Animal Lesson #10: 7 Places to Show Kids Bison

Bison at Yellowstone National Park

Loved how the bison "owned" the Yellowstone National Park, roaming freely where they wanted. If they felt like crossing the road, believe me, you waited. Their size and power and prehistoric look makes you sit back, wait, and enjoy watching.

The kids enjoyed seeing the bison so much, we sought out a closer location with bison.  USA Today listed The Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area as one of the "51 Greatest Places to See Wildlife" describing the area, "Located in the national recreation area known as Land Between the Lakes (between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake), Kentucky's only drive-through elk and bison prairie gives visitors up-close views of these majestic animals."  

The Elk & Bison Prairie National Recreation Area (Golden Pond, KY) in Land Between the Lakes offers family an economical deal - only $5 per car.  http://www.lbl.org/EBPrairieGate.html. Only enclosed vehicles allowed.  The loop only covers 3.5 miles, but leave plenty of time to allow bison to cross the road in front of you.

In the past, 40 to 60 million bison roamed across North America (NA).  According to the Wildlife Conservation Society, there are now only 500,000 in NA and most live on ranches.  Conservation herds total an estimated 20,000.  If you'd like to help, check out The American Bison Society http://www.wcs.org/saving-wildlife/hoofed-mammals/bison/the-american-bison-society.aspx


As the kids continued to age, I'd find more places to sight bison.  Look up bison farms where residents raise bison and offer products for sale.  I found one in Wisconsin - Lester's Bison Farm (31807 60th St, Salem, WI).  No entrance fee to pay.

We did purchase meat after learning more about the farm business from the owner himself.  If you do not feel motivated to travel for bison meat, go to meet Lester.  His patriotism shines at the driveway entrance with a row of American flags.  Retired from the United States Marine Corp, he has a lot of stories to tell.
  
If you'd like to show your kids the bison, here's 7 other locations with bison;
1.  Sandsage Bison Range, Garden City, KS, http://www.kdwpt.state.ks.us/news/KDWPT-Info/Locations/Wildlife-Areas/Region-3/Sandsage-Bison-Range
2.  Blue Mounds State Park, Luverne, MN, http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/blue_mounds/index.html
3.  Antelope Island State Park, Layton, Utah (UT), near Salt Lake City, $9 per car http://www.utah.com/stateparks/antelope_island.htm
4.  Fort Robinson State Park, Crawford, Nebraska http://www.stateparks.com/fort_robinson.html
5.  Maxwell State Bison Refuge, Canton, KS http://www.kdwpt.state.ks.us/news/KDWPT-Info/Locations/Wildlife-Areas/Region-4/Maxwell
6.  House Rock Wildlife Area near Jacob Lake, Arizona, http://www.wildlifeviewingareas.com/wv-app/parkdetail.aspx?parkid=57
7.  Witchita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, OK, bison and elk reintroduced  http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Wichita_Mountains/wildlife_and_habitat/index.html#

Animal Lesson #9: 9 Places in Florida Where Your Kids Might Spot a Manatee

Not only kids have curiosity about animals.  Travel & Leisure magazine article 12 Places to Swim with Animals states "your travel bucket list just got 12 items longer."  The article included swimming with manatees in Florida as one of the twelve places.  I admit that it was on my list.

All three species of manatees (West Indian, West African, Amazonians) have endangered animal status.  The Florida Manatee and Anitillean Manatees are subspecies of the West Indian species.  If you are a globe trotter, perhaps you visit the Anitillean Manatee in Puerto Rico or Mexico or the African Manatee in Kissama National Park in Angola, Africa.  Boat traffic and cold stress from temperatures below 68 degrees present risk factors for manatees.  If you go on a tour, the guide will reinforce instructions on how to observe without disturbing and rules such as not touching the manatees.

One of the few places to swim or snorkel with the Florida manatees is the Crystal River, north of Tampa.  In fact the book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz lists "Swimming with Manatees" in Crystal River, FL and claims the river as the exclusive place "This is the only place in the world where you can have a face-to-face encounter with these gray-blue marine mammals."

