Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Night Adventures
Last weekend I had the chance to go to an Owl Prowl at Seward park down in Seattle. The class started off with owl pellet dissection – usually I have the kids with me at events like this, but this time I was by myself and was able to do the dissection myself. I had…
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Hoh Valley Hike – 6/11/13
I had an interview to do last week over on the Olympic Peninsula for an article I’m writing. I also had childcare arranged for a few days, so I took the time to camp overnight at the National Park Service campground near the Hoh Visitor Center. It was a long drive for a quick trip,…
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Paradise Valley Conservation Area – Trip Report
Even after we’ve been living in this area for many years, there are still parks we haven’t been to yet. Last Friday we went to one that is fairly close to us, the Paradise Valley Conservation Area. This lovely park is covered with mature second-growth forest, and a network of 10 miles of mixed-use trails…
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Wildflowers at Wild Horse – Trip Report, 5/10 – 5/11, 2013
We wanted to attend the Wildflower Weekend at the Wild Horse Renewable Energy Center last Saturday. Since it’s such a long drive and the weather was nice, we decided to break up the drive by finding a place to camp along the way. Unfortunately, the Forest Service campgrounds up in that area are all closed…
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Columbia Gorge Adventure Report – April 25-27, 2013
“Perhaps the metaphor of time famine is not quite accurate. We are perhaps crammed with time, but with the wrong kind. Like people who eat too much junk food, we have filled our lives with the wrong kind of time, and rarely if ever do we avail ourselves of the kind of time that will…
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Gold Creek Snowshoe (Second Visit)
We had a chance to go snowshoeing with our friends last Friday, and we went to Gold Creek again. Cindy had knee replacement surgery just 8 weeks ago, and this was to be her first outing in the mountains since then. We had some other novice ladies with us, too, so it was good to…
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Trish, Alex and Sage and Their New Adventure
You may remember last spring when I posted a book review of Up: A Mother and Daughter’s Peakbagging Adventure with an interview of author Trish Herr. Trish and her daughters are ready to embark on a new adventure in a few weeks: the Camino de Santiago, or Way of St. James. The Camino is a collection…
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Washington Park, Anacortes – Trip Report
Sometimes we don’t really feel like hiking on a particular day. Sometimes we’re tired, we’ve been running from one thing to the next and the next with no room to breathe. We face a choice – continue to be busy and go hiking (with all the preparation and energy exertion that requires) or stay home,…
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Raptor Research Field Trip
Last winter when we volunteered with the Puget Sound Bird Observatory, we asked if there was anyone who did raptor banding, because Annika was so interested in birds of prey. We got connected with a local researcher, but weren’t able to go out with him last winter. We tried again this winter, and yesterday Ben…
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This One’s For the Birds
I think I’ve written before about Bird Sleuth, a website dedicated to helping teachers of the K-12 crowd teach about birds and related subjects. They recently updated their website, http://www.birdsleuth.org. Here you can learn about using bird watching to educate youngsters. Check out the kits you can purchase for leading groups of children and homeschoolers…
Got any book recommendations?