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| Vernal Falls, Nevada Falls with Liberty Dome in the center |
Last week he took a very quick two day 30 mile trek through Little Yosemite Valley with Merced Lake being his destination point. The weather was amazing for this time of year. He's been on these trails before and thought he would surely run into snow but instead he was greeted with 80 degree sunny weather. He definitely did too many miles in just a few days and suffered for it; boy did he have the blisters to prove it! Well, the blisters are all healed now so he finally got around to putting away his gear this morning. And you want to know what he said? "I can't wait for next year's trip." Look at these amazing pictures and tell me that hiking into the back country doesn't sound just a bit enticing:
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| almost there! |
The Force of Public Opinion in the Home.––Some children are born naturalists, with a bent inherited, perhaps, from an unknown ancestor; but every child has a natural interest in the living things about him which it is the business of his parents to encourage; for, but few children are equal to holding their own in the face of public opinion; and if they see that the things which interest them are indifferent or disgusting to you, their pleasure in them vanishes, and that chapter in the book of Nature is closed to them. It is likely that the Natural History of Selborne would never have been written had it not been that the naturalist's father used to take his boys on daily foraging expeditions, when not a moving or growing thing, not a pebble nor a boulder within miles of Selborne, escaped their eager examination. Audubon, the American ornithologist, is another instance of the effect of this kind of early training. "When I had hardly learned to walk," he says, "and to articulate those first words always so endearing to parents, the productions of Nature that lay spread all around were constantly pointed out to me . . . My father generally accompanied my steps, procured birds and flowers for me, and pointed out the elegant movements of the former, the beauty and softness of their plumage, the manifestations of their pleasure, or their sense of danger, and the always perfect forms and splendid attire of the latter. He would speak of the departure and return of the birds with the season, describe their haunts, and, more wonderful than all, their change of livery, thus exciting me to study them, and to raise my mind towards their great Creator." - Home Education, Volume 1 pg 58 (1906)I see the enthusiasm between him and his dad; one that honestly sometimes is hard to understand by those who haven't trekked the back country like that. And while, yes, one of my goals is to join my husband on a back packing trip one day; I know that the love for it will really be passed down to the kids by him. I've been fortunate to be able to provide the more scientific and structured part of nature observation in our schooling thanks to Ms. Mason's guidance. Now, I'm looking forward to the trips that our children will take with him and who knows between both of our influences we might just have a true Field Naturalist in the midst. A nature lover at the very least! ; D