A tour makes it easy, providing you wet suits and a short boat ride (under 30 minutes).  Make certain to arrive early to watch the mandatory regulations video.  Related to the elephants, these gentle giants or "sea cows" typically grow to 10 feet in length and can weigh over 3,000 lbs.  Manatees can live 50 to 60 years.

We saw manatees both active and swimming around us and manatees sleeping at lower levels.  Even during napping, manatees surface for air every twenty minutes.  Manatees eat large quantities of vegetation each day including sea grass, aquatic plants, algae, and mangrove leaves.  These friendly creatures swim gracefully.  It's a magical treat to swim near them.

The best time to spot manatees is during the winter and early spring when manatees gather near warmer water such as near springs or electric company channels.

If you take a Crystal River tour, swimming skills help.  You'll likely be in cool water for an hour and a half.

If seeing manatees from a boardwalk sounds most appealing, I highly recommend the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge in Crystal River.  It is part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge System.  Look online for office directions.  After parking, a shuttle bus takes you to the refuge. 

There's many places to observe manatees including these 9 places:

1.  Citrus County's Homosassa River, paddle toward Ellie Schuller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

2.  Weeki Wachee River, warm Weeki Wachee Springs; check out Paddling Adventures located next to Weeiki Wachee Springs Park for a 5 mile, 3 hour paddle

3.  Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge observation area near Cape Canaveral, plus look nearby at Bairs Cove Boat Ramp

4.  Manatee Springs State Park Chiefland, Suwanee River, 100 million gallons of clear water comes from the springs

5.  Blue Spring State Park, north of Orlando, although access prohibited in winter

6.  Edward Ball Wakulla Spring Park, Wakulla Springs, the deepest freshwater spring in FL

7.  Lee County Park, Fort Meyers, discharge canal from electric company, check out Calusa Blueway Outfitters

8.  Manatee Lagoon, West Palm Beach, near electric company

9.  TECO Manatee Viewing Center, Apollo Beach near discharge canal

Experts estimate the total Florida manatee population at approximately 4,000, so you are not guaranteed to spot a manatee.  If you don't want to disappoint your kids, consider the Lowry Park Zoo or Miami Seaquarium. 

State Park #5: Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, Spring Hill Florida - mermaids & water sports

Mermaid swimming, a cross between free diving and synchronized swimming, has become trendy.  Perhaps your child doesn't have aspirations to become one of the professional thousand mermaid and merman, but observing a show does inspire strengthening swimming skills.  Mermaids can descend on a single breath.  While wearing a tail that can weigh up to 35 pound, they make choreographed moves to music.  It's no easy task.  It can take nine months of training, using hula hoop diving exercises and more.  Mermaids must get scuba and CPR certified and prove timed 200 yard swim and 50 yard butterfly.

However, many of the recent shows or classes have adult locations or minimum age requirements: 
1) Silverton Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada with 4,000 fish
2) Sip'n Dip Lounge, Great Falls, Montana which added mermaids to their live piano bar entertainment
3) Dive Bar Sacramento, CA, featuring merman 4) Hotel del Coronado, CA, $25 class for adults includes 45 minutes of core and cardio fitness while wearing a tail. 
5) Whitney M Young Magnet Schools, Laflin St., Chicago, by Aquamermaid Chicago, $60

Here's my suggestion - go to the original, the Weiki Wachee show debuted synchronized mermaid ballet in October 1947 as a road side attraction.  Weeki Wachee Springs State Park became a state park in 2008 and park entrance fee includes the show.  The park offers limited seating in an auditorium below the surface of the water;  go early!  Long hoses placed throughout the ground provide air to mermaids and mermaids perform to multiple songs.  We laughed as a turtle tried to get into the act.

