It is likely, if you are reading this Christmas morning, that the kids are playing with their new electronics amid wrapping paper strewn across the floor. Maybe they’re dancing around the living room with a new doll, or flying a spaceship – complete with annoying blinking lights and sounds – through your personal airspace.
It’s Christmas, a time when parents and grandparents spoil their children.
Hey, I’m a dad, I understand.
It is difficult to fend off the repeated pre-Christmas pleas of children yearning for the latest in “Star Wars” Lego kits or the latest outfit for an American Girl doll.
There is, however, one other gift I will give our children, not today but in the coming year. I want them to spend more time enjoying the amazing outdoors our state offers. I encourage other parents to do the same.
I’ll admit, my wife and I don’t let our son and daughter hunker down in front of the Wii for hours on end. In fact, homework, soccer, baseball, ballet and the like help keep screen time to an parentally acceptable level.
We also do a fairly good job of visiting our favorite places. We make repeated day trips to Mount Rainier. A trip to the coast is now a Labor Day tradition. Each spring we head to a beach to go exploring during a low tide. We’ll drive along Five Mile Drive at Point Defiance Park. Each summer, we take a road trip that usually involves camping, fishing and friends.
Still, there is so much more for us to see and do.
When it comes to spending time on the road, I would love to explore southeast Washington. We’ve yet to hit that part of the state. I’d also like to roam around the northern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula, a great day trip I’m sure.
A year ago, we drove over Stevens Pass in a worsening snowstorm. Before conditions reached white-knuckle level, I thought to myself it would be a great area for camping.
Speaking of overnight trips, I’d like for us to pitch our tent for a few nights at Mount Rainier National Park. There is a totally different feel to the park when the sun goes down and the day visitors go home.
Then there are those places you always say you will visit, as you drive past while en route to another destination. I want to discover what state parks like Millersylvania and Lake Sylvia have to offer. Instead of racing down state Route 410 to Yakima, I want to cast a line in the rivers and streams just east of Chinook Pass.
The driving force behind these hopes is not a chance to get away, or see new places. It is the time the four of us spend together outdoors.
We always have fun when we head outdoors and not just because we’ve reached some far-off destination or hiked some great distance. Often it is the little things that create the greatest memories.
One of our favorite stories from our road trip in Wyoming last year was discovering our newly purchased bags of snacks puffed up from the change in pressure when we reached the 10,947-foot pass on the Beartooth Highway. The kids still howl at the memory of the bags going “fwoomp” when my wife popped them.
Those opportunities are there for each and every family, and they don’t require a monster road trip to another state. Take an afternoon to walk the beach at Tolmie State Park at low tide. Look for birds as you walk through Point Defiance Park. Cast for trout at a place like Bradley Lake.
I urge all moms and dads out there to give the same gift. Get the family involved in the planning, ask them for their ideas. Make it a 2012 bucket list, if you want.
No matter the impetus, family time spent outdoors could be the best gift you give your children and yourself.
Your kids will relish the time together.
Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640
jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/adventure
