
I’ve always loved the outdoors. Growing up in rural Iowa, if you weren’t into outdoor activities there wasn’t much for you to do! I have fond memories of summer vacations playing in the parks, swimming at the town pool, riding bikes all over, and when I was a little older, riding my brother’s dirt bikes and quads, going camping and boating at the lake, attending 4th of July fireworks and having big family reunions at different state parks.
Best. Trip. Ever.
Our best family trip ever happened when I was about 7 or 8. My parents took us on a road trip out West for summer vacation. We packed up my dad’s dually truck with a big cooler of food and drinks, hitched up the camper and headed towards Montana to visit my Uncle Bill and his family.
Our first stop was the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. I don’t actually remember if we even got out of the car, I just remember driving by and being in awe of the murals on the building that were created by hand, simply using corn kernels.
We drove through Badlands National Park and Custer State Park and then headed to Rapid City, SD to visit my mom’s niece and her husband at the air force base. They took us to see Mount Rushmore before we headed off across Wyoming.
Wyoming was amazing. We stopped to see Devils Tower, which I thought was kinda cool, but wasn’t super impressed until I heard the folklore on how Devils Tower came to be. To paraphrase, the legend is that the rock was formed by a giant grizzly bear clawing the earth trying to reach two lost Indian boys he wanted to eat as a snack. We walked around the trail for a little while until my mom saw the warnings about poisonous snakes and then it was back to the car for us!
Our next adventure was at Yellowstone National Park where we got to see Old Faithful. Everyone cheered and clapped when Old Faithful erupted, right on schedule! What a great place to discover the forest!
I remember driving up a mountain road and the ground was covered in snow. I was amazed to see snow in the middle of summer! My dad pulled over and my brothers and I ran around throwing snowballs at each other. I was so excited to see the snow I jumped out of the truck in my bare feet. My dad yelled at me to put my shoes on before I got frost bite.
It must have taken my mom WEEKS to plan this trip (it was WAAAAAY back in the late ’70s, so no internet or google maps to help), but she had everything planned out for us, each stop along the way, including where to find service stations to fill up the gas guzzler, places to stop for a snack, and the best campgrounds to stay at (and the ones to avoid).
While a trip out West isn’t likely to happen anytime soon for us, I would love to plan a little camping trip close to home. We are spending way too much time indoors on our electronic gadgets and it’s time to change that!
Discover the Forest

The problem is I don’t know the area very well. So I was ecstatic to find, through DiscoverTheForest.org, that we live very close to William B. Umstead State Park. And YAY!! there’s a campground! Now I just need to convince my husband!
DiscoverTheForest.org is a wonderful website from the US Forest Service and the Ad Council that features an interactive map tool that filters by zip code and desired activities to search for forests and parks in your area.
DiscoverTheForest.org isn’t just for finding forests and parks! It also offers free outdoor activities to download and print like The Book of Stuff to Do Outside that contains activities and crafts you can do to teach you about nature. There are fun games to play (with a printable surprise when you win) and even a parent guide to download with ideas and advice on how to get your kids out of the house and into the forest!
There are forests and parks all over the country. So no matter where you live, you won’t have to go very far to get outside.
Let the adventures begin!
Get Into the Woods! Discover the Forest!
This post is inspiring me to pick up some equipment and go camping in the woods. I've never done it before.
I love taking the kids out into the woods! V is still so small that it gets tiring for her. I can't wait until she is bigger to do some real hiking!
For a couple years we lived on a farm that had a “forest” It was really just a bunch of trees along the edge of the property, but it was magical! We built forts, had adventures and would spend HOURS out there! Now as an adult I love getting a chance to do a little hiking through a real forest! Its good for my soul!
My family went camping at the lake every year. Some of the best memories of growing up!
This site sounds AWESOME! I really need to explore the parks close to our house 🙂
We do a lot of hiking when we have nice weather, so I definitely enjoy the outdoors, too!
Full disclosure I'm not much of an outdoorsy type person. I'm not a huge fan of the elements until I really let myself remember the awesomeness of our world and creation. I definitely push myself to see great things and have fun outside because of my girls and the payoff is amazing. I will never forget my trip to the grand canyon when I graduated high school and know we have lots more trips, including trips to the forest to explore God's handiwork. Thanks for great pictures and this great prompt.
I love, love, love playing in the forest! We’re actually headed to Asheville in a few weeks to spend the weekend enjoying the parks and forests!
I’m so jealous! I really love hiking in the mountains. I miss living right next to Monte Sano in AL and taking spur-of-the-moment hikes and picnics. But with Discover The Forest I’ve found several places to go hiking and camping really close to us here. I’m looking forward to discovering all they have to offer.
Thanks for the website referral. We go to national parks all the time. It's a passion of my boyfriend's. We just went to The Great Basin National Park in Nevada to the Lehman Caves. It was fantastic. Highly recommend going.
I loved camping outdoors when I was younger. It’s something that I want to get back to doing.