our front yard.
Secondary List of Wildside Plants
Strawberry blite
False dandelion
Collomia
Silver phacelia
The past three years have been a season of observation. We take daily walks around the yard and as each new plant matures, we identify it and then decide if it’s a good fit for our garden. It involves a lot of careful weeding, but in the end I think we’ll have a variety of plants that will be beneficial to the habitat in some way.
This is one of the holes that something, probably a ground squirrel, has dug in my wildside garden. I need to put up the critter cam to see who is digging here.
What do I mean? We think about whether a particular plant is attractive to pollinators, provides food and shelter to birds or other animals, or is a showy plant that provides color for us to enjoy.
Where we are pulling out the lawn, we’re replacing it with native shrubs that will grow and thrive in Central Oregon. I’m hoping to support the birds and insects that have started to visit and reproduce here. It is so joyful to look out and see the nests being built right within sight of our back widow.
We daily see bees, moths, butterflies, and other insects visiting the flowers.
The birds are using the native grasses as nesting materials, eating the seeds and berries from the plants, and taking sips of water from the puddles left in the dirt and on the rock walls we built.
So there you have a brief overview of how we’re creating a new wildside in our Central Oregon space. There is so much more to share, so I will save that for a future post. It’s a hobby and a passion that I could work on during the time isolated at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. It doesn’t look like the “staying safe at home” time is ending very soon, so I will probably update you dear readers later this fall with any changes or outstanding observations we’ve made.
Follow me on Instagram for more of our Oregon gardening and nature related posts.
Right now there is a discount code for $10 off an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.
Last month I posted an entry discussing the emergence of spring wildflowers…the early ones. Read that entry here: Wildflower Succession and Ephemerals.
I’ve been on the lookout for our early spring wildflowers and the list is rather short so far.
Dandelions – The dandelions in our yard and down by the river are very short. They don’t grow very tall at all and I assume that’s because of our cold temperatures. They are still such a happy sight after the winter grays and browns.
Tiny White Flowers – The pasture behind our house has lots of miniature blooming white flowers. I’ve tried in the past to identify them, but so far I’ve had no success. If you don’t look closely, you’ll actually miss them, they are so very small.
We took a drive on a long, dirt forestry road this week and we spotted the green Manzanita blooming already. The insects were buzzing around all of the pink flowers dangling from the branches.
Those three flowering plants are really the only ones I’ve observed so far.
As I look at my records for the past two years, I notice that the bushes bloom before the wildflowers here in Central Oregon.
But, there are plenty of signs of flowers that are coming. From our recent wanderings, we’ve noted the promise of a few more flowers.
There are thousands of wild purple irises beginning to sprout their green flat leaves. We see them everywhere on our daily walks and they promise to bring beautiful flowers in the near future.
The bitter brush is starting to leaf out and it will soon be loaded with small, yellow flowers.
The wild wax currant bushes are also leafing out with their bloom time following closely behind the leaves.
I realized this week how anxious I am for some wildflower beauty in my life. With our short growing season, the flowers bloom consecutively all summer long and end with a flourish of golden rabbitbrush color in the fall.
Learning the bloom patterns of the natives in my neighborhood is a project I really enjoy.
In some ways, as this stay-at-home order continues, I’m finding it easier to allow myself to just go take a walk outside in the yard, pedal the bike down the street and back, and wander around as I bird watch behind our house near the river. There IS TIME now to be outdoors and to still follow the orders to just be out to exercise.
My children are all doing pretty much the same with their own desired means of exercise, whether it’s training for their first 5K race, taking off on a forestry road on their dirt bike, or hiking up a butte every day. I’m encouraging them to be out in the sunshine for their mental and physical health.
During our outdoor time this month we went…
Renewing our enthusiasm for our own backyard is even easier since the weather has cooperated with warm temperatures and an abundance of sunshine! We’ve been digging in the dirt clearing away the winter’s debris and nipping those spring weeds before they get too robust. These are things we want to do, but don’t normally have time to do. No excuses now as we stay at home.
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
We made and hung a few more nesting boxes in our yard for the birds to discover and use this nesting season. Guess what? It was almost immediately upon hanging the boxes that we had birds in and out of each and every one. Talk about good timing! Chickadees, nuthatches, bluebirds and swallows all came to take a look.
