Do you ever have mornings when you wake up to a totally empty, unplanned day and your mood just drops...some days like that can be great, but today,...not great. Finally around lunchtime I had to pull myself out of the emotional gutter and get motivated. We piled in the car with a backpack full of sunscreen, bugspray and a camera, and headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon. This was a good idea. Our destination was Silver Lake, a small marshy lake at the very top of the canyon. I think it was at least 10 degrees cooler up there than in the valley, if not more. There was a cool breeze. Heaven. Silver Lake is perfect for kids - there's a little visitors' center with some fun activities and displays. CTP especially loved the sand box with rubber castings of animals' paws with which to make prints. Side note: I adore that CTP makes everything he does into a story or a game - he had been playing with those molds for about five seconds when suddenly each of them became a character and he was totally engrossed in a story.
Anyway, the other perfect kid aspect to the lake is that the entire thing is surrounded by a lovely boardwalk or pathway so it's not too exhausting for them to run around. There are fish and dragonflies and squirrels. We even got to see a moose out in the water. We didn't get too close, but it was fun to see. I felt so invigorated to be outside, smelling the wonderful lake smells, seeing families together, watching my kids running and exploring and getting excited about ducks and chipmunks and bugs. It's a great place to go when you need to go away. There were plenty of people there, but it certainly wasn't crowded. Perhaps the most memorable moment occurred as we were running along the boardwalk. CTP was running ahead, and I heard a splash behind me. I turn around - no RAP. Not too scary, because we were in the marshy area, not the lake area. I have to admit that I laughed when I found RAP because she had fallen right over the edge into some tall grass and was floundering in the shallow water miserably repeating, "Wet! Wet!" I sound like a horrible mother, but it was pretty funny. I grabbed her by the overall straps and hauled her out. She was only upset for, oh, 3.2 seconds and the she was off running down the boardwalk again. Here she is with her wet hair plastered to her little head, and her dignity slightly damaged:
After an hour and half at the lake we drove back down the canyon to find a good spot for playing in the river. We found the perfect place - a picnic sight with one little area where the river was slow and shallow. The kids immediately engaged in the mother of all river activities: throwing rocks. All children, and indeed, adults, love throwing rocks, and will do it for hours. And hours. I'll just say that if you ever have an extreme case of the BLAHS you need to get up to the mountains, or someplace very naturey and it helps if you can get dirty and wet too.
Anyway, the other perfect kid aspect to the lake is that the entire thing is surrounded by a lovely boardwalk or pathway so it's not too exhausting for them to run around. There are fish and dragonflies and squirrels. We even got to see a moose out in the water. We didn't get too close, but it was fun to see. I felt so invigorated to be outside, smelling the wonderful lake smells, seeing families together, watching my kids running and exploring and getting excited about ducks and chipmunks and bugs. It's a great place to go when you need to go away. There were plenty of people there, but it certainly wasn't crowded. Perhaps the most memorable moment occurred as we were running along the boardwalk. CTP was running ahead, and I heard a splash behind me. I turn around - no RAP. Not too scary, because we were in the marshy area, not the lake area. I have to admit that I laughed when I found RAP because she had fallen right over the edge into some tall grass and was floundering in the shallow water miserably repeating, "Wet! Wet!" I sound like a horrible mother, but it was pretty funny. I grabbed her by the overall straps and hauled her out. She was only upset for, oh, 3.2 seconds and the she was off running down the boardwalk again. Here she is with her wet hair plastered to her little head, and her dignity slightly damaged:
After an hour and half at the lake we drove back down the canyon to find a good spot for playing in the river. We found the perfect place - a picnic sight with one little area where the river was slow and shallow. The kids immediately engaged in the mother of all river activities: throwing rocks. All children, and indeed, adults, love throwing rocks, and will do it for hours. And hours. I'll just say that if you ever have an extreme case of the BLAHS you need to get up to the mountains, or someplace very naturey and it helps if you can get dirty and wet too.
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