Animal Lesson #13: Wolf Park Howl Night in Indiana

Wolves have been featured as the bad character in children's stories, but kids certainly enjoy seeing the ancestors of domestic dogs.  Why not let them howl with the wolves?  You can make it happen by signing up for a Howl Night at Wolf Park in Lafayette, Indiana.  

Wolf Park employee at Howl Night

The program now costs approximately $12 per adult and $10 per child.  We may have paid more because our program also included a hot dog campfire dinner.  Our event occurred pre-COVID, so programs can change.  The 1.5 hour program now includes 30 minutes to walk the grounds and see all the animals in enclosures, followed by a one hour howl program with an educational talk and staff demonstrating how they communicate with wolves.  Everyone has an opportunity to howl from the stands.  All fees and gift shop purchases go to a good cause.  The Wolf Park operates as a non-profit and has a mission, dedicating the organization to behavioral research, education, and conservation.

Photo by Krenda

The park effort began back in the 1970's when Erich Klinghammer, Purdue University Professor, received wolves from the Brookfield Zoo to study communication and behavior.  Brookfield Zoo is another great place we've taken the kids for conservation education.

Wolves were once viewed as dangerous pesky predator and killed by humans.  A National Park Service employee thought he shot the last wolf in Yellowstone in 1926.  Adolph Murie did research on wolves and concluded that they played an important role in the ecosystem.  He note that wolves reduced the moose population and saved vegetation in Mount McKinley National Park.  In 1963, Starker Leopold wrote the Leopold Report recommending that predators and national processes play essential roles.  The government placed wolves under the protection of the Endangered Species Act in 1995.  Yellowstone National Park reintroduced wolves in 1995 and now the park has over 100 wolves.  Gray wolves increased elsewhere too.  The government delisted gray wolves from the list in 2020, but red wolves remain in smaller numbers and listed.

You don't need a full moon to hear wolves howl.  If you want to increase your odds of hearing the howl, visit at dawn or dusk.  That's likely why Wolf Park hosts Howl Night at dusk.  When the air cools, wolves increase their activity.  

Admiring the wolves

North America has two species of wolves - gray wolves with thick fur and found in the north and smaller red wolves with shorter fur found in the southeast.  Wolf Park has many gray wolves - 3 gray males named Mani, Aspen, and Niko, and 3 gray female wolves named Khewa, Sparow, and Timber.  Gray wolves could be gray in color or they could be black or white.  The gray wolf fur looked gorgeous and full when we visited in cool temperature.  These wolves could look different in the summer when wolves shed fur to keep cool.  Considering the multiple wolves at Wolf Park, you might hear a duet howl (two wolves) or chorus howl (three or more wolves).  In any case, you'll likely hear children howl.

Wolves live in packs.  Alpha males can be male or female and act as the leader of the pack.  If you want to see wolves in the wild, wolves also live at Isle Royale National Park (MN), Michigan Upper Peninsula, northern Rocky Mountains, and Wisconsin.  The United States will host the International Wolf Symposium in 2022 (Minneapolis, MN).

More than wolves at Wolf Park

We visited the Wolf Park to see wolves.  In touring the grounds, we delighting to discover other animals too including Jaker and Scarlette the red foxes, Lark and Kestrel the gray foxes, and 13 bison.  If your kids have interest in seeing more bison, search for my Bison article.

Big kids had fun too

Thinking Global in the USA #5: Korean Friendship Bell (San Pedro California)

Korean Friendship Bell, Photo by Krenda

Viewed by some Koreans as the West Coast Statue of Liberty, the Korean Friendship Bell in San Pedro California is a good place to talk to kids about the friendship between Korean and the United States. Korean bells were believed to have the power to restore peace.  It is fitting that the Korean Friendship Bell has an inscription "May this bell ring and sound forth the hope and resolve of our two nations in their common devotion to enduring prosperity, liberty, and peace."

The bell sits within a beautiful pavilion in a grassy area overlooking the Pacific Ocean and giving you a view of the Los Angeles harbor.  Drive to the Angel Gate Park in San Pedro.  You'll notice two totem poles with the artist name Jong-heung Kim.  After visiting, it inspired me to learn more.  Jong-heung Kim is a traditional Korean Totem Pole Master.  He presented his work to Queen Elizabeth II, President Bush, and President George W. Bush.  Korean traditional totem poles were meant to protect Korean villages against evil spirits or other disasters.  They don't tell stories, but also meant to bring good fortune.  One male with description 'Great General Under Heaven' and 'Great General Under Earth' make the park even more interesting.

