Friday, June 20, 2014

Widgets

Discover the Forest

For years my kids have wanted me to take them camping.  FOR YEARS.  But this momma is not a camping lady.  I want my own bedroom, a comfy bed, no bugs,  and no campfire smell.....and these things don't happen when you are camping.

However, I long for the relaxed, family time that comes with camping.  I want to disconnect and stay in a state or national park for a few days, not just as dash through like we experienced last year.  So I want to reap all the rewards of camping, yet I don't really want to camp.  Make sense?


This past week, my kids had the opportunity to camp with their cousins & grandparents in Central Illinois where they rode bikes and played on the play ground and ate yummy camping food and sat by a campfire.  And it made me think, maybe I could do this.

This July, we will be embarking on a week-long camping trip across Texas in an RV.  I have spent the past week planning the trip and have used the discovertheforest.org to help locate some great places to camp along the way.  Discover the Forest is a great website for kids to show them how fun getting outdoors can be. They feature lists, games, and more.

I used the interactive map that shows all the forests & parks within a 50 mile radius of a given area.  So it will come in handy when tying to locate a new area to discover from home too.

And I just love the cute ads they have promoting the site:



The site also has fun activities and great snap guides to help identify constellations or navigating forest trails.

I love that we are encouraging our families to get outdoors more and this website is a terrific way to do it.  You don't need to go camping to get outdoors.  Check out a new state park nearby (use this map to help you) and plan a day hiking, geocaching, or picnicking with the family!  I always feel so much more relaxed and connected to my kid when we get outdoors and enjoy what the forest has to offer.

The website is a big help in planning our upcoming trip.  I will get over the sleeping in a camper - being outdoors - phobia for the week.  As long as I have lots of these on my trip, this momma will be happy!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post with the US Forest Service & TravelingMom.com.  All opinions are my own - especially the camping ones. 


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