That’s right! The swallows are back which makes me so happy. But not only the swallows; the hummingbirds have also made an appearance. We spotted them at the feeder early one morning and now they are gone again. I’m not sure if they are moving on or if I’m just missing the tiny little calliope hummingbirds.
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
There are new ducks in our pond and we’ve had a heck of a time figuring out their identification. We caught several on our critter cam and it looks like they may be a wood duck. Several evenings we have gone out to chase these ducks down and try to sneak up on them to get a photo or even just a really good look with the binoculars. My husband says he feels like he is on a scavenger hunt with me as we hide behind the willows and sneak along the river’s edge and through the cattails that line the pond.
It reminds me of our journey to identify the snipe in just the same way.
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…I am dreaming about…
We now have a big plan to create a new side garden that will include large flower beds, a crab apple tree and some benches. I spend a lot of time on Pinterest collecting images to inspire my future garden. I’m learning that there are many flowers that will grow here in abundance if we give them the right start and support them with lots of water during our dry summer months. At our house in California, I had the ability to create several themed gardens over the years. The one that gave me the most pleasure and ended up extending throughout our yard was the butterfly, bee, and bird garden. I think I can create a Central Oregon version of this garden with a little hard work
One last image…
We were able to drag the kayaks down to the river behind our house and take a short paddle while social distancing with two of our sons. It felt “normal”….at least for an hour or so. I’m dreaming of the time to come when we’re able to freely move about and enjoy the spring season. In the meantime, we will keep our balance with a little outdoor time within the rules of this unique and life-changing time we live in right now.
Want to join in the Outdoor Mom post?
Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.
During our outdoor time this month we went…
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…
I added nature journal pages about…
One last image…
If you don’t have a membership yet, you can click the graphic above and join today for immediate access to the 25 ebooks and so much more! Remember that all levels, even the Discovery level membership, include access to all of the archived newsletters!
Topics in this ebook include:
Bitterbrush
Sagebrush
Greater sage-grouse
Succulents
Mountain Lion
Coyote
Pocket Gopher
Bristlecone Pine
Elk
Turkey Vulture
Juniper
Snowberry
Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel
River Otter
Use the discount code INITTOGETHER to receive $10 off an Ultimate Naturalist Membership!
Last October, my daughter and I were able to check a place off of our bucket list. Acadia National Park had been on our radar as soon as my daughter moved to New York. We love visiting national parks and Acadia had always seemed so very far away from our west coast home. But, now with a new home base just a long day’s drive from this particular national park, we could make plans to visit during the colorful autumn season.
I purchased a guide book and started doing my research into the Bar Harbor, Maine area before I flew out to meet up with Amanda. There were hikes and viewpoints to work into our schedule. The weather was a factor so we made contingency plans just in case the rains kept us from being outdoors.
These were both very helpful in guiding our plans. Please note these are affiliate links to Amazon.com.
I’ve wanted to share the highlights of our trip for months now and since I have more free time while sheltering in place, the time has finally come to show you the enchanting place called Acadia National Park.
Our drive from New York to Maine was a wet one. We ended up breaking up our travels with a half day drive from Orange County, New York to Portland, Maine and then continuing the next day into Bar Harbor, Maine and the national park.
Since neither of us had been to this part of the world before, making a short stop in Portland gave us the opportunity to explore an interesting area and do a little shopping at the L.L. Bean flagship store. If you get the chance to visit Portland, we highly recommend the L.L. Bean outlet store for some real bargains! We spent most of our time walking around the Old Port, looking in shops, drinking coffee at Bard Coffee, and eating a potato doughnut at Holy Donuts. It was a lot of fun.
The next day we drove up to Mt. Desert Island where Acadia National Park is located. With sprinkles on the windshield and a few colorful trees along the highway, we made our way to the Hull’s Cove Visitor Center. I always like to stop at the visitor center to get our bearings at any new park.
We picked up a map and a bus schedule which was invaluable to our time spent exploring the park. I would like to mention here that this is a free shuttle system and it will take you pretty much anywhere you want to go. The system is easy to figure out and there is a brochure you can pick up at the visitor center to determine which shuttle bus you want to take to reach your destination. We were pretty good at using the shuttle by the time we left.
Since it continued to rain, we opted to visit Jordan Pond and experience the famous popovers served at the Jordan House restaurant. I’m told that on a normal day the wait is LONG to get a table for tea and popovers. They are famous for their popovers which are a pastry they serve with jam and butter. Yum!
