I’ve been cyber-stalking my 26-year-old niece all summer. She has a Facebook album titled, “The Best Summer Ever – 2010.” It’s loaded with pictures of her and other beautiful Denver singles camping, climbing mountains, attending outdoor festivals and generally celebrating the freedom of their age and singleness.
In late July I realized young people in the Rockies don’t have a monopoly on the “Best Summer Ever.” We’ve had a pretty amazing summer too, kids and all, right here in North Dakota. So, I started my own “2010 The Best Summer Ever” Facebook album.
I’ve only uploaded a few photos so far but I’ll get to that, perhaps in 2023 when my kids graduate. Meanwhile, here are some highlights of our Best Summer Ever.
Medora: Quaint, safe and carefree, my kids fell in love with Medora. They were enchanted by the musical, especially the gunfight at the finale of course. The collection of toys at the Doll House and the Old West playground also proved entertaining.
But most impressive to them was their ability to walk everywhere in this spiffy little town, from one end to the other, without a single care. We did this several times. They never once asked for a water park.
Downstream Campground: This must be one of the nicest campgrounds in the state, and it provided the perfect backdrop for a legendary travel video that I’ll upload on the state tourism site just as soon as I finish it. Right after the “Best Summer Ever” album.
Fort Union. Historical interpreters bring this rather modest attraction alive. My kids hauled firewood in exchange for arrowheads, watched a metal smith make tools and ate cornbread cooked over fire in a cast-iron skillet.
In its day, Fort Union was a major trading post, carrying fabric, tools, beads, sugar, paint and many other imports from America and Europe. Fort Union was North Dakota’s first Wal Mart. Who knew?
Lake Isabel, Fourth of July: Sunny, hot weather set the stage for a glorious day of swimming, tubing, eating, watching fireworks and learning how to water ski. Our friends keep urging us to buy a cabin there. Why would we do that, we wonder, when we have an open invitation to hang out at theirs?
Rounding out the “Best Summer Ever” memories in North Dakota are a picture-perfect day on Lake Sakakawea, Raging Rivers, biking the trails in Bismarck, Junior Zookeeper and Sleepy Hollow art camps, Bismarck Baseball League, wine cruises on the river and a garden bursting with herbs and veggies.
My only regret is that two good weeks of summer, probably the most pleasant, remain but the kids are already back in school and we’re forced to behave as if summer is over.
Let’s change this goofy school schedule. Meanwhile, plans are underway for The Best Summer Ever Part II, 2011, featuring the Fargo Air Show, the Peace Gardens, Lake Metigoshe, canoeing down the Little Missouri, camping at Jamestown Reservoir, Frost Fire Theater and much more. I love this state.
Showing posts with label summer vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer vacation. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Monday, August 24, 2009
Wanted: Two More Weeks of Summer
As I drove to pick up my kids from school recently, the temperature at the bank read 84 degrees.
I reflected with frustration on the weeks of crappy May and June weather that consumed probably 40 percent of our summer break. How I’d like to exchange these warm August days in school with the early June days of freezing rain.
In North Dakota, the start date of schools is a local matter, one that school boards and superintendents protect vigorously. I agree with local control and support it.
The problem with school schedules is this. Local school boards approve the schedule but the schedule is built around -- or strongly influence by -- a statewide athletic calendar (with a big emphasis on finishing football before the snow flies.) The real “control” being exercised at the local level on school start dates seems pretty minor.
A couple years ago, the Legislature narrowly rejected a measure that would have required schools to start after Labor Day. Lobbying efforts by the school superintendents, school boards and other education groups prevailed.
Local control and athletic schedules aside, there are some sensible and compelling reasons to delay the beginning of school until after Labor Day. And it can be done without threatening local control or jeopardizing the quality of education.
The first and most obvious reason is weather. August is one of the most reliably warm months of the year in North Dakota. Why do we tie our families at home and our kids back in school for two or three of the nicest weeks of the year?
