Summer may be wrapping up, but that doesn't mean the camping season has to come to an end. For those of us who don't own RVs and aren't keen about tent sleeping, Spacious Skies Campgrounds has an interesting option for people looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of urban life to enjoy a more nature filled setting. Four of their East Coast campgrounds are offering overnight accommodations from Retro Trailers by Riverside RV providing a 1950s ambiance balanced with modern conveniences so you won't feel out in the cold during an excursion in the woods to enjoy the crisp fresh air and Fall colors of this time of year.
Built by Riverside RV, these Retro Trailers available for rental at select Spacious Skies Campgrounds are available in 10 models ranging from 13 to 28 feet long. Exteriors are intentionally designed to provide a vintage look with two-tone paint jobs using eight bright colors and three neutral tones. The 1950s era vibe continues inside with black and white checkerboard floors, colorful cushions and birch cabinetry. Modern amenities include kitchens with stoves and bathrooms with toilets and showers. Kitchens are stocked with dishes, flatware, pans, coffee maker, microwave, stove top and oven. You need to bring your own linens and towels though.
Enjoy the seaside communities of southern Maine without the summer crowds during a stay at Walnut Grove campground. Explore the beaches that surround the nearby town of Wells, take a day trip to historic Kennebunkport that became well known as the summer White House of President George H.W. Bush, or hike around the forested Shaker country surrounding the campground.
Situated where the Taconic and Berkshire mountain ranges merge in Upstate New York, Woodland Hills is an equal distance 2-hour drive from both New York City and Boston. Take a trek across the local mountains or drive down to Hyde Park to tour the Vanderbilt and Roosevelt mansions. The rural setting is great for enjoying Fall colors!
Spend some time in the Pine Barrens region of New Jersey enjoying the rustic countryside at Country Oaks Campground. Situated an hour from Philadelphia and 1/2 hr from Atlantic City enjoy a rural atmosphere while being convenient driving distance to these cities. The campground is surrounded by wildlife management areas that protect the local ecoregion providing a great location for nature hikes.
Reservations for the Retro trailers as well as RV campsites, cabins, yurts and tent sites can be made online by clicking here or by calling the campground reservation number (862) 777-0319.
Fall is a great time for getting out of the house and going for a run. Autumn temperatures provide some of the year's most comfortable weather for running in Michigan and the region's fall colors can provide great scenery to take in and enjoy during a run. Whether your are an ultra competitive athlete or a casual jogger here are five great running events taking place this fall in Metro Detroit:
Dress up in your Halloween costume and race through the streets of downtown Pontiac which will be lined with ghosts, ghouls, and zombies to cheer runners and walkers on during this morning event. The event is sponsored by EREBUS one of the country's premiere haunted attractions during the Halloween season featuring four floors of spooky thrills. All entrants get a free ticket to the Erebus Haunted House ($28 value) that are good throughout that weekend Friday through Sundayplus the event itself will have a post event party with snacks, refreshments and a costume contest for the best dressed Halloween themed runners. Participants can also purchase additional Erebus tickets for friends and families for $20 each which is an $8 savings per ticket. Note Erebus is not recommended for children under 13.
There are a variety of Grave Diggers Dash option to choose on so that there is something must everyone can participate in ranging from a 1/4 mile kids run to a 5 KILLometer race and fun walk:
5K Run / Walk
Everyone gets a participation medal and a long sleeve tech shirt who has registered by 10/4/15.
Monster Mash Mile
A shorter course but everyone who registers before 10/4/15 gets the same swag as the 5K.
1/4 Mile Trick or Trot
Children 12 and under can run this special course receiving a finisher's medal and Halloween treats at the finish line. There will be a Trick-or-Trot fun zone for participants featuring a chance for children to get a photo with monsters, face painting, and other kid focused activities. Parents can run/walk with registered children for FREE during the Trick or Trot.
This event combines an electronic music festival with day and night color 5K runs and walks. Make your way through a vibrant course where you are splattered with brilliant colors - this is definitely not an event where you want to wear any expensive or valued shoes and clothing. The daytime wave of runners and walkers makes their way through the course beginning at 5pm and the night group's adventure begins during sunset at 7pm.
Color Fun Fest 5K features a massive finish-line festival featuring live DJ's, food, and the monumental EPICOLOR TOSS. Children under 12 are FREE! If you just want to go enjoy the post-race festival part of the event it costs $10.
The Great Amazing Race is a national skills competition, in which teams
of two people race through an obstacle course in competition with their
peers. Modeled after the TV show, this exciting adventure race has teams
completing a one-mile course speckled with up to 8 fun-filled outdoor
challenges. Clue cards provided at each stations directs teams to
complete a task (obstacle, game, relay, etc.), before advancing to the
next challenge station. Teams strive to arrive at the finish line with
the fastest overall time to be declared the winners.
How well you work together with your partner (communicate &
collaborate) is the most essential skill to winning the race. Waves
begin every 10 minutes … kids teams, then adult teams. The top 25 teams
from each local race qualify for regional championship race and chance
to win $1,500! Reserve your spot now as registration will close once 120
team limit is reached.
Here's some important info to know if you want to compete in THE GREAT AMAZING RACE:
The race is for everyone - runners, joggers and walkers - pee wees to grandparents.
A team consist of two people - Adult/Adult, Adult/Kid or
Kid/Kid. Kindergarten & Pre-K are allowed only if paired with an
adult.
