Beaver Meadow

When I was a kid, we would go to Beaver Meadow Nature Preserve in North Java once per month, or at least it felt like it. The folks that ran it were so friendly and knew my family as if they were my Aunt and Uncle. I just remember being there all the time.

I remembered Chipmunk Run and the boardwalk that opens onto the Beaver Pond. That same boardwalk is a lot smaller now. There is a picture somewhere of me as a kid, perhaps my own son's age sitting on the corner seat on that boardwalk. Those little planks of wood are gone, but the nostalgia runs high.

What has changed, everything else. The main building is a great nature center, complete with screech owl that we thought was mechanical, plenty of frogs and tortoises, snakes and lizards, and many taxidermy animals. They have done some wonderful things there, although I slightly miss the 'old' style.

We had a great time. The kids were great, they really do love discovering things and exploring.

As I did as a kid.

On the same paths.