By doing so, we compel a large number of summer attractions to close prematurely. Last weekend was one of the nicest of the season, but families couldn’t take a dip in any of Bismarck’s public pools. All were closed for the season.
Raging Rivers, plagued by a summer of awful water-park weather, is closed except on weekends. That attraction is missing out on a couple potentially great weeks of revenue.
Hotels and other attractions suffer as well because once school starts both employees and in-state visitors dry up. Big attractions like Medora struggle to find staff for the last few weeks of their season because students leave for school in mid August.
A Bismarck hotel owner, testifying to the Legislature on this issue, said his business dropped off 30 percent as soon as school started in August. He said continuing the summer season through Labor Day would have generated another $15,000 in sales for the year – “a meaningful amount for a small North Dakota business who is asked to pay property taxes totaling over $37,000 and a school distribution of $20,683.”
A 2006 statewide survey found that 75 percent of people who have an opinion on this issue support requiring schools to begin after Labor Day.
But a state mandate shouldn’t be necessary. Since schools collectively agree on a very similar schedule now, why can’t they collectively agree on a schedule that starts after Labor Day?
They could. They just need to hear from enough people who want them to.
Summer is short and precious in our state. A later start and finishing date for schools makes sense. It would be good for families, kids, businesses, teachers, and our economy.
And it might even be a welcome change for those poor high school football players forced to practice in full gear on the hottest days of summer.
I reflected with frustration on the weeks of crappy May and June weather that consumed probably 40 percent of our summer break. How I’d like to exchange these warm August days in school with the early June days of freezing rain.
In North Dakota, the start date of schools is a local matter, one that school boards and superintendents protect vigorously. I agree with local control and support it.
The problem with school schedules is this. Local school boards approve the schedule but the schedule is built around -- or strongly influence by -- a statewide athletic calendar (with a big emphasis on finishing football before the snow flies.) The real “control” being exercised at the local level on school start dates seems pretty minor.
A couple years ago, the Legislature narrowly rejected a measure that would have required schools to start after Labor Day. Lobbying efforts by the school superintendents, school boards and other education groups prevailed.
Local control and athletic schedules aside, there are some sensible and compelling reasons to delay the beginning of school until after Labor Day. And it can be done without threatening local control or jeopardizing the quality of education.
The first and most obvious reason is weather. August is one of the most reliably warm months of the year in North Dakota. Why do we tie our families at home and our kids back in school for two or three of the nicest weeks of the year?
By doing so, we compel a large number of summer attractions to close prematurely. Last weekend was one of the nicest of the season, but families couldn’t take a dip in any of Bismarck’s public pools. All were closed for the season.
Raging Rivers, plagued by a summer of awful water-park weather, is closed except on weekends. That attraction is missing out on a couple potentially great weeks of revenue.
Hotels and other attractions suffer as well because once school starts both employees and in-state visitors dry up. Big attractions like Medora struggle to find staff for the last few weeks of their season because students leave for school in mid August.
A Bismarck hotel owner, testifying to the Legislature on this issue, said his business dropped off 30 percent as soon as school started in August. He said continuing the summer season through Labor Day would have generated another $15,000 in sales for the year – “a meaningful amount for a small North Dakota business who is asked to pay property taxes totaling over $37,000 and a school distribution of $20,683.”
A 2006 statewide survey found that 75 percent of people who have an opinion on this issue support requiring schools to begin after Labor Day.
But a state mandate shouldn’t be necessary. Since schools collectively agree on a very similar schedule now, why can’t they collectively agree on a schedule that starts after Labor Day?
They could. They just need to hear from enough people who want them to.
Summer is short and precious in our state. A later start and finishing date for schools makes sense. It would be good for families, kids, businesses, teachers, and our economy.
And it might even be a welcome change for those poor high school football players forced to practice in full gear on the hottest days of summer.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)