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Wisconsin family fun: Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee

By Mara 18 Comments

I’m a fan of urban nature centers. I appreciate how they reclaim industrial wastelands, how they bring green space into cities, and in the case of Milwaukee’s Urban Ecology Center, how they offer Wisconsin family fun not only to people in the community but to out-of-towners like my family. This is my first visit since the extensive rebuild and I must say I am very impressed! I assume Wisconsin robotic demolition services were utilized for this job but I cannot be certain. Either way, the rebuild has gone very well.

We didn't get in a canoe - but we did climb a wall. #milwaukee #wisconsin #familytravel

We wiled away a warm June afternoon in the lovely space at the Riverside Park branch, which has a lily pond out in front.

Loved this gorgeous urban garden with water lilies. #milwaukee #wisconsin #familytravel

Eight-year-oldTeddy spent a lot of time going down the indoor slide (no photo) and checking out the room full of Wisconsin native animals including my friend Paul the snapping turtle.

My new friend Paul the snapping turtle. #milwaukee #wisconsin #nature

The boys also played board games and made paper.

Making paper - he looks so serious! #milwaukee #wisconsin #familytravel

But all of this fun was only a prelude to our real purpose for being there, which was to climb a 40-foot wall. I think this collage accurately illustrates how that went:

Mom on left. Dad in middle. Kid on right. He made it to the top - three times. Ah, youth. #milwaukee #wisconsin #familytravel

Yes, that’s me on the left, my husband Matt in the middle, and 11-year-old Tommy on the right. He made it to the top not once, not twice, but three times. Matt and me, not so much. (And Teddy, even less so.)

All of this fun and we didn’t even get out on the trails that surround the center or have a chance to explore the nearby children’s garden. I learned, in fact, that had we wanted to ride over to the Urban Ecology Center from Discovery World, there would have been bike paths pretty much the entire way. In fact the rock wall is located right next to the Oak Leaf Trail – 114 miles of multiple-use, urban-exploring heaven.

I am so grateful to Visit Milwaukee for directing me to this fun spot (which would be easy to miss if you were visiting as a tourist – it’s off the beaten track, but in the best of ways) and to the Urban Ecology Center for giving us a free hour of rock wall climbing.

If you’re a regular reader of my site, you may notice something a little different about my photos in this post – they were all taken with my phone and shared on my Instagram account (click on them and they link back there). Lately I feel like this social media photo sharing tool might be the absolute perfect fit for traveling mom – I love how easily I can share my pictures from the road and I also enjoy seeing all the other pictures shared from the locations I visit and all the places my traveling parent friends visit too.

And I’m not the only family traveler loving Instagram these days – a great group of bloggers has started a weekly Instagram travel-themed get together, and I’m all in (if a day late). If you’re a blogger who would like to participate, get all of the details here.

 

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Filed Under: We've been here, Wisconsin

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Comments

  1. Elena says

    July 12, 2013 at 12:36 am

    Love the rock climbing collage-I would have been horrible on it. And that lilly pad– I could sit and look at that for hours.

    Reply
  2. Katja of Skimbaco says

    July 12, 2013 at 1:27 am

    I would have skipped the rock climbing… I’m scared of heights! But wow, how many activities and things to see they have there!

    Reply
  3. Reeta of @houseofanais says

    July 12, 2013 at 4:10 am

    What a lovely holiday, I think my kids would love this kind of activities too – I’ll keep this idea in mind for the future!

    Reply
  4. Amanda O. says

    July 12, 2013 at 9:43 am

    I would love to visit Milwaukee’s Urban Ecology Center! I live in the Chicago area and this would be a quick day trip for us. I have a very curious toddler who, I’m sure, would learn a lot here. (And thanks for sharing the Instagram Linky…Going to check it out now!)

    Reply
  5. Leigh Powell Hines @Hinessightblog says

    July 12, 2013 at 10:08 am

    This looks like a great educational trip. Mara, it was wonderful meeting you at TBEX and I’m so glad that you joined us this week. Leigh

    Reply
  6. Lala Sams (TDF) says

    July 12, 2013 at 3:50 pm

    That mountain climbing looks massive…so cool! Following you on instagram now!

    Reply
  7. Pauline R says

    July 15, 2013 at 5:41 am

    Looks lovely, hope you all had a fun time. Your trips look sooo fun 🙂

    Reply
    • Mara says

      July 23, 2013 at 9:27 pm

      Thanks! We have a pretty good time 🙂

      Reply
  8. Monique says

    July 15, 2013 at 7:57 am

    Great pictures. It looks like you guys had a lot of fun.

    Reply
    • Mara says

      July 23, 2013 at 9:26 pm

      Thanks Monique – we really did.

      Reply
  9. Rach says

    July 18, 2013 at 6:00 am

    Looks really fun guys 🙂 hope you all had a great time.

    Reply
  10. Jenny says

    July 22, 2013 at 5:00 am

    Wow,, that looks fantastic. I bet the kids truly loved it.

    Reply
  11. Leora says

    July 22, 2013 at 5:20 am

    Very cool. Hope you had a awesome family day out?

    Reply
    • Mara says

      July 23, 2013 at 9:26 pm

      We did indeed – Milwaukee is fab.

      Reply
  12. Nads says

    July 22, 2013 at 6:33 am

    The snapping turtle looks awesome, not too sure I’d want to get too close to those teeth though – I’ve heard they can be quite snappy 🙂

    Reply
    • Mara says

      July 23, 2013 at 9:25 pm

      Yeah, his mouth was kind of scary! Thanks for stopping by.

      Reply
  13. James Shaw says

    September 9, 2013 at 11:53 pm

    I don’t think that I could climb that 40 foot wall. I need to get in shape first before trying that one, I couldn’t carry my own at the moment. lol

    Reply

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    October 21, 2014 at 12:32 am

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I'm a family travel expert & award-winning writer who loves to eat. Explore this site and you'll find lots of stories about my adventures, and family travel tips. More about Mara

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