For me knowing its Fall has made me want to get outside more with Pheobie to go and take a walk. I love seeing all the leaves changing colors and the cooler weather feels slo nice. Since there is something about fall that makes me want to get outside would you want to go for a walk with Pheobie and I?

The cooler air. wil make it easier for me to breath and seeing the first leaves beginning to change with you would be fun. Let’s step away from the television, the phones, the chores and everything else waiting for us at home and let’s go.

I don’t know about you but sometimes I just need to go for a walk. And that is what today’s Interactive Fall Gift Guide is all about. Not a scavenger hunt. Not a craft. Not collecting a bag full of leaves, pine cones or sticks.

Not trying to do a activity to earn a ticket. it’s about taking yourself and the family somewhere outdoors and seeing what you can find. If your family is like mine and they don’t want to go your welcome to come and go with me.

🍁 Make It a Fall Nature Walk

Pick a local park, nature center, walking trail or another outdoor spot and give yourselves some time to wander. Put the phone in your pocket. Then look up. Look down. Listen. What do you hear?

Do you see birds moving through the trees? A squirrel running across the trail? Butterflies? Rabbits? Maybe you will spot something you weren’t expecting at all.

Look at the trees and notice how many different shades of green, yellow, brown or even red you can find. Look at the clouds. Listen for birds. Watch the way the sunlight comes through the trees.

And don’t worry about getting anywhere quickly. The point isn’t how far you walk. The point is being together and paying attention to the world around you

Before we head out wee made a little Before We Go: Fall Nature Walk Checklist to help your family get ready. You can print it, check off what you need and tuck it into a backpack before you head out.

Before We Go

☐ Comfortable walking shoes
☐ Water bottle
☐ Light jacket or sweatshirt
☐ Small backpack
☐ Sunscreen
☐ Bug spray
☐ Small snack
☐ Binoculars, if you have them
☐ Camera or phone for pictures
☐ Notebook or nature journal
☐ Pencil
☐ Check the weather
☐ Check park or trail hours

And one more thing: Remember to look, listen and enjoy. You don’t have to bring nature home with you to enjoy it. Take pictures if you’d like. Write down something interesting you saw. Talk about it on the way home. Then leave the flowers, plants, rocks, leaves and other pieces of nature right where you found them.

One of my favorite things about this idea is that you don’t have to make it a big production of where to go. You can start close to home. In fact, Buffalo Ridge Park in Haltom City is a wonderful example of finding nature close to home.

Buffalo Ridge Park is a 95-acre community park with walking, jogging and cycling trails, along with areas of creekside habitat. The park is at 5720 Parkwood Trail in Haltom City and is currently listed as open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

That means a family doesn’t have to plan an all-day adventure. You can simply say, “Let’s go for a walk.” Put on your shoes, grab some water and go see what is outside your own neighborhood. Sometimes those are the adventures we remember.

If you’re looking for somewhere with even more opportunities to explore, North Texas has some wonderful choices. River Legacy Park and Nature Center — Arlington.

River Legacy Nature Center and River Legacy Park make a great fall destination because it covers about 1,300 acres along the Trinity River and includes bottom land forest, wetlands and prairie.

The park has about 8 miles of paved hike-and-bike trails, along with picnic areas, restrooms, playgrounds and river overlooks. Park hours are currently 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The Nature Center at 703 NW Green Oaks Blvd., Arlington is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The trails and Nature Center are free to explore, while the Discovery Room and exhibits have an admission fee.

This could easily turn into more than just a walk. Spend some time on the trails, see what wildlife you can spot and then explore the Nature Center. And if you have little ones, River Legacy also offers programs designed around getting children outside and developing their curiosity about nature.

The fun part of a Nature walk is what you will You find? You don’t know until you begin the walk and you might see a squirrel. You might hear a woodpecker before you ever see it.

Maybe you’ll find a trail covered with leaves. Maybe you’ll notice a tree you’ve walked past a dozen times but never really looked at before. Maybe someone in your family will point out something that everybody else would have walked right past.

That’s why I don’t want to turn this into another scavenger hunt. There doesn’t need to be a prize. There doesn’t need to be a certain number of things to find. There doesn’t even have to be a destination. Just go see what you discover.

If your family enjoys photography, this is a great opportunity to let everyone have a disposable camera. You could have each person take a few pictures of something they think is beautiful or interesting.

At the end of the walk, sit together and compare your pictures. It’s always interesting to see what caught somebody else’s eye. One person might photograph a bird. Another might photograph a tree.

Someone else might take a picture of the sky. And somebody will probably take a picture of their brother making a goofy face. That’s okay, too. Those are memories.

One of the best things about a fall nature walk is that you don’t need a shopping cart full of supplies. You need shoes. Water. Maybe a snack. And some time.

If you have binoculars, wonderful. If you have a nature journal, bring it. If you have a camera, take pictures. But if all you have is the family and a little free time? That’s enough.

We spend so much of our time telling children what they need to do next. Finish this. Clean that. Put that away. Get ready. Hurry up. A fall nature walk gives everyone permission to slow down for a little while.

Walk together. Talk together. Notice things together. And maybe, just maybe, let the kids lead the way for a while. You might be surprised where they take you.

Today if you can choose somewhere close to home and take a walk. It can be five minutes away. It can be a nature center across town. It can be your favorite neighborhood trail.

It doesn’t have to be fancy. Just get outside and see what you find. And when you come home, don’t worry about whether you found enough. Ask a much better question: “What was your favorite thing you saw?”

Because sometimes the best fall memories aren’t the things we bring home. They’re the moments we shared while we were out looking for them. Which makes us Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed.

And sometimes, a little walk is all it takes to remember just how much there is to be thankful for.

Grateful, Thankful, Blessed.

GratefulMoments.com

Thank you,

Glenda, Charlie and David Cates