Cheap and Fun Summer Acitvities

Are you worried about how to spend time with your family, without spending a lot of money? You’re not alone. It’s back to nature summer, and we’re going to be doing a series of posts on low-cost ways to spend more time with the family, that will be fun. So instead of a trip to the beach with parking costs, ice cream and all that sand in the you know where, why not try a bird watching outing. Yup, I do mean birding – you know field guide in one hand and binoculars in another, where you walk in the woods and look for birds. This isn’t as crazy as it sounds, since Kate White, editor in chief of Cosmo magazine and best selling mystery author goes birding with her family. And claims they like it (don’t believe, check the recent issue of Country Living Magazine – she puts it in writing.)

A good guide book will help you if you’re like me and don’t know a crow from a blackbird. The binoculars (a good pair can be less than $100) will help you get “close’ enough to identify the key features that allow you to tell one bird from another. And don’t forget sturdy shoes, patience and bug spray. Add in a picnic lunch and you have some good old fashioned fun. I would spice it up by adding a little competition to the mix – perhaps make a list of birds you know are in the area and award a prize to the first kid who recognizes them all. Or have a prize for most birds spotted or most unique bird. Apparently there has been quite a movement among people to bring back the activity of birding. Yup, walking among the trees and looking for birds and tracking them. All you need – a pair of shoes and binoculars. Oh and the handy-dandy bird book – because if you’re like me, you don’t know a crow from a black bird. You;ll get back to nature time, plus you’ll be secretly educating your kids. Throw in a prize for who spots the most birds, or the most unique, and pair with a picnic, and you have a nice outing.

About Chesapeake, Va., Conventions & Tourism

Based in southeast Virginia, the city of Chesapeake boasts more than 4,000 available hotel rooms and some of the strongest attractions, accommodations and meeting spaces in the area. Chesapeake Conventions & Tourism (CCT) strives to promote, market and sell the city as a destination for meetings, conventions and individual travelers, fostering economic development and benefiting and supporting members and the overall business community.

Because of its location and highway network, Chesapeake provides easy access to several other cities in the Tidewater region including Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Williamsburg, all of which are less than an hour away. The City of Chesapeake is home to several stops along the Civil War Trail and its Great Dismal Swamp is nationally recognized as a stop on the historical Underground Railroad. In addition to rich history, Chesapeake is home to the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and hosts a thriving outdoor community with thousands of unspoiled acres for kayaking, birding and fishing.

Chesapeake is a part of the statewide Virginia Green program which aims to reduce the environmental impact of the tourism industry. Chesapeake is also rated by the FBI as one of the top five safest cities of its size in the U.S., and Money magazine proclaimed it as one of the six best places in America to live. For more information on Chesapeake Conventions & Tourism, visit www.visitchesapeake.com