A Walk in the Woods with Amanda

D

Dave_Markowitz

Joined
Sep 9, 2007
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The weather here in PA was glorious today. While my wife took our older daughter to a birthday party this afternoon, I took our youngest, Amanda, for a walk in the woods. "The woods" in this case were the Valley Green section of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. A lot of Philadelphia may resemble the armpit of the rest of the state, but Valley Green is really nice. We were able to hike on horse trails through some nice woods and for most of the time we were there, didn't see anyone else.

(Note: Even though we were inside of city limits, I still had a Maxpedition Baby Condor with water, snacks, and various survival gear. Neither it nor my J-Frame made it into any of the pics.)

Here's Amanda in front of "The Great Beech," a big old beech tree.

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Me in front of the the same tree:

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(I am wearing an EOTac Field Jacket. It was originally in a Lizard pattern camo but I died it with brown RIT dye for a somewhat lower profile in suburbia.)

We ran across the remains of a couple field expedient shelters:

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And a big hole, probably left after a large tree got uprooted:

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This was Amanda's first day hike. She had a ball and wants to do it again, this time with her big sister and mommy. I'm not sure who had a better time.

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We'll be doing this again.
 
Awesome pics, great to get 'em in the woods now and then! Thanks for reminding me that I promised my little one a walk this afternoon...better go now :)
 
Nice pics. Amanda looks like she enjoyed that. In the second pic that looks like one Hell of a walking stick you got their.
 
That's great that you take the time to get her out. Those are times she'll remember for the rest of her life.
 
Thanks.

The walking stick is an Irish Blackthorn which I picked up last year when my back was acting up and I found a 3rd point of support valuable. Here is a better pic:

blackthorn.jpg


Aside from a good walking stick it would make a fine self defense weapon. The root ball head is hard. It would hurt a lot if you got thumped with it.
 
Great pics Dave.

You've probably already been there, but an early morning trip to Valley Forge is a great trip for little one's. There'll be deer all over the place and a good mix of trails - especially along Valley Creek.

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Great pics - thanks for sharing. It's great to see kids out and about and having fun.
 
Excellent photo's!
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I think taking children outdoors is so much more rewarding because of their delight in discovering so many aspects of the natural world up close.

The educational and health benefits are a bonus.
 
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