My family cheated on our last scavenger hunt. God forbid we do all the work when some teenager at Parrot Jungle could do it for us. I felt terrible that day, and in part my feelings led me to start Triathlon Mami. So when we found ourselves at the Morristown National Historical Park in New Jersey, and heard they had a Junior Ranger Program with a scavenger hunt we were all over it. Ok, I’ll rephrase: Iwas all over it. We received a very official booklet (see above) and had to go through the park answering questions and doing activities in order to earn a Junior Ranger Badge. This might all sound normal to you Boy and Girl Scouts out there, but it is foreign to a Latina like me. I figured this would be a good opportunity to redeem myself, to be honest, and to help my kids feel successful by “doing the work.”
The park is home to Jockey Hollow, a Continental Army encampment from 1777 to 1781. There are several re-enactors and a hiking trail that takes you to the cabins where soldiers actually spent the winter. The boys had three jobs: answer six questions, find nine items throughout the mile-long trail, and complete a maze in the booklet.
We set off, pencils and booklets in hands. First we went to the Wick House to get our six questions answered with the help of two re-enactors. That took a good forty-five minutes. It took ten just for the boys to get the courage to talk to the re-enacting soldier.
Book in hand, speaking to a soldier
It was then time to start on our hike. Sure, Joe and I helped with navigation but the boys kept trying to find the items on the scavenger hunt themselves. Symbols, tracks, animals and such became much sought after treasures. Each time one was spotted there was excitement and joy. One item was a picture of a deer but it said “mammal” underneath. My six year old son looks squarely at me and says “Mami, you are a mammal” and proceeds to “X” that spot. Fair enough, though my four year old saw a chipmunk and they are mammals too. We reached the cabins and fooled around a bit. We saw the remains of a poor blue jay who had lost some major battle, we ran around, the boys peed (yes, they went pipi) down stream and thought it was hysterical, Joe clowned around as usual, we overcame obstacles, went the wrong way and family memories were made.
By the time we got back to the Wick Farm it was closed, and the Park Ranger was almost done for the day. We had spent over two hours and walked more than two miles without complaint. The boys finished their final task … the maze … and handed in their booklets to the Park Ranger. Their faces said it all, did they get it right? The ranger, who took his job very seriously, stamped their booklet, reviewed their work, asked a question or two. He smiled and solemnly swore the boys into Junior-Park-Rangerdom with a golden colored badge. Being the mom that I am, I kept telling the ranger the boys really worked hard for it … he looked at me as if that was special. Little did he know how special it was, and how we actually did all the work as opposed to other family outings!
I know it sounds like we are a family of total slackers and of course we are not. Each of us in my little family has determination and has completed stuff at one point or another. When I ask my sons what they remember the most from our visit to the Morristown Park they say the scavenger hunt: “it was so much fun looking for all that stuff.” It wasn’t the re-enactors or the badge they earned, the picture with the ranger, or someone else’s approval. It was the adventure and the goofy things we did in it. The completion wasn’t the best part of this trip at all. It was the journey, which I didn’t have to cheat my sons out of this time.
