Adventure, Ho!

This month has been one for adventure as our little family has attempted to distract ourselves from the anxiety of waiting to hear the results of Joseph’s exams. The resulting “field trips” have been partially successful ― they have, at the very least, kept me busy enough to post any entries in the last few weeks.

Field Trip #1: A Trip to Cousin Bill’s

Bill Hassinger (who is Joseph’s second cousin twice removed… or something) lives an hour away from us in Greensboro; we like to stop and visit with him every other month or so, and thought our miniature break between semesters the perfect opportunity. Upon calling him, we informed him of our desire for some fresh air, and he immediately recommended a couple of nearby city parks. Accordingly, we visited both the Bog Park and a nearby city garden, the name of which escapes me at present.

The Bog Park is just that: a large-ish stretch of marshland donated by a private owner to the city of Greensboro, which marshland has since been irrigated and set with trails by way of providing a low-maintenance public area. Since we visited the park on a wet, overcast day, the overall ambience was about as perfect as one could hope for when visiting a bog. Edward was smitten by the geese (or, more accurately, by their honking), and had fun watching them and their smaller, quacking brethren over the rail of the overlook.

The gardens-of-unknown-appellage were also as one would expect ― green, well-tended, and quite beautiful. They offered several meandering walkways through various flowering trees, bushes, and flowers. Judging by our fellow visitors, it was the perfect place for walking dogs. The gardens also sported several statues, including one entitled “The Student,” which reminded us all of Joseph…

…particularly when we noticed that it seemed to be wearing finger-shoes like his…

Alas! Our time at the gardens was cut short by the sudden appearance of the rain, and we returned to the car, and thence to a nearby restaurant for dinner. From dinner, we returned to cousin Bill’s place, which was, surprisingly, the highlight of the night for Edward, as it provided him his first-ever encounter with stairs. He tackled them with delight, and had them mastered within five minutes.


Field Trip #2: Museum of Life and Science

Our second big adventure was a trip to a local museum that had been recommended to us. The museum offers free admission to Durham residents on Wednesday afternoons, so the price was most certainly right. We enjoyed the experience a great deal, stopping first at the exhibit on exploring sound waves. Joseph and Edward had fun running through the “sound in motion” room.

The sound exhibit continued outdoors, where a playground was set up with various chime and percussion instruments. Joseph and I had fun banging on the empty fire extinguishers, giant bells, and steel chimes, but Edward was more entertained by swinging the stick around than by beating anything with it.

The farm animals didn’t move around enough to be of much interest to Edward. That’s probably just as well; even though the museum claimed to have healthy pigs, one can never be too sure…

The museum had a rather impressive insect house, which Joseph enjoyed more than I did. My enthusiasm for it waned considerably when I noticed that the spiders ― those venomous, man-eating arachnids whose very existence blights my own ― had been given an open display. Walking into eight-legged poison traps is not exactly my cup of tea. We did all enjoy watching the butterflies, however ― apparently the feeling was mutual.

The museum also had a few wild animal habitats for visitors to enjoy. We saw wolves, lemurs, and, after a bit of searching, some bears. Again, the animals were not lively enough to catch Edward’s interest, but Edward didn’t seem to mind. For him, as for us all, it was enough to be together on another adventure.