I enjoyed the park so much that when I returned to Fort Lauderdale, I made the trip north on the highway to visit again.  This time I allocated more time for the park and waited in line for the Wilderness River Cruise.  Your entrance fee also includes this boat trip down the river.  We watched below for manatees and above for birds.  A separate article covers the many places you can see manatees in Florida.  If I had more time, I'd rent a kayak at the park.  There's so many ways to enjoy the water at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.

Here's 3 other family friendly mermaid shows:
1) Downtown Aquarium, Denver Colorado, Mystic Mermaid Show, includes conservation messages, adults $20, children $14
2) Ripley's Aquarium Myrtle Beach, SC, mermaids swim along with sting rays and sharks on weekends, $23 adult, $17 child aquarium tickets; limited seating, go early!
2) Wreck Bar, Fort Lauderdale, FL, shipwreck scene and 30 min. show, featured in Analyze This movie, only two shows per week, go early!

Agriculture Lesson #5: Pike Place Market - Seattle, Washington

If you visit Seattle, you'll likely shop at the city's #1 attraction - Pike Place Market.  It's a great way to talk about agriculture with your kids because it's the place where producers and consumers meet.  It began by farmers as a way to cut out the middleman.  With an opening in 1907, it is one of the oldest continuously operating farmers market in the country.

You'll look for the iconic red "Public Market Center" sign with clock above the building.  Before you enter the market, you can do good by donating your change to the bronze cast piggy bank.  Rachel the Piggy Bank serves as the market mascot and a way to collect money to the Pike Place Market Foundation.  The foundation provides many services including a food bank, senior center support, and preschool financial assistance.  The piggy bank has raised over $200K.

Once in the market, you don't need to go far to see the fishmongers

throwing salmon over the counter.  It began as a way to increase efficiency and now seen as the iconic action in the market.  You might have seen such action on shows such as Frasier and The Learning Channel (TLC).  While the market has fame for fish, you can find so much beautiful, bright colored produce and flowers too.  If you can't buy food that will spoil, look for pasta, nuts, and chocolates.  With over 500 shops, you'll also find crafts and a variety of restaurants, including ethnic - Persian, Thai, Japanese, Mexican, and Italian.  

Walk around the market building too and you'll enjoy views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains.  I kept on walking.  It can take less than ten minutes from the market to reach Pier 59.

In my article about the Frankfurt, Germany market, I listed the top farmers' markets according to Frommer book.  Of course, Pike Place Market makes the list.  When Country Living magazine made it's list of top 14 markets per "The Best Farmers' Markets in America" article, Pike Place listed at the top.  Here's their full list:

1.  Pike Place Farmers' Market - Seattle, Washington, June-November

2.  Historic Soulard Farmers' Market - St. Louis, Missouri, year-round Wed.-Sat., since 1779

3.  Crescent City Farmers Market - New Orleans, Louisiana, Tue.-Sat.

4.  Union Square Farmers Market - New York, New York, Sat. until Nov. 23

5.  Baltimore Farmers' Market & Bazaar - Baltimore, Maryland, April-Dec.

6.  Brattleboro Winter Farmers' Market - Brattleboro, Vermont, Sat. Nov. - March

7.  Charleston Farmers' Market - Charleston, South Carolina, Sat., April - Dec.

8.  Des Moines Downtown Farmers' Market - Des Moines, Iowa, Sat., May - Oct.

9.  Portland Farmers Market at PSU - Portland, Oregon, Sat.

10.  Rowayton Farmers' Market - Rowayton, Connecticut, Fri.

11.  Sag Harbor's Fair Foods Farmers' Market - Sag Harbor, New York - Sat.

12.  Green City Market - Chicago, IL Lincoln Park, year-round, outdoors May-Nov.

13.  Aspen Saturday Market - Aspen, Colorado, Sat. June-Oct.

14.  West Tisbury Farmers' Market - West Tisbury, Massachusetts, Sat. & Wed, June - Aug.

Social Sciences & Economics: 5 Free Places to Learn About Money

 Economics, a branch of social science, studies human behavior and scare means.  This article dedicated to my friend working in the Congressional Budget Office in DC.

