Free Louisville

I have finally started researching free (or almost free) things for Lewis and I to do around town. Free, age-appropriate, and nearby. We tried a few out last week and I think it will be good for both of us to have a little more structure, enrichment, and interaction to our days.

Being the planning nerd that I am, I've started to formulate a weekly schedule of sorts to try:

Monday - Grocery/Cook for the week/Clean-up from the weekend

Tuesday - Shopping Day - Target (if needed)/Goodwill

Wednesday - Storytime at the library

Thursday - Park/Nature Day

Friday - Clean-up for the weekend/Laundry

Here are the free park/nature activities I have found so far:

• Metro Parks (5-10 mins. drive) - This is kind of a 'duh,' but we have never actually been to any of the parks near us. We visited one the other day--there is a nice set of swingsets (with 'baby swings' and regular swings) and a nice play area with slides, monkey bars, bridges, etc. There is also a small stream with shaded picnic areas--I'm excited to go back! Oh, and I saw a Great Blue Heron take flight as we were walking back to the car. We went back a second time this weekend with Kevin and I took some video of him swinging that I'll post later.
  
  

Wheeee!!!

• Louisville Nature Center/Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve (15 mins. drive) - This is located near the Louisville Zoo, with two main differences--it has native wildlife species and doesn't cost anything to get in! I've never actually been there before and have always wanted to go, so hopefully their hiking trails are doable with our all-terrain stroller and hopefully they have age-appropriate things for Lewis. They definitely have a bird blind (a shaded viewing window overlooking lots of different types of feeders to attract different birds, chipmunks, squirrels, mice, etc.). He'd probably enjoy that--he likes animals that move quickly, it seems.
• Henry's Ark Petting Zoo (20 mins. drive??) - This is in the next county from us--it is a private petting zoo (of Henry Wallace, former news correspondent, now deceased) that is free/open to the public. They just ask that you bring carrots to feed the animals--I think we can handle that!
• Salato Wildlife Education Center (Frankfort - 45 mins. drive) - This would be a much bigger endeavor, one we probably won't do too often. Salato is a really neat place--the state fish and wildlife department is headquartered there, they have free fishing for kids, and they have both indoor and outdoor wildlife areas, full of native Kentucky species (deer, wild turkeys, bald eagles, black bear, fish, turtles, snakes, owls, etc.).

I am also still trying to find the best storytime at the library for us. There is one downtown for 'Pre-walkers and Walkers' on Wednesday mornings, but I need to scout out the parking situation to see how much it costs before we commit to this one. There are other library branches in non-downtown locations that would have free parking that we might also scope out.

There are also a surprising number of museums (mainly art) with free admission, though I think it will still be a few years before he can appreciate those.

We'll see how it goes!