Like your family, our family is busy. We have work, school for the kids, ballet, church, and family activities. The calendar seems to flip by at a rapid rate. So when it comes to being able to get time out on the trail, sometimes you have to plan your trail activity around other events in life.
Recently Shannon’s sister was married. The whole family attended the wedding two hours away from where we live. It was a great day of celebrating the new young couple. While there was not much time, on our way home we saw this as an opportunity to maybe hit a trail that we hadn’t gone on yet.
“We saw this as an opportunity to maybe hit a trail
that we hadn’t gone on yet.”
A simple search on the internet showed that the wedding venue was only five minutes away from a Geisinger’s Stewardship Forest in Danville, Pennsylvania. Geisinger is a large hospital in our region. We had been to the hospital before, but were unaware that there was a trail connected to it. Geisinger has set aside about 300 acres of forest right behind the sprawling hospital. On it there are mountain biking trails and hiking trails. What a great concept for the hospital. Think about those who have relatives or friends in the hospital, and are there for days or even weeks who can walk right off of the hospital’s property to collect their thoughts during a tough time. If you live in the northeast or central region of Pennsylvania, here is their trail map.
We prepared ahead of time and brought along a bag packed with sneakers and hiking clothes. Before we left the reception, we changed out of our snazzy outfits and then hit the road. We spent time hiking up one of the trails and enjoying parts of nature we hadn’t experienced before, such as black butterflies with a vibrant blue on their back. This exhausted the kids enough that we had a very quiet ride home. It also allowed them to burn some energy after the two hour ride down, sitting through a wedding ceremony, and behaving during the reception. It was a great time to just spend as a family after our busy day.
What trip do you have coming up that you could add a TRAIL FAMILY trip? Do you have a few minutes to do a quick search on the internet to find a trail nearby your destination or on your route? What benefits may there be to add, even a small hike or bike, to a trip that may not have been one before?
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