Abbott’s Mill Pond

Our family had some pretty nasty germs hit us hard recently, and I know a lot of you are probably dealing with the same thing this time of year. Despite that, I peeled myself out of bed because I couldn’t miss a weekend of beautiful Spring-like weather. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the air was so fresh! Some time outside does a lot for your overall health, especially your mental health 🙂

Abbott’s Mill Pond has been at the top of my bucket list for awhile so we headed down to Milford and had the place to ourselves! The area there is divided in half by the road with the pond on one side and the nature center and boardwalk on the other. We had plenty of time to check out both so we started on the boardwalk which meandered along a babbling creek and ended up in an open field. We decided to turn back at that point because we didn’t pay close enough attention to the trail map to know exactly how far the field trail went. Unfortunately, the nature center isn’t open on weekends during the off season, but we will have to come back to check it out a different time! There are many activities held at the Abbott’s Mill Nature Center as part of the Delaware Nature Society. The kids events are on the calendar at the bottom of this page as well as The Bucket Facebook page. I would encourage you to actually visit the Del Nature website though and look at the full calendar of events, because there are adult activities and Summer camp options too!

Remember my friend Dani at Live, Love, Learn Gracefully? She messaged me with this AWESOME idea to do a photo scavenger hunt for The Bucket readers. The idea is that I will take photos in several easy-to-recognize locations on our adventure, and when you visit with your kids, you try to find those same spots and take photos there as well! Then, I would love nothing more for you to post them on The Bucket Facebook page, or send them to me to post. How fun is that??

After we crossed the road (and looked both ways of course) and began to walk on the pond side trail at Abbott’s Mill Pond, I knew this was the perfect place to do our first photo scavenger hunt! There were several very distinct “landmarks” along the trail that shouldn’t be too difficult for you and your family to find as well. I have selected 5 spots and I am officially challenging you to a scavenger hunt!!!!!

1) The pond was covered with very talkative geese and ducks, and an eagle soared over our heads at one point during our walk. During our stop at the mini dock along the trail, we just sat and watched the geese paddle around for awhile and it was so peaceful. When you have two young kids, peaceful is not a word that we generally use to describe our time together so this was a rare moment and I soaked it in!

2) This bizarre little hut appeared through the trees as we walked on the trail so D raced over to check it out.

3) Campfire anyone?? D had fun pretending to roast marshmallows. He told me he liked his burnt. Haha!

4) D took a rest on the shortest bench ever. Seriously though, who can sit on that???

 

5) As a plant scientist, I can appreciate a beautiful tree specimen and this four-trunked giant was super cool!