8 kids and a dog at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve

What to do on another cold, snowy day with the kiddos? With winter hibernation settling in quickly, we turned to the hills and trails of our neighbors. The Kickapoo Valley Reserve(KVR) sits on 8,000 acres between the villages of La Farge and Ontario in southwestern Wisconsin. We went out for a day of "low-impact tourism".

The kiddo's ambivalence and impatience during the meandering car ride turned into snow-filled glee when we arrived at the reserve. Half the kids immediately disappeared into a snow pile. The visitor center was closed so we set off with a lot of energy, a little falling snow and no map.

We had the whole place to ourselves.

"The world I found was inside a book, and then that world was made up of 

even more books, each of which led to yet another world. It goes on forever and ever. 

At nine I thought I must get to Narnia or die. It would be a long time before I understood

 that I was already there."

Laura Miller, The Magician's Book: A Skeptics Adventure in Narnia

 We walked through the Narnia-like woods as if we had just rolled out of a wardrobe and the White Witch would appear at any moment. I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when I was young. It's one of the few fantasy books I can remember loving...talking animals, magic wardrobes... snow-covered landscapes.. I didn't connect with all of the Christian elements of the story but loved the idea of being transported to an alternate world. And here we were. It was real.

"Wildness reminds us what it means to be human , what we are connected to 

rather than what we are separated from.

Terry Tempest Williams

As we walked by all of the natural wonders, under the falling snow and through the trees, the magical place rose up around us. 

We didn't see any woodland creatures. Or any witches. We did walk through rolling hills, over bridges and up and down trails.

I was just glad to be joined by 8 kids and a dog. Magic is always better when shared.