Teams compete in 4 race divisions based on grade of the youngest team member. (Grades: K-2 / 3-5 / 6-8 / 9-Adult).
Each race offers 3 challenging levels ... easy, intermediate & difficult based upon age & fitness level of racers. Be aware that the difficult course consumes energies equivalent to that of a 5K.
Join Michigan's largest chocolate party which features 10K, 5K, and 1 Mile races. Here are the details on a really fun event:
Kona Chocolate Run: 10K/5K/Mile~ Celebrate upcoming
holidays with Cups of Hot Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Guernsey
Chocolate Milk & Chocolate Fondue along with music in downtown
Plymouth! Heated Warming Tent next to Chocolate Buffet Tents
Full Zipper Jacket* - High qualityL. Jordan brand "Full zipper jacket with a hoodie, two zipper pockets and embroidered"; Men/Women fitted sizes for entrants; *Jackets guaranteed if registered by 11/8/2015
Post Race Chocolate Party:NEW2 Large Tents with 4 buffet lines.
Panera Bread providing cups of Hot Chocolate, Chocolate Cookies,
Guernsey Dairy serving Chocolate Milk and Schakolad Chocolate Factory
will provide Chocolate Fountain Fondues with cookies & sliced
bagels!
DETROIT THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE TURKEY TROT/ Detroit
Running this 5K that takes you along the annual Detroit Thanksgiving Day parade route with thousands of spectators watching and cheering you on is something everyone should try at least once as a memory making experience. For some runners it crosses an item off their bucket list and for others it becomes an annual tradition.
So there you have it - Detroit has these and many other running/walking events for people of all skill levels and ages to enjoy throughout the autumn season. Whether it is enjoying fall colors, a holiday themed affair, or an amazing race there really is something for everyone to participate in.
We decided to get out of town and take a family road trip to someplace we hadn't visited before on the last weekend in September traveling to our state capital to visit the Potter Park Zoo. Lansing is centrally located in Michigan's lower peninsula about an hour and a half drive from our home in Metro Detroit on the state's east side and 1.5 hours from Grand Rapids on the state's west coast. It was a nice sunny 75 degree fall afternoon when we arrive to take a 2 hour leisurely stroll through the zoo. Sunday's in autumn must be a nice time for a visit as we essentially had the place to ourselves as my family wandered around the exhibits and gardens that make up the zoo.
While the Potter Park Zoo doesn't have an extensive list of creatures to view or expansive grounds to wander, it does have a quaint scenic layout with enough animals to keep your attention for a few hours. For a smaller zoo it also has an impressive array of larger creatures to view and admire including lions, tigers and rhinos. While it may not have as many animals and amenities as larger urban zoos, I found that it provided a more intimate opportunity to observe those creatures by allowing people to get closer to the exhibits than they normally can get at larger zoological parks. My kids and I were able to get much closer to many of the animals than we ever can at the Detroit Zoo which is just down the street from our house.
While I was impressed by the visual vantage points for watching the animals at the Potter Zoo, it wasn't the most ideal location for taking photos. While glass walls and metallic cages allow for great views with your naked eyes they don't work as well for capturing the images you are enjoying with a camera. In comparison, at the Detroit Zoo you can't get as close up of views to the animals but they have more displays that are buffered with trenches rather than fences to give unobstructed viewpoints for taking photographs. As this was a special trip, we appreciated the differentiation and the chance to observe animals from a different perspective.
The Potter Park Zoo also differentiated itself from the Detroit Zoo, where we have an annual membership and visit frequently throughout the year, with some different animals on display. Potter Park has a rare snow leopard, spider monkeys, ravens, and a moose which we can't see at our local zoo. In addition to the exotic animals, Potter Park Zoo also has many local animals for people to enjoy including a petting farm with goats, llamas, pigs and chickens and a duck pond where you can feed the birds.
The grounds of the zoo are filled with nice artwork that was fun to check out. Plus they had numerous cutout photo ops for taking some zany pictures.
Other things to do, for an extra fee of course, are taking pony rides (or if you want to be more adventurous camel rides), feeding a room full of parakeets with a seed covered stick in "Wings Down Under" or taking an electronic train ride around the zoo's picnic area. Prices for these extra activities aren't bad ranging from $1 to $3. In fact, admission into the zoo was very reasonable costing us $5 for parking and $2 per kid and $10 per adult for entry.
The zoo is essentially a loop to follow that starts off going past river otters, bald eagles and a wolf leading up to the farmyard. After passing the farmyard there is the impressive feline and primate exhibit area followed by rhinos, mongoose, meerkats and a display building filled with small mammals, birds, and reptiles. The final lap takes you past magellanic penguins, the duck pond and some tufted deer. Of course there are a few other animals filling in the gaps as the zoo is home to 160 species.
Now they warn people not to pester the animals, but it appears no one instructs the animals to be nice to us humans as the funniest part of our trip was watching a mandrill approach my daughter as she was quietly looking at it through the glass and start imitating and taunting her in a friendly way.
If you are going to be in the Lansing area, I give A Geek Daddy nod of approval to making an effort to stop by the Potter Park Zoo for an enjoyable family outing. My family had a great time on what will be a memorable road trip to check out this very nice zoological park.
The Potter Park Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums and operated by the Ingham County Parks & Recreation Commission. For more information, visit www.potterparkzoo.org
