Summer Adventures

Summer is here and it's time for adventures. I love to travel to all of the free, fun places in our area. Then I take pictures to use in lessons and Powerpoints all year long! Here are some of my favorite spots. Share this with your parents to see if you can visit some of these places, too!

Nixon Park

A view of the nature center at Nixon Park.

This is about 1.5 hours away. I grew up near this park, and every summer I like to visit to go to the nature center, explore the creek, and hike on the trails. Be sure to check the calendar for Reptile Week events held in the first week of July.

Pine Grove Furnace State Park
What's summer without a trip to Fuller Lake? My favorite part of Pine Grove Furnace is walking to the little canal area behind the Furnace Stack Day Use area and checking out the turtles. We can always see one or two basking in the sun. It's also neat to visit the new Appalachian Trail Museum. Can you imagine hiking the Appalachian Trail all the way from  Maine to Georgia?

Kings Gap State Park

Kings Gap is the absolute best place to see frogs! The park has many programs throughout the summer. But we like to stop by the garden at the top of the mountain and look for frogs in the small pond. There are also skinks (a kind of lizard), snakes, and many different kinds of birds. Almost all of my frog pictures come from Kings Gap.

By the way, this is where we happened to see a garter snake eating a frog on Mothers Day.

What summer adventures are you looking forward to ? Feel free to post a comment!