Happy On A Field Trip

I'm feeling much better, so am thinking of all I need to cram in during the (possibly) healthy weeks I have until the weather turns again. It seems I am the most unwell when the temperature shifts are forty degrees or more (say, 40 degrees at night, and 80 during the day, a frequent occurence in August, September, etc, around here. So, I'm on the lookout for fun things to do close by, so I can enjoy at least a bit of summer. Which brings me to the subject of field trips.

Remember field trips when you were a kid? Our field trips really were to fields -- where the boys would play baseball, or set off rockets, and the girls would watch them desultorily, gossip about who liked who, or talked about who was hotter, Donny Osmond or Keith Partridge (really). Then we'd all walk to Friendly's for an ice cream cone, and John Fernandez would push me and I'd fall in the gravel and skin my knee.

Thankfully, I am older now, and can do much better than that. Today, I'm planning a trip to Old Deerfield, to gawk at historic houses, take photos, in the name of research for my books. Then get a tea at Rao's in Amherst and do a little writing. Later in the week, I may go to hike Greylock or Hawley Forest, for research as well. That's one of the great things about being a writer. One always needs to do research of some sort. I really should go to Las Vegas, but that's a little much.

In any case, this week search out some fun field trips for this summer. Field trips that are educational, or physically challenging, or in other ways stimulating. Take advantage of your local heritage. If you live near Gettysburg, or a CA mission, or Mark Twain's house but never have been, what's a matta fa you? Go, and write it, draw it.