But, the combination of being late in the season and the weather made it possible for us to walk right up and be seated at a beautiful spot at the window, looking out over the pond and gardens.
Taking time to experience this treat was a perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon. Before we finished, the weather cleared a bit and we were able to walk down to the pond itself and see the beautiful colors and the reflections in the water. I can imagine that the summertime gardens here are amazing.
We finished off our first day by driving the loop road around the park and back into Bar Harbor where we had hotel reservations. Bar Harbor is a quaint little town and the main streets are lined with lots of cute restaurants and shops. We had dinner at the Peekytoe Provisions. It was a fun atmosphere and delicious food.
The next morning we woke to clearer skies so we jumped on the chance to get out and hike! First stop was breakfast in Bar Harbor at Café This Way. Super delicious! After that, we parked our car and rode the shuttle out to the trail head for the Ocean Path. We decided to walk the Ocean Path from Sand Beach to Otter Point. This trail went along the coast for about 2 miles but you can opt off the path at several spots along the way to shorten your walk by jumping back on the free shuttle.
We stuck it out the whole length of the trail because it was such a great way to see the ocean, the rock features, smell the distinct fragrance of the balsam fir coming from the trees, and just stretch our legs. The path is fairly level and I would recommend it to even beginning hikers. Parts of the trail were a little congested, especially at the Thunder Hole.
We ate our lunch sitting on a rock overlooking the ocean. I was glad we had made a stop at the grocery store in Bar Harbor and put some lunch items in our backpacks. Food always tastes better along the trail!
After our hike, we hopped back on the shuttle bus and went to Sieur du Monts where there is a beautiful native plants garden and spring. From there we took the Jesup Trail and saw the most beautiful autumn color of the whole visit. Sometimes a boardwalk and sometimes a dirt trail, we walked serenely along the trail. The trees are all around you and it’s so peaceful and quiet. We found ourselves in an open space that had a vista of colorful trees. It felt like we were inside a postcard image!
The sky was blue and the trees were varying shades of yellow, orange, burgundy, red, and gold. This is how we imagined a New England autumn!
We soaked in the views and then headed back to our car because we would need it for the next activity on our list. We wanted to experience Cadillac Mountain at sunset and you need to drive up there in your own car. We were told that you need to get there about 1 ½ hours before sunset to get a parking place and I can imagine that in the busier months, this is a nightmare to plan. Again, because we were there in a less popular time of year, we were able to drive up to the top, find a place to park quite easily, and then hike around at the top to take photos. We ended up leaving before sunset but only because it had been a great day already and the crowds up at the top were a little overwhelming. We didn’t want to ruin our good vibe!
We drove back to Bar Harbor and ate dinner at a brewery…pizza and beer after a day outdoors is just what we needed! Then back to the hotel for an early night.
On our last morning, on our way out of the park, we drove out to the Bass Harbor area of Acadia National Park. This is the place to see the iconic lighthouse that you see so many times in advertising and literature for Acadia. It looked just like you would imagine a Maine lighthouse would look like, perched up on the rocky cliffs.
It was a beautiful day and after taking photos at the lighthouse, we decided to hike the Wonderland Trail. Mostly under the trees and eventually ending up at the ocean, this is an easy flat hike with a gorgeous view at the end.
Thus ends our first ever epic trip to Acadia National Park. I was so impressed with the beauty of Maine in general and the variety of things to do and see at the national park. I can see why so many people visit this very out of the way place during the summer to experience the hiking and the beaches. But, if you find yourself with the time to visit in the autumn, the fall color will not disappoint.
We left with great memories but also a feeling that things were left undone as well. But, I always feel that way when leaving a national park.
I will think back on this trip and try to remember the fragrance of the balsam fir and sea air.
Additional Tips and Information
There is a $20 entrance fee that you need to pay at the visitor’s center. We used our National Parks pass.
I highly recommend staying in Bar Harbor and taking advantage of the free shuttle that picks you up at the town square. It takes you right into the park and comes frequently.
If you are hiking in the park, make sure to pack a lunch or snacks!
I would plan on at least 2 days to get the most out of your visit.
Take the park loop road at least once, stopping at some of the turn outs to take photos.
There is camping available in the park and I noted that one of the campgrounds is on the shuttle system.
I invite you to read my other national park entries to inspire your next visit. Make a plan and then make it happen!
You can read more of my national park entries by following these links:
Learning the bloom patterns of the natives in my neighborhood is a project I really enjoy.
