A lake hike at Furman University

During these beautiful and warm autumn days it’s a little easier to coax the boys out for a hike! I’m trying not to overschedule, I’ve got a hundred +1 things to do just like everyone else this time of year – but we can at least head over to Furman!

Furman University is just 5 miles north of downtown Greenville! I wrote about the iconic clock tower and the previous location in the west end of Greenville, but neglected to mention the 1.5 mile Lake hike. There is no better time than the present to fix that, especially since the temperatures, fall color and buzz of students on campus makes for perfect hike with the kids!

The Janie Earle Furman rose garden

Visitor parking is conveniently just next to the Barnes & Noble, which is located in the Trone Student Center. If you’re looking for a place to eat there are several options in the center, but if you’ve brought your own lunch you can grab one of the outdoor picnic tables or bring it along to eat at the picnic shelter at the opposite end of the lake. The trail runs between the Student Center and 40-acre Swam Lake, and the first place you’ll want to explore is between Trone and the Daniel Dining Hall: the Janie Earle Furman Rose Garden. The rose garden is named in honor of the late Janie Earle Furman, a graduate of Greenville Woman’s College and wife of the late Alester G. Furman, Jr., a member of the university’s founding family. No matter the season, it’s worth ducking in to see the fountain and feel the tranquility within.

The Jamie Earle Furman rose garden

Continuing on, the trail crosses a bridge over a small canal. If you were to continue straight instead and look to your right you'll see a gravel path and stairs gradually leading upward. Another interesting detour, the Place of Peace is an inter-generational temple (Hei-Sei-Ji) that once stood in Nagoya, Japan. In 2004 it was dismantled into 2,400 pieces, transported through the Panama Canal, and reconstructed by Japanese craftsmen in 2008. We’ve not yet had the chance to see the interior, but the craftsmanship and serene architectural lines of the temple are a sight in itself.

Place of Peace

Across the bridge is the Asia Garden, which together with the Place of Peace are “designed to stimulate your experience of connection to the earth, and all the peoples of the world.” A little pond and manicured gardens are contained off a pebble path, and if you choose to take this route you’ll be back on the trail in only a few dozen feet.

Asia Garden

My two older boys enjoy riding their bikes while I walk with the stroller, and what makes this hike such a success other than proximity to our home is that the trails are very safe for beginning bicyclists. There are only a few points that we have to worry about vehicular traffic, and these are easy to navigate as there are few cars utilizing these small roads. The first stretch is while walking along Bell Tower housing to the clock tower, but the speed limit is set low and there is good visibility. After the tower the trail resumes, and to your right is another of our favorite stops, the Susan Shi Garden. The David E. Shi Center for Sustainability/Furman Farm is named for Furman’s 10^th president (and Susan Shi was his First Lady from 1994-2010). The gardens echo the goal of the Center, which is to support the study and integration of sustainability-related topics on campus as well as in the greater Greenville community.

Susan Shi Garden

Next you’ll pass the Amphitheatre, after which the trail loops around to continue following the shoreline of Swan Lake, and there you will find the afore-mentioned picnic shelter. The environs are more wooded for this second portion of the hike, the only structures being the Thoreau Cabin and the Lakeside Rest Room. The Cabin was built by Furman students, a replica of the cabin Thoreau inhabited while writing Walden, the same distance from the water as Thoreau’s cabin sat from Walden Pond. This is the home stretch, and I let the boys ride out far ahead of me knowing that they’ll stop where the trail meets the road. What’s interesting about this section is that it runs parallel to the Swamp Rabbit Trail – visible in places, I’m always tempted to skip over and continue on…

At the road we cross the spillway to find ourselves at the parking lot and at the end of our hike. Often we will linger a while outside the student center for a snack before hopping back in the car for the short ride home. If you’re looking for a longer hike/run, be sure to check out the Furman website and the trails map; the Lake trail is just one of the several trails on campus, various combinations of which could make for a lengthier hike. 

For a map of the trail click here.

5 things to do this summer in Greenville!

If you're looking for fun things to do with the kids this summer in Greenville, look no further; here are five things to put on your summer to-do list for kids (and budgets) of all sizes:

   

1.    Complete the 2015 Summer Reading All-Stars Program with the Greenville Library System. This free program has different requirements based on age (adults are welcome to sign up, too!), and although I feel the Taco Bell coupon isn’t the best prize for young children, the medal and Greenville Drive ticket are a nice reward for something we already do. Register at the branch you visit most, and don’t to forget to finish your reading by August 1^st, the last day to collect prizes!