The pagoda-like structure housing the bell was constructed by craftsmen in Korea.  The 12 columns represent the 12 designs of the Oriental Zodiac.  In 1976, both the pavilion and the bell were given to the people of Los Angeles from Korea for the U.S. Bicentennial.  By 1978, the bell was declared a Los Angeles Historic Monument.  The United States now has the second-largest Korean population living outside Korea.  China ranks #1.  Within the US, Los Angeles area has the highest population of Korean Americans, followed by New York City area.

When you approach the Belfry of Friendship Pavilion, the bell size will impress you at 7 feet high, 7.5 feet in diameter, and 17 tons in weight.  Patterned after the Bronze Bell of King Sondok which was cast in 1771 A.D, these bells are among the largest bells in the world.  In comparison, there's only one Korean Bell Pavilion on the East Coast, Korean Bell Garden in Virginia, and it weighs 3 tons.  The bell structure goes straight down versus curving outward and is rung by a log.  If you want to see the bell rung, you need to choose your visit to specific dates - 1) US Independence Day (July 4th), 2) National Liberation Day of Korea (August 15th), 3) New Year's Eve, 4) Constitution Week (September 17th), and Korean-American Day (January 13th).

Visiting this site won't take the entire day, so visit the nearby Marine Mammal Care Center and Point Fermin Lighthouse too.

World of Difference #3: Lambs Farm & Goat Yoga

Any age kids will enjoy Lambs Farm and your purchases will help a good cause.  Located in Libertyville, IL, Lambs Farm provides vocational and residential services for over 250 adults with developmental disabilities.  Founded in 1961, it already became the third most frequented visitor site in Lake County by the 1980s.  That's probably because of the good cause combined with family fun.  The site includes a petting zoo, small rides, and mini golf course perfect for the little kids.  The farm does include many animals including lambs, but that's not the origin of the farm name.  The name has religious meaning from John 21:15 in which Jesus tells St. Peter, "Feed my Lambs".

As a big kid, I find other ways to support this worthy cause.  I buy ice cream topping at the Sugar Maple Country Store, dog accessories at the Dogwood Pet Shop, donate to the Cedar Crest Thrift Shop, and enjoy lunch at the Magnolia Cafe & Bakery restaurant.  Yes, that's a lot of sites in one place.  It also has a greenhouse and store.  It's a 72 acre campus which also includes their housing.  Those living onsite are also the employees.  They have purpose and pride in their work and it shows.  I enjoy that I can visit with the same people weekend after weekend and see their smiles.

Lambs Farm also raises funds through events such as a golf outing.  I wanted to share my experience at a new event - Goat Yoga.  The instructor utilizes the Lambs Farm petting zoo location and class funds go to a good cause.  As a first time Goat Yoga participant, I was a little concerned that I've mastered no yoga pose.  No problem!  Our instructor made us all at ease, letting us know to have fun, play with the animals, and go ahead and laugh, it's all part of total wellness.  We all laughed at some point, usually when a goat tried to eat our yoga mat or get close to our face.  The Lambs Farm employees added more animals to the mix.  It was so fun to watch the young kids giggle.  According to the new brochures, Lambs Farm also added Puppy Yoga.  There's always something new at Lambs Farm.  

Check the Lambs Farm website for event schedule.  Take your whole family for the fun and support a great cause.  Who wouldn't want to hug a goat and give to a good cause?

If you are looking for more information about yoga, click on my article "Gym Class Little Yogis and 3 Yoga Festivals".

Lighthouse Lesson #10: Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro, California

Fermin Lighthouse, Photo by Krenda

You and your kids will enjoy the picture perfect lighthouse in San Pedro Point Fermin Park called Fermin Lighthouse.  A British explorer George Vancouver influenced the name.  He wanted to honor Father Fermin Francisco de Lausen and named Point Fermin and Point Lasuen.  The Stick Style early Victorian architecture with gabled roofs, decorative cross beams, and overhanging eaves makes the building so charming for photos.  Then you have the beautiful blooming gardens surrounding and a view of the ocean.

