Nature Study at Temescal Gateway Park

My daughter volunteered to carry the coyote pelt around for people in last night's Temescal Campfire audience to pet.

The topic of last night's campfire was Diversity. The lesson was about how the area where we live is home to a lot of different animals including mountain lions, coyotes, opossums, raccoons, and skunks.

The campfire leader told a story about a mountain lion named P-22, and whenever he said the words mountain lion, coyote, or skunk, we had to make animal noises. Then he told us what to do if we ever saw a mountain lion (face the mountain lion and back away slowly, making yourself look as big as possible); I don't ever want to have to try that out. Some of the children, like my daughter, got to carry pelts around the audience, and then we played animal charades. It was all very fun.

After the lesson, the leader led everyone in singing silly songs like Boom Chicka Boom, and we roasted marshmallows for s'mores.

Some of my friends and our kids ventured off in the dark to "look for Batman's cave," and wound up hiking around for half an hour on a narrow and sometimes treacherous trail. Though we didn't find Batman, we did find the parking lot, so we considered it a success. A good time was had by all. :)