One of the most amazing things about spending the past year at home full-time with EV6 has been making so many memories.
I don’t just mean that in the glib way of, “every day together is a new memory,” although that’s certainly true.
It seems that I began my time off right on the bounds of the period of time where EV6’s long-term recall really kicked in. She has a few fleeting recollections of events prior to last April, especially ones where she’s seen many photos to reinforce them.
Yet, starting around the time I began to take trial days off from work, her recall is incredible – crisp and complete, even for adventures I didn’t capture in photos and have since all-but forgotten.
One example is Morris Arboretum. This was one of the first big new things we did together last spring in a special team-up adventure with our friend Miss Jess. At the time, EV6 was a bit too young to appreciate the rose garden and abstract structures. What stuck with her was their “Out on a Limb” setting, where you can climb from tree to tree like a bird or a monkey on a series of platforms and nets.
EV6 has brought it up from time to time in the past year, but when Spring hit us in full bloom in the past few weeks it suddenly became the only special trip she’d request!
Finally, our free day lined up with beautiful weather, and so when I woke up EV6 on Wednesday morning I announced, “It’s time to go back to the Arboretum!”
Obviously, Out on a Limb was the first thing we bolted for when we arrived. EV6 was a bit tentative on the nets last year, but this year she was like a spider crawling on a web! We spent nearly an hour clambering around, pretending to be animals, and making friends before we continued to other experiences.
Another big draw for kids at Morris is the Garden Railway, a small-scale village with a network of intersecting train tracks criss-crossing it. It doesn’t open officially until Memorial Day, but we lucked into the staff performing a check-up on some of the trains so we got to see them in action.
I’m not one for watching miniaturized trains circulate on a track, but the incredibly manicured greenery along its path is just as much as a draw. Together, they lend the feeling of peering into some sort of enchanted tiny world.
We’ve grown to be massive fans of Longwood Gardens in the past year, so it’s hard not to compare that with every garden or hike adventure. Morris Arboretum isn’t as sprawling as Longwood, or filled with as many cultivated gardens and flowers. However, there is the sense of being inside of nature at Morris, rather than just walking past it on a path or seeing it on display.
While I still say a Longwood Garden membership is the best deal for the least-crowded attraction, it’s a real commitment to drive there. If you want to stay more local and be surrounded by just as much greenery, Morris Arboretum is a wonderful substitute.