Engaging Evening Family Activities On The Road

By Author: Steve Robinson
Total Articles: 467
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While cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, and cheap vacation packages often provide the means of enjoying an affordable family vacation, figuring out how to keep children from getting bored, particularly at night can sometimes be challenging.

Instead of letting kids become absorbed by their laptops, iPods and cell phones, they should be encouraged to experience the wonders of nature at night.

The following are nighttime activities that many families can enjoy together:

• Check out a national park under a full moon. Yosemite National Park under a full moon softly lights up Yosemite Falls and Half Dome. Open air tram tours are available on the five nights leading up to a full moon. A memorable sight is a “moonbow” which is a rainbow created by the moon’s glow over Lower Yosemite Falls.

• Experience the desert at night. Bring along a flashlight to view the desert after dark. Potential sights include desert tortoises, snakes, and geckos. The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix sponsors flashlight tours on Thursday and Saturday evenings through September 1st.

• By taking ...
... a kayak tour under a dark sky you can view the blue green glow of bioluminescence on the ocean’s surface. Families can paddle kayaks through Mosquito Lagoon at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on Florida’s Space Coast. Simply by paddling through the water causes microorganisms to produce a bioluminescent glow.

• Check out caves via a lantern tour. Visitors wear headlamps when exploring steep gorges and rugged boulder caves at Lost River Gorge in North Woodstock, N.H. During this one and a half hour guided tour families walk, climb and crawl though caves as well as see waterfalls.

• Stargazing can be a great family activity. There are many outdoor stargazing programs offered across the country. A naturalist hosts an astronomy night twice a week at Spring Creek Ranch in Jackson Hole, WY, using a green laser to highlight star formations in the night sky. Great stories can be shared by talking about the mythology behind many constellations.
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