Parkquest!

Maryland State Parks has this really cool program called ParkQuest.  You sign up as a team and are given a passport with 24 possible quests in it.  Each quest takes you to a state park somewhere in the state.  Each quest is different depending on what is special about that particular park.  It could be a scavenger hunt, answering history questions, a canoeing adventure, a bicycle scavenger hunt, etc.  If you complete at least 12 by the end of August, you are invited to a Rendezvous in September with games and prizes.
Jason and I knocked out two quests while we went camping and with the girls all back, we set off with our neighbors to knock out two more.
Our first was at Cunningham Falls.  The quest involved going on a short hike and taking picture of various things around the trail and beach area.  We took pictures of hemlock trees, wooden bridges, various signs, and we got to talk to a park ranger about insects and trees.  Then the kids all got to play in the lake.  

In the name of efficiency, we have all decided to do two parkquests a day when we go out together if at all possible.  So after the beach, we headed to South Mountain.  The people of the little town in the valley built a monument to George Washington in the early 1800s.  Later during the Civil War this monument was used as a signal tower for the North.  From the top of the monument you can see for miles and miles.  It was quite a surprise when we climbed up!  You can see even Pennsylvannia and West Virginia from the top! At the top we learned about the Northern signal system that was similar to semaphore.  Then the kids designed their own signal flags and had to signal something to the other group for them to decipher.

We rushed to a dairy farm near to South Mountain when we were done.  If you are there at 4pm, you can feed the calves!  So the kids all got to take turns feeding those hungry babies!

The reward for all our hard parkquesting that day was ice cream!  The farm is also the South Mountain Creamery.  It was super yummy!