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Travels with Laurie: FallA Home Educator's Travel Guide |
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See also Spring / Summer / Winter
Recommended Road & Field Trips with pre- and post-trip resources / Tips for Traveling with Kids – making every trip fun for the whole family / Armchair Travel
Starting the Not Back to School Year * Hawks in Autumn / Autumn is Apple Season! / Medieval Festival / Halloween / Build a Boat / Explore the Parks
Starting the Not Back to School Year
Hawks in Autumn
Hawk Watching events are FREE! Books about Hawks * Websites about Hawks
Go To HawkCount for details of more hawk watches in other locations, including Long Island. Other year-round hawk experiences:Talons! Birds of PreyFor a family or individual experience that you will never forget, take an intimate Hawk Walk with Lorrie Schumacher of Talons! Birds of Pre, located upstate in Earlville, in the center of New York State. This adventure is worth the cost! Lorrie travels to other events (many of them free), and you mY well find her at at Prospect Park on September 30. Check out her Facebook page. The Raptor TrustCLoser to home, you can visit the Raptor Trust near Morristown, New Jersey, a 45-minute drive from the GWB. This is a bird hospital in the forest where they rescue all birds but have a focus on raptors. Wander through the ramshackle aviaries where you will find eagles, owls, and hawks. Open year-round seven days a week, free but asking for a modest donation, this is a great family experience. On the way you will pass an Environmental Education Center and there is another nature center just off the road, as well as a nearby bird watching site, in the Great Swamp National Refuge. Before you go:
Bring along:
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, by Janet Shuman (for 5 and up), the story of a hawk living in New York City.
, by Meghan McCarthy, based on the story of Pale Male, for younger readers (4 and up). 
, by Byrd Baylor, for all ages. This educational book about nature is the story of boy who wants to fly and adopts a hawk as a pet.
, by Anne Price (for all ages). This fact-filled, beautifully illustrated book also has a section that is a coloring book. 
, by John Green (Dover publ.), detailed line drawings of 42 species.
, by Kila Jarvis and Denver Holt, for ages 8-12. Detailing 19 species of owls in Canada and the US, with 36 illustrations and ten anatomical line drawings.
, by Caroline Arnold (ages 8 and up), information from the HawkWatch International observation site in the Goshute Mountains of Nevada, with a focus on migration.
, by Jemima Parry-Jones, part of the DK Eyewitness series.
, by Christyna M. Laubach, René Laubach and Charles W. G. Smith, a detailed guide for young raptor lovers.
, by Donald Stokes and Lillian Q. Stokes.
, by Sy Barlowe.
, by Mel Boring, with activities and a scrapbook section for notes.
, by Cathryn Sill, a good first book about birds for very young children. 
, by Bill Thompson III.
, by Scott Weindensaul.
, by Leslie Day. Not just about birds, this book includes insects, fish, mammals, flowers, trees, and more, with parks in every borough.
, by Marcia T. Fowle and Paul Kerlinger, with forty birding sites in the metropolitan area and a checklist of 335 species found in Central Park.
, by Jonathan Alderfer and Paul Hess.Enjoy the last rays of Indian summer at outdoor festivals. In late September or early October, there's the annual Medieval Festival in Fort Tryon Park, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.. See the Festival website or call (212) 795-1600. If you love raptors, you won't want to miss the Hawk Watch, usually 1-2 p.m.
Read about the history of Halloween, see what's happening in New York, and remember safety tips for trick-or-treating.
The Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT, used to offer an all-weekend boat-building workshop where families each built their own 7-foot seaworthy pram. Now, you will have to settle for their 20-minute toy boat-building workshop (at a cost of only $5 instead of $1,250). They also have afternoon fall foliage cruises for about $20/person (passengers must be over 42"tall). For info call (203) 852-0700, ext. 2206
Autumn arrives late in the Big Apple, so you can still collect leaves in November. Aside from Central and Prospect Parks, favorite leaf-picking trails include Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. Park at the north end of Orchard Beach and try the trails on the adjacent twin islands. You'll find good bird-watching there too, wild pheasants and more.
Just across the Hudson River is Fort Lee Historic Park. Take the GW bridge to the first exit in NJ, Fort Lee. Turn back towards the Hudson to Edgewater Road, and turn right (south). Directly under the GW bridge you pass the original Fort Lee, with old Revolutionary War fortifications still intact. ($5 parking fee in season.) Revolutionary War reenactments are held on the weekend closest to November 20th.
Further south, just before you pass the big shopping malls along the river, two stone pillars flank a road to the left. This is the southernmost entrance to Palisades Park (closed in winter), a magnificent drive along the Hudson, with picnic spots, marinas, and loads of maples and pines that offer colorful leaves and huge pinecones perfect for holiday decorations. This is the closest park to NYC that is truly wild and unspoiled.