Historically, the lighthouse had great purpose to aid safe passage between the Channel Islands and into the harbor.  You should definitely take a tour to hear the stories.  You will learn about the first lighthouse keepers, sisters Mary and Ella Smith.  You can climb the winding steps and admire the ocean view and coastline in a tower standing 30 feet above ground.

Built in 1874, the lighthouse has a history of survival.  Twice saved by advocates from demolition.  Once the Fresnel Light taken off sight, missing, and later proven as the Fermin Fresnel light and returned to original location.  To avoid aiding our enemy submarines, ships, or planes, most lights on the west coast extinguished during World War II.  The Fermin lighthouse lights extinguished two days after the 1941 Pearl Harbor attacks.  The lighthouse and light keeps advocates taking action.  In 2002, the lighthouse was restored and it re-opened in 2003.  With generous donations, the park also grew over time and now covers 37 acres.

Time your visit right.  Lighthouse is closed on Mondays.  Tours given at three specific times of 1PM, 2PM, and 3PM.  Donation requested.  If you want to see other lighthouses with Victorian design, also consider visiting East Brothers (San Francisco Bay) and Hereford Light (New Jersey).

The lighthouse is a short drive from the Korean Friendship Bell which also has architectural interest and history, so read my story about our visit to the bell.

Transportation Lesson #3: Endeavour & 3 Other Space Shuttle Sites

Endeavour, Photo by Krenda

Space is an exciting subject for kids, opening up the imagination and wonder.  To make it more real, take your kids to see a retired space shuttle.  We visited the California Space Center in Los Angeles California to see the Endeavor space shuttle.  It had quite the media attention when flown from Florida to California and then moved through the streets of Los Angeles with 1.5 million spectators.  If you are too young to recall the news, you can see video at the museum.  Imagine the preparation to move a 78 foot wide, 57 food high, and 122 foot long shuttle.  When you enter the Samuel Oschin Pavilion on the property, the numbers become real and you feel awe at the size and mission.  I found it really cool to walk underneath and be so close.  Close enough to touch, but you can't touch.  Just take photos and listen to the stories of volunteers.  The volunteers were so kind to answer my curious kids numerous questions.

California Space Station

Endeavor sounds like an inspirational name coming from the dictionary, using the meaning "try hard to do or achieve something" or "an attempt to achieve a goal".  From research, I was surprised that the name actually came from a contest won by school children.  The contest required the name to come from an exploratory or research vessel.  Endeavor name came from a ship chartered to explore the South Pacific.  Explorer James Cook and crew had sailed to observe the transit of Venus at Tahiti.

The government authorized Endeavor's construction, the fifth Space Shuttle orbiter, as a replacement for Challenger in 1987.  It served from 1992 to 2011, completing 25 missions and spending 299 days in space.  Endeavor made the first service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope and also worked on the International Space Station.With the arrival to the California Space Center and the restoration on the External Tank (ET), the center will be the only place in the world where you can see a complete shuttle stack - orbiter, external tank (like the "gas tank"), and solid rocket boosters with all real flight hardware in launch configuration.  When visiting the museum, plan for plenty of time to see the multiple exhibits. 

The museum's main building also recognizes other firsts.  It has a full-scale engineering model of Casseni spacecraft and Huygens probes, teaching about the first spacecraft ever to orbit Saturn.  A full-scale engineering model of the Viking Lander is on display, celebrating the first U.S. spaceship ever to land on Mars.  You'll see the Wright Glider replica, recognizing the first successful heavier-than-air powered aircraft.  

Giant Kelp Forest

This museum has more than transportation science exhibits.  Check out their ecosystems extreme zones including the giant kelp forest in a 188,000 gallon tank with sharks, eels, fish and a diver twice a day answering audience questions.  You can also purchase tickets for an IMAX movie.

Unfortunately the Challenger and Columbia space shuttles were completely destroyed during missions.  However, you can visit three other retired space shuttles:

1.  Space Shuttle Enterprise (1977-2012) - Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum - New York $33

2.  Discovery (1984 -2011) - National Air and Space Museum, free

3.  Atlantis (1985-2011) - Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Cape Canaveral, Florida $57

History Lesson #8: 7 Midwest Places to Bring Native American History to Life

Drums thundered, chants echoed, feathers and beads flung side to side, and the bright regala swirled to the beat.  On a Saturday afternoon, the sounds and colors filled the large Field House at UW Madison.  I sat in the stands mesmirized, impressed, and inspired.  I had convinced my sister and cousin to join my adventure.  They were happy to follow me to a traditional Pow Wow and turkey and potatoe meal.

