Alaska Botanical Gardens - A Year Round Family Resource

The Alaska Botanical Gardens is a great outdoor family resource. Some of the opportunities they afford local families:

~ Adult gardening classes & symposiums - take home some knowledge to share with your family & your own garden
~Plant sales
~Trails and gardens to wander through and amble along
~Family festivals - The Harvest Festival is a favorite of ours
~Guided tours (on foot in the spring & summer months, by snowshoe in Feb. & March)
~Junior Master Gardner Program
~Mushroom walks
~Weekly storytime for kids (starts in June)
~Discovery Duffles (my favorite) - their website describes them as "These bags, full of kids activities and books, can be checked out in the nursery Tues. through Sat. from 11am to 4pm and Wed. until 7 pm. They are designed for families, daycare or pre-school groups, or summer camp outings with kids ages 4-9.
Check a bag out from a staff or volunteer in the nursery. You will need to surrender a driver’s license while you have the bag. The bags are available from mid-May through mid-September."

A family membership is $50 for the year and includes:
- Free Admission to the Garden
- Early Admission to the SpringPlant Sale & Garden Fair
- Early notification & ticket offerings for special events
- Tri-annual issues of our newsletter, Gardens North
- 10% discount on purchases in the Shop-in-the-Garden & Nursery
- Discounts on purchases at many local garden & plant supply stores!

(On a related note Michael's Craft Store has some great kids gardening tools right now.)

North Fork Eagle River

What a spectacular morning trek we had today. I had to check and recheck my watch thinking I was running late the sun was so high in the sky. 10 years, a whole decade, and I can't get used to the drastic change in daylight this time of year. We are getting closer and closer to the longest day of the year. We gained 5 minutes 44 seconds of daylight over yesterday. That is roughly 42 minutes more of sunlight this week over last week.

We hiked on the north fork of the Eagle River today for about an hour. Its always fun to do a hike like today's knowing that you can only do it seasonally, as the river isn't always frozen solid. In Alaska, especially in the remote areas rivers, when frozen, literally become highways (people drive their cars on them) between the remote bush village that are not connected by roads. Today's river of course is not wide enough to take a vehicle as large as a car on and there actually is a road that runs along it, but it is novel anyhow.

There were some new parents and kids that joined today as well. Seeing parents outdoors introducing their little ones to a healthy lifestyle that not only reflects being physically active but respectful of nature and all it has to offer is inspiring.

After hiking a bunch of us met up at Jitters Cafe for lunch. It always nice to see how much all the little ones have grown when they aren't all bundled up and dwarfed by their winter gear. We have truly formed a wonderfully supportive and fun group of parents and children.

Merino Wool Giveaway from the Outdoor Baby Store

 

Find out how to win this gorgeous merino wool girls shirt from the Outdoor Baby Store on Anchorage Outdoor Family Network website.

Join Us for This Week's Trek 3/10/11

Thursday, March 10

North Fork Trail

Eagle River, AK - 10:15 am

Yurt Ben says the North Fork Trail in Eagle River is looking pretty prime! It is time to head out the way again.



Access: Eagle River Road, mile 7.4, North Fork access.
Travel Means: Foot.
Distance: 3/4 mile or 1 kilometer to river. (Then we can hike along the river)
Elevation Gain: None.
Difficulty: Easy.

BABY CARRIER & SLED FRIENDLY

We'll meet at 10:15 and hit the trail at 10:30 to allow those of us in Anchor Town a little time to get out there.

This is a great opportunity for families with school aged kiddos to join us as it is spring break for the Anchorage School District.

Coastal Trail from Valley of the Moon Park

Kincaid Park - Johdpur St. Entrance

Reconnected

I apologize for not keeping up with the blog lately. My husband and I bought a new house, went on vacation and moved, all of which happened at warp speed, meanwhile trying to find internet service that meets our needs and is available at our house took forever. We're back online and I'll get photos up of the past few weeks. A huge thanks to Lia who was able to at least post the location of the last few hikes for me on the Anchorage Outdoor Family Network site.