Story Walk

A Christmas Festival

Christmas Festival took on a whole new meaning this year… when I hear those two words together “Christmas Festival” my mind immediately thinks of the 100+ year old annual Christmas concert at St. Olaf College. But this year the Bollinger Family held its own Christmas Festival…created because of the pandemic as a safe way for celebrating Christmas together with multiple families and young energetic children.

My daughter-in-love came up with this great idea and it was fun planning it with her. She worked hard to make it happen. We helped where we could ahead of time.

The day of the festival we gathered together early one December afternoon, which ended up being a very mild day…almost 40 degrees and no wind…a beautiful blessing. The weather was tolerable for staying outdoors for five hours! We had propane heaters in one area to warm up if necessary… the adults used it a few times but not the kids – they were active enough to stay warm the entire time!

The yard was decorated with garland, lights and lanterns, and a Christmas tree which came to life at dusk…on one of the shortest days of the year.

The table was covered with a red tablecloth and decorated with lights, mini-trees and ornaments for the crock-pots of chili.

There was games and activities and a very special Nativity Story Walk all planned out for the children, which they hardily enjoyed.

Painting a Happy Birthday banner for Jesus.

Find the stars – a Story Walk to the manger scene.

Towards dusk we started fires in two fire pits. We enjoyed eating our chili dinner from compostable bowls around the bon fires.

We brought along our roasting sticks to roast marshmallows and make s’mores for dessert…all with Christmas music sounding through speakers in the back ground.

The grandchildren (and grand-dog Charlie) had a good time celebrating together while social distancing and masking up. I trust the grandchildren will remember this Christmas Festival for years to come. I know I will. The adults had a great time too!

Merry Christmas!

Themed Hike

The Oberg Mountain trail is one of our favorite hikes on the north shore. It’s a fairly easy 2.2 mile hike…climbing up and circling around the summit. There are eight fantastic overlooks along the loop trail. Some places look out over Lake Superior….

…other areas view the inland forest and Oberg Lake. It’s a hike that never disappoints and is always enjoyable.

Looking inland towards Oberg Lake with the colorful maples past peak.

This year as we approached the top I saw a sign posted that looked like it could be another Story Walk – like the one we discovered at Forestville State Park a few weeks ago.

However, the sign project on top of Oberg was not a storybook walk. It was referred to as a themed hike.

Along the trail several signs were posted near trees to identify them and talk about their characteristics, or tell stories about their species. The United States Department of Agriculture logo was listed on each sign so I assume it was their project, in collaboration with the Forest Service.

I’ve often thought, while hiking through the forest, that it would be helpful if all the trees and flowers and bushes and plants in the forest could all have little signs identifying themselves – so I liked the concept of this themed hike.

Although I can identify a lot of the common trees there are many more trees I do not know.

I’ve noticed these sweet, little seedlings growing next to the trail. They are soft and elegant.

I was happy to learn about these precious, little pine trees I have seen lining the hiking trails. Sign number 10 identified them as Princess Pine…a fitting title I think.

Over all there were eleven trees highlighted on this trail: White Cedar, Mountain Maple, Quaking Aspen, Beaked Hazelnut, Sugar Maple, Red Pine, Black Ash, Balsam Fir, White Spruce, Princess Pine and Paper Birch.

According to the last sign they plan to create another themed hike about a different topic…hopefully next year.

I’m thankful for these intentional ways different organizations are helping the public learn about nature, out in nature.

We entered Forestville State Park into the GPS system in our car and ended up on a dirt road in the middle of two tall cornfields with the system declaring we had “reached our destination!”

Following the red truck down the gravel road.

We pulled over and as we got out our map, a red pick up truck pulled up along side us and stopped. We rolled down our window and he asked, “Are you looking for the state park? “ We said, “Yes.” He said, “Follow me.” So we did. He stopped a couple miles up the road at his farm and gave us directions from there to the park. He laughed and told us he meets the nicest folks at the end of his driveway… every weekend. They find themselves where we did, in the cornfields looking for the state park.

The beautiful golden cornfields under an interesting sky.

Along our route that morning we saw colors of autumn. Yellow, red and orange leaves on the trees and stunning golden corn stalks in the fields so we didn’t mind this beautiful detour… and we did find the state park.

Once there we met up with friends. They greeted us with a campfire. We planned to do some hiking.

The park has set up a wonderful Story Walk along one park trail. I had seen this Story Walk idea in Faribault. I had checked out a few storyboards downtown. The title of the featured book in Faribault was Eric Carle’s, From Head to Toe.

(That morning in Faribault has a side story… I left our house and drove 25 minutes south to Faribault to run some errands. When I got out at my first stop I realized I had my slippers on! It was too far to go back home and change shoes so I ran my errands in my slippers!)

Back to Forestville State Park. The book featured on the Story Walk was One North Star by Phyllis Root.

Look for “Eight yellow pond lilies float, seven great blue herons…”

Each page of the book was placed behind plastic on a sign staked to the ground, spaced several hundred feet apart on the trail.

Look for “Nine mosquitoes whine, eight small cranberries…”

As you walk along the trail you stop to read another page of the story. This book is a beautifully illustrated, counting book featuring Minnesota animals and flowers. We stopped at each page to read and count. It was fun!

I enjoyed the book so much I bought a copy at the park office.

I can only imagine how much fun this Story Walk would be for children. It is engaging. We were wishing our grandchildren were along, hiking this Story Walk trail with us.