Kids can learn about goods and resources every time we go shopping and discuss income and expenses.  There's so much more to discuss.  Economist study business climate, the labor market, drivers in fluctuations in oil prices, inflation, and foreign exchange.  President Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act in 1913.  The US needed a system to stabilize markets, promote financial stability, and setting monetary policy.  Consumers needed confidence and protection and federal banks could ensure banks remained compliant with consumer protection laws.  Bank mergers and acquisitions could be reviewed at the federal level.  The economist and government helped identify solutions to the stock market crash of 1929 and 1987 and financial crisis of 2007-2008.

History, economics, politics, and business can come together in stories.  In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt needed to rebuild confidence in banking and Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act.  It allowed twelve Federal Reserve Banks to issue additional currency.  Later, the 1933 Banking Act formed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

If you want to bring the concepts alive, consider visiting a money museum.  Please note you'll need to pass security and show government-issue photo id for such government run money museums.  We took the kids to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City The Money Museum (1 Memorial Drive, open 9:30-4PM).  When you enter, you'll see the Harry S. Truman Coin Collection containing over 500 historic coins.  The exhibit includes a $40 million wall with $40 million stacked up.  See a gold bar worth nearly $500K (depends on the timing).  Kids also learn about counterfeit at an exhibit explaining security features designed in currency.  At the end, the employees gave each kid a small bag of shredded cash.  That may have created the most excitement.

Here's five more free entrance places to learn about the economy and banking:

1. Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York, NY (44 Maiden Lane), M-F 1 & 2PM one hour tours, limited space for public tours and registration opens 30 days prior to requested date, no strollers, no late entrance, security screening first 

2. Atlanta Money Museum, Atlanta, GA (1000 Peachtree Street NE), M-F 9AM-4PM self-guided tours, M-F guided tours at 9:30 AM, 11AM, and 1PM, vie of the banks' automated vault and cash processing area, see robotic transportation, see where dollars are counted, sorted, and shredded daily

3.  Chicago Fed's Money Museum, Chicago, IL (Federal Reserve Bank on 230 South LaSalle St), M-F 8:30-5PM, 45 minute self guided tour, 30 minute guided tour M-F 1PM

4.  Detroit Branch Visitors Center, Detroit, MI (1600 East Warren Avenue), M-Thur. 9AM-4PM, one hour tours

5.  The Denver Money Museum, Denver, CO, (1020 16th St), free, kids can use crayons to design currency, learn the history of the Federal Reserve

Art Lesson #8: Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle Washington

For a short history of glass art, your kids will find it interesting that glassmakers were once forbidden to leave Venice or teach their skills to foreigners.  It's interesting how change creates new connections.  The secrecy of the craft was maintained until 1962.  Harvey Littleton started teaching glass blowing at the University of Wisconsin in 1962 and Dale Chihuly was enrolled in the first glass program.  Chihuly was the first American invited to work at Veneni glass factory in Venice.  In 1998, Chihuly created Chihuly Over Venice exhibit and installed them over canals and piazzas of Venice.  His art connected him back to Venice.  

The year 1962 wasn't only the first glass program in the United States, it was also the year Seattle hosted the World's Fair.  Ever since then, the Space Needles has remained an icon.


  Born in Washington, Chihuly was invited by the Wright family who owns the Space Needle to present his work.  In 2011, the Chihuly Garden and Glass construction began.  Chihuly repurposed an existing building on 1.5 acres near the Space Needle for a long-term exhibit.  His art connected back to his community.

You and your family will really enjoy the visually spectacular space and glass of the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit in the Seattle Center.  While it's not close to free admission ($32 per adult, $49 package with nearby Space Needle), it's such a unique experience to see Chihuly art both inside and outside.  I've seen his art in botanical garden installation, but not the close up exhibit which includes his Macchia series.  Macchias was one of his collections in the 1980s, along with Seafoams, Venetians, and Persians.  Macchia comes from the Latin word macula meaning a stain or spot. Chihuly began Macchia with an inspiration to use all 300 colors in his hotshop, fusing colored glass chips on the the exterior layer to create a spotted effect.  If you want to buy a Macchia art piece, it will cost you 6 to 9 thousand dollars.  Now the $32 entrance doesn't sound too bad.

