Outdoors with kids in the PNW-Moscow

You guys!!  Do you know how much I love the PNW? That would be the Pacific North West!

I remember being just a few months pregnant with our first sweet blessing, not even knowing the blessing that he would be, and telling Will that we should move to Moscow, Idaho.  He agreed!  We really are a match made in heaven!  I love the PNW *almost* as much as my family!  Hubby included!  Before I received the God given gift of chronic fatigue I was a hiker, camper, backpacker and wanna be kayaker! The PNW is heaven for these activities.  Will and I had this amazing idea of asking for kayaks as wedding gifts.  Good thing God had a better idea!  Cyrus, our first born! Instead we welcomed diapers, a bassinet and a stroller.

Will and I met in AmeriCorps NCCC.  We both became very connected to and fell in love with the PNW, Moscow, Idaho specifically, during this time!  We worked for PCEI while we were out here on a SPIKE, or volunteer opportunity.  When we found out we were pregnant it was where I wanted to be.  I can't really explain it, but Will felt the same way so we hit the road!  Here we are, our roots are so deep there is no way they could be removed.  We've tried.  And we love it here.  Even when we hate it here.  You know the feeling...right?  

We have devoted years to discovering Idaho.  Really, years.  Not on purpose, as we seem to do NOTHING on purpose!  But we have, over time, covered a lot of ground here in Idaho.  It is my desire for everyone living in this area to descover and love it.  Love the water, or lack there of, love the trees and forest land, love the hot springs and the cold trails, love the picnic spots and swimming holes.  I am by far no environmentalist, but I deeply love the PNW.  I deeply love that God gave this to our family to explore and I also feel the weight to protect it!  I hope you will journey with me!  I plan to highlight a new town, and the surrounding area as some of my favorite places aren't connected to a town (welcome to north Idaho) and I hope you will be inspired to take your family out on an explore!  Take a journey out your back door to places you have never been!  These places will be free or of little cost, except for gas, and mostly family friendly.  Although I think almost all places are family friendly!  

Today I will start right in town, but please don't come to expect this!  I have found it a great and wonderful challenge to visit as many different places as I can within a days drive of Moscow!  First we have the Arboreatum! 

The Arboretum and Botanical Garden is amazing almost any month of the year.  My favorite time to visit is in June when the surrounding fields are green and the trees are all popping!  There are several ponds with lots of little fish and turtles, thousands of trees, a butterfly garden and a famous barn that everyone likes to have their family picture taken in front of!  There is an outhouse and ample parking.  There are fields for picnics or quiet bird watching.  Check out their website as they tend to host different events and have a monthly newsletter.

This is from their website:

The University of Idaho Arboreta are outdoor museums maintained for the acquisition and proper curation of a living collection of native and introduced plants hardy in the Inland Pacific Northwest. As a primary reference collection, the arboreta will emphasize plant variation and genetic diversity. Highest priority of the arboreta is to develop, curate, and maintain a diverse collection of cultivars and species of known origin.

As educational facilities, goals of the University of Idaho Arboreta are to:

• provide a site for instruction in botany, horticulture, forestry, landscape architecture, environmental sciences, and other fields related to the living collection; 
• encourage authorized research in fields such as plant hardiness, systematics, and hybridization;
• educate the public through field trips, lectures, and tours;
• provide to the public a restful, beautiful environment for the purpose of gaining knowledge and appreciation of the importance of plants. 

*take note that though it is not paved, the arboreatum path is quite easy to use with small children, older grandparents and a stroller!*

See you next time as we head north to Phillps Farm, Laird park and hunt for an old ghost town!