Fast forward a decade plus, the beat of a drum softly beat as my two year old played under a grass thatched roof.  No crowds clapping, just the sound of wind through the feathers of geese landing on the grounds.  Sun Watch Indian Village in Dayton, Ohio consists of 3 acres and opened to the public in 1988 after 17 years of excavation.  We talked about what it would be like living in a village, hunting and preparing for winter.  You can read about it in a book...but when you walk through a village, the experience brings the lesson to life and inspires two year olds to ask lots of questions.

Lesson Idea

You too can immerse your kids in Native American history by visiting a museum, mound, park, or festival.  To prove you don't need to take a long trip out West for the history lesson, here's 7 sites in the Midwest:

1.  Sun Watch Indian Village / Archaeological Park - Dayton, Ohio (OH)

$5 entrance includes museum and village (pictured above)

 http://sunwatch.org/

2.  Effigy Mounds - near Harpers Ferry, Iowa (IA)

3.  Cahokia Mounds - near East St. Louis, MO

4.  Hopewell Cultural Artifacts - Chilicothe, Ohio (OH)

5.  Pawnee Indian Village State Historic Site - Republic, Kansas

6. Serpent Mounds - Memorial, Ohio (OH)

7. Native American Heritage Museum State Historic Site - Highland, Kansas

Check their websites for events like a pow wow.  For a list of National Parks with Native American education, see my other blog http://www.lightningbuglodge.blogspot.com/

NPS #9: Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego History

If you are looking to combine history and nature, save a half day in your San Diego travel plan to visit the Cabrillo National Monument.  Operated by the National Park Service, the monument commemorates the landing of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542.  

It's a great way to teach kids about exploration to the New World.  Cabrillo National Monument will tell stories of the 16th century exploration.  Born in Spain, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was a conquistador, a Spanish soldier who explored and settled in the New World.  Cabrillo explored in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico.  He left Mexico on June 27th, 1542 with three ships and landed in what is now the West Coast of the United States.  The Kuneyaay Indians who lived in the southern border of the United States greeted Cabrillo.

Not far from the visitor center and parking lot, you will find the Old Point Loma Lighthouse and Cabrillo statue overlooking the harbor and ocean.  To keep focused on the history and nature, I've written a separate article about the lighthouse.  Standing at 422 feet above water views, you'll want your camera to capture
the breathtaking views.  If you visit during whale migration season (December through March), use your id to borrow binoculars from the visitor center.  You might see 30 to 50 foot long gray whales.  Peak time to see the whales is mid-January.

We kept hiking past the monument to the Bayside Trail.  Only a two mile hike and relatively easy (note some stairs and rock hopping), the website claims you can accomplish in an hour.  However, we took our time to enjoy the beauty of the plants and crashing waves against the rocks.  Also, you can explore more about the area history.  Since the Point Loma peninsula forms a natural protective barrier to San Diego Bay, this was an important military location.  It served as a military reserve in 1852 and Fort Rosecrans protected during the World Wars.  Within the park, you can find structures from the military past including base-end stations, fire control stations, searchlight stations, and radio station.

Interested in short video clip of crashing waves at the park or view from flight departing San Diego?  Visit my YouTube pagehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPe_8GnvSvwxgjoNHEzwfWQ/videos 

If I could repeat the visit, I would have allocated more time.  I visited in February and it would have been the right time to see the tidepools.  Late fall and winter are the best times to visit the tidepools.  It's only a one mile hike.  Go two hours before low tide times.  Check the NPS website for tide charts.  The depressions in the rocks along the coastline capture animals during low tide (when water recedes) which would create a great nature exploration for kids.  Make sure they wear shoes that won't easily slip on the wet rocks.

If I could choose anytime to visit, I would time the visit to the Cabrillo Festival in September.  It's a free festival with cultural music and dancing, food from Mexico, Portugal, and Spain, and Kumeyaay baskets and other crafts.  I'd time arrive in time for the 1PM re-enactment of Cabrillo's landing on Ballast Point.  If you want to help support, buy tickets (approximately $30) for the evening social reception.

The National Park Service brings history alive.  If you are interested in another way to teach your kids through travel about early Spanish explorers, visit my article on the DeSoto National Memorial.