  

2.    Visit a dozen new parks with LiveWell Greenville’s Park Hop. Now in its third year, the family-oriented scavenger hunt is an exploration and discovery of the multitude of parks in Greenville County. We checked off 18 out of the 19 different parks this year, revisiting some old favorites and discovering a few new spots. The nicest surprise was Georgia Street Park in Fountain Inn with its ¼ mile cycling “track,” allowing bicycle newbies and tricycles the chance to drive around a small town complete with fire station and general store. Park Hoppers are entered to win prizes in addition to earning TCMU passes, Greenville Drive vouchers, t-shirts and swag bags.

3.    Check out the newest exhibit at the Upcountry History Museum, Magic Tree House. Based on the children’s chapter books of the same name by Mary Pope Osborne, the exhibit allows visitors to join siblings Jack and Annie in their journey through American history via a magical, time-traveling tree house. With a visit to Plymouth Bay for the first Thanksgiving, a trip to a field hospital to help Clara Barton during the Civil War and a visit to a one-room school house as pioneers, this might have been our favorite Upcountry History Museum visit yet!

4.    Get your fortune read at Hello from Japan! at the Children’s Museum of the Upstate. The newest exhibit takes you on a journey across the Pacific, and in addition to karaoke, a photo booth, a Japanese meal station, building a bridge and crawling through a bamboo forest, the kids can have their fortunes told. The exhibit runs through September.

5.    Explore a creek ecosystem on a ranger-led program in Paris Mountain State Park. On the Creek Ranger Hike on Friday morning families are led on a nature hike to look for animals and learn about their habitats. The kids really get involved when they’re handed nets and allowed to catch aquatic insects and other creek inhabitants for an up close look under the park microscope. For more information and to register visit the Paris Mountain State Park website.

What are your favorite summer spots this year?

The twelve days of Latvija: Day 11, saying our goodbyes

With an early flight the following morning we wanted to make the most of our last full day in Latvia, and so despite the late night at the final concert we tied up a lot of loose ends and packed the day as full as possible. A few of the family members who had been in town for the concert stopped by for lunch, and it was interesting to hear from a local who has been attending the Dziesmu Svētku concerts for years, how this years differed from previous years. According to Dzidra the biggest differences were in length, in the addition of orchestral and dance numbers, in the stage changes (the singers left the stage for the orchestral portion of the concert only to file back on for the finale) and the sadziedāšana after the concert that lasted until 7am. For a first time viewer the concert was much as I had expected, except the unofficial portion was much more commercial than I had pictured it to be, and I wondered at the lack of baltie lakatini (white handkerchiefs). Every final concert I’ve attended at song festivals outside of Latvia ended with the singers waving farewell at the audience, and the audience doing the same. We had brought ours with but never had the chance to wave them, and I don't know if the tradition is one that started overseas or if it died out in Latvia during the song festivals that took place during Soviet occupation.

The official flag of the song festival, en route to the final concert

 

We hurried to meet a couple of my relatives at the closest thing Latvia has to a chain restaurant, Lido (Vērmanītis). A buffet-style eatery, they have a reputation for a great karbonāde and šašliki. We settled in with ķiploku grauzdiņi (the buttered garlic rye-bread toast), porkchops, fries and grits; when I ordered friti the cook misunderstood and loaded my plate up with griķi – please tell me this happens often…

 

Then one last walk in Vērmaņu dārzs to give the boys a chance to use up some energy. It was hard to stomach that Lauris would soon not be able to communicate on the playground again, as he would be back among children that don’t speak Latvian.

 

Errands and commitments brought us back to Vecrīga, full circle from our first day in Latvia. The streets were once again empty, the song festival over and everyone back to business as usual. We had a last local beer in one of the scenic beer gardens and soon were on our way home to pack.

 

Here are a few links that truly reveal the heart of the Latvian Song and Dance Festival. This first is a YouTube video of the Latvian Center Gaŗezers choir (in Three Rivers, MI) joining in the final concert via simulcast; truly amazing, not just because of the technology but because of the global connections signified.

 

In a similar vein, here is an article about the Japanese choir that participated… (The article is in Latvian)
 
For a nice little overview of the festival in English, click here. Also, this TV reportage gave a good feeling of how it was to be a participant.

 

For the whole concert, please visit Latviešu Estrādes YouTube page.

 

Looking for a Latvian folk song app so that you can sing along with all your favorite Latvians? Look no further!

 

A WSJ article about the 100 year old conductor we luckily happened to be on the same flight with on our way to Rīga.

 

And last (but not least), the official Flickr page for the Song Festival. If you only take a look at one of these links, this should be it, as I believe the essence of Dziesmu Svētki is captured in these pictures.