Apple Picking / Suggested Books for ages 3–9 / Suggested Books for adults / Apple Craft / Laurie's Favorite Apple Recipes
An apple a day is said to be good for your health. For me, it is also the symbol of a happy family life. Nothing makes me feel cozier than the smell of an apple pie backing in the over, or spiced cider warming on the stove. One of my very happiest memories is going apple picking with my children. Every year our kids would ask if it was time – if the apples were ripe yet, or if the fruit was still hanging from the trees and it wasn't too late to go. On a perfect autumn day, with the sky a bright blue and the air as cool and crisp as a new apple, we would pack a lunch and drive upstate. Farms provided bags or baskets and picking poles. We paid by the volume for what we took away, but while we worked we ate all the apples we wanted for free. Those days sparkled with laughter and energy as the kids climbed trees (sometimes forbidden) and we filled our car with the bounty of autumn.
For weeks afterward we made apple pies and applesauce; baked apples stuffed with raisins and walnuts; cobbler and brown betty; sliced fresh apples served with cheese or nut butters; added to smoothies; tossed into soups or stews or salads or sautees; and apple slices dipped in honey for Rosh Hashanah, a symbol of sweet times to celebrate the Jewish New Year. If we couldn't find the time to go picking, we would settle for a morning trip to a nearby cider mill, maybe stealing a short walk in the autumn woods, and coming home with gallons of fresh-pressed cider that seemed to get sweeter every year, and a sack full of ever new varieties of apples. Even their names were a delight: Pippin, Granny Smith, Winesap, Macoun, Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Braeburn, Ida Red, Courtland, Crispin, Empire, Gala, Macintosh, Gravenstein, Rome, Northern Spy, Fuji, and so many more. Each offers up a different color, flavor and texture. Some are better in pies, or better in applesauce, or better baked in cider. Experimenting to find out which were best in which dish was our annual pleasure!
It might surprise you to know that there are 2500 varieties of apples grown in the US, 7500 in the world. Find more apple facts.
Have your kids do apple math by halving or doubling a recipe, figuring out how much a bushel or a peck is, how much the average apple in your basket weighs, the round-trip mileage to a u-pick farm, etc.
Here is a list of u-pick farms and cider mills suitable for a half- or full-day trip.
Cider Mills:
U-pick apple farms (most also have farm stands selling cider and other items). Note: call before you go to check their hours and find out which apples are ripe and what the picking conditions are like.
In Westchester County:
In Orange County:
In Dutchess County:
In NJ, approx. an hour from NYC:
In Ulster County, further north, near New Paltz, aprox. 1½ hours from NYC (also accessible by bus from Port Authority):
New York Apple Country has heaps of information, including more farms in Westchester County.
PickYourOwn.org lists farms on Long Island.
by Consie Powell; a delightfully illustrated book of acrostic poems on apples, such as: Absolutely the / Perfect fruit to / Put in your / Lunchbox and / Eat later.
, by Eden Ross Lipson.
Beautiful illustrations of apple varieties and a recipe for applesauce at the back.
, by Zoe Hall, with collage illustrations and an apple pie recipe at the end.
, by Marjorie Priceman
Pie ingredients provide a fun geography lesson, recipe and activities included. (She also wrote How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the U.S.A
.)
, by Jerry Pallotta. Just take a few of your freshly picked apples and do some hands-on demonstrations. 
– over 20 apple projects for kids, by Jennifer Storey Gillis
, by Elisa Kleve. This book includes instructions on how to make your own apple doll. Elisa Kleven is also the author of the much loved book, The Lion and the Little Red Bird
.
, a poem by Reeve Lindbergh, tells the story of John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, a quiet missionary man in the early 1800s who planted apple seeds in America's frontier.
, retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg, explains the tall tale aspect of this famous folk hero's story. 
, by Olwen Woodier, with tons of apple recipes, apple history and more.
, by Mark Rosenstein -- recipes and information including apple lore.A fresh, firm apple must be peeled and carved in the shape of a face, and then dried, to make a doll's head. Here are links to instructions and videos.
With photos and better illustrations:
Laurie's Spiced Mulled Apple Cider
Empty one quart of freshly pressed apple cider into a large saucepan. Add the following (if you don't have all of the ingredients, then just add what you have):
Heat through for 15 minutes, on a medium-low flame. Don't let the cider boil. When you can smell the spices it's done. Serve by ladling the hot cider through a small strainer into mugs. Leftover mulled cider can be refrigerated and reheated later.
Laurie's Favorite Apple Cake: Cinnamon Whole Wheat Apple Cake
(adapted from Sinfully Vegan
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a rectangular baking dish (like a lasagna pan) or a bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray (preferably canola oil).
Soak the flax powder in the apple cider, mixed well.
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well.
Combine wet ingredients in another bowl. Tip: Put the oil in your measuring cup first and then the maple syrup won't stick to the cup. Add the applesauce and mix well. Pour wet ingredients into dry and combine together, adding the grated apples.
Pour batter into pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. Cool for ten minutes and then glaze with a heated mixture of 2-3 tbsp. maple syrup and 1 tsp. ground cinnamon.
There are still some 
Every year NYC organizations and institutions advertise more classes for homeschooled kids along with their public "afterschool" offerings. Here are some offerings created just for homeschoolers:
When my older son was about nine he became fascinated with raptors: eagles, osprey, hawks, owls – any bird of prey with a sharp beak is a raptor. One of his favorites was the red-tailed hawk, a popular bird in NYC since the fame of Pale Male, a red-tail that lives above Central Park.