After buying your ticket, you will enter the indoor exhibits which includes eight galleries.  In a dark room, the Chihuly glass in vibrant color lights up the room.  Other people walked into the room and we all stared in silence.  Ikebana and Float Boats pictured here is one of the two wooden boats used as a base for the exhibit.  Chihuly presented his first chandelier piece at t 1992 exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum.  In Seattle, you can see impressive chandeliers hanging from the ceiling at this location.  A green one, a blue and white one, a red one, and the green one photographed here.

You'll proceed to the glass house.  There is something about art combined with space and light that has a wow factor and luxurious feel.  The 40-foot tall glass and steel structure covers 4,500 feet.  Light fills the room and you'll admire the 100-foot long orange and yellow glass sculpture suspended above you.  

You'll continue to see different art pieces in the gardens outside such as icicle towers and reeds on logs.  I was fortunate to time my visit right to a live glass demonstration.  While in Seattle, I also recommend you visit Pike Place Market and it's free entry!  Read my blog story about my experience.

Gym Class #10: 4 Trampoline Development Centers

Photo by Krenda

Want to get their hearts pumping?  Go to a trampoline facility and let them soar.

According to CNN, trampoline is one of the 10 strangest Olympic Sports, along with 1) solo synchronized swimming, 2) club swimming, 3) tug-o-war, 4) live pigeon shooting, 5) swimming obstacle course, 6) roller skating, 7) la canne (canes, similar to fencing), 8) rope climbing, and 9) race walking.  The vast majority have not been included in recent Olympic games.  However, trampoline is fairly recent.

London England held the first Trampoline World Championships (1964).  Sydney, Australia hosted the first Olympics to feature trampoline (2000).  Did you know the inventor learned from a kangaroo and actually jumped with a kangaroo on his trampoline?  Your little joey can have so much fun too. 

Trampoline offers much more challenge than who can jump highest.  Try a half turn, tuck jump, straddle jump, and seat drop.  For the gymnasts, they may jump as high as 33 feet and show off other tricks: 
1) Barani - front somersault with a half-twist
2) Cody - backward somersault from the front
3) Quadriffis- any quadruple somersault from the front.

USA Gymnastics chooses a limited number of clubs as Trampoline Development Centers, encouraging competitive trampoline sport.  In 2016, USA Gymnastics chose the following four clubs:
1.  De Veau's School of Gymnastics in Indianapolis, IN
2.  Mini Hops Gymnastics in Plymouth, MN
3.  Legacy Training Center in San Luis Obispo, CA
4.  International Gymnastics Centre Inc. in West Sacramento, CA


We've used trampoline facilities in Fort Wayne, IN and Buffalo Grove, IL (near Chicago).  Both offered more than jumping.  Both offered a foam pit and dodge ball games.  No need to bring a team.  Just join the fun.  Safety first.  The facilities provide safety videos and signs.  Always good to reinforce the message yourself with your kids.

Tips:
1) Bring comfortable clothes, but not too much stuff - you'll likely want to rent a small locker.  Facilities often require socks with grips and sell them at a reasonable price.  2) Set a realistic time.  You can purchase 2 hours, but you may not need it.  One hour or even 30 minutes may suffice.  Especially if you use competition rules - routine terminates if you touch the side panel or stop (-:

When you go on vacation, sometimes the weather just doesn't cooperate.  Pack your grip socks.  If you are vacationing in the Smoky Mountains, check out Top Jump Trampoline Park in Pigeon Forge (between light #8 and 10).  If you need to rent a luxury cabin, check out our rental nearby named Indigo Moon Lodge www.indigomoonlodge.blogspot.com.