We are having So. Much. Fun! on all our Adventures. We're coming home tired, sticky, hot and cranky, but it's so worth it. I've also met a lot of really nice moms and kids that I might not have. Somewhat ironically, today's trip was to a location closest to my house so far, but the place I'd never yet explored. I'm now kicking myself for overlooking this hidden gem in the middle of the city. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's begin at the beginning.

We met outside the main building of the Louisville Nature Center. There are several points of interest right outside the building. In the front is a nice butterfly garden. We saw several monarchs drinking nectar from the milkweed. You need to walk through the building to get to the start of the trail. The kids took a look at some of the birds nests and eggs on display in the cases as we were walking through, but they were excited to get going on the hike.

Grab a trail guide from the wall of brochures to the right. The trail is marked with numbers and we once again failed to pick up a guide that would have explained what the numbers indicated. On the other side of the building are some examples of rain gardens. The Nature Center also sells rain barrels for $70 a piece, or $65 for two or more.

At this point, we paused for our pre-hike photo op. Conveniently, I'm never in these photos, because I'm holding the camera. Piper is usually holding onto my leg. We were also joined later by another mama and her two children so this doesn't show our true numbers.

The beginning of the White Oak Loop trail was just on the other side of the building so headed off into the woods. The total distance for the trail is 1.5 miles, but we did end up taking the Red Maple Trail shortcut. I'd love to return on a day when it isn't so hot to walk the entire loop, but this ended up being the right length for the ages of the kids and the 90+ degree weather. The trail was well maintained and easily passable on foot. I don't know that I'd want to try it with a stroller.

You'd never know you were in the middle of a neighborhood. We heard tree frogs singing in the trees. I saw a lizard scamper into the underbrush. Piper brought the top of her "bug catching kit" that includes a magnifying glass so she could examine flora and fauna that caught her interest.

The kids were fascinated by all the spit in the plants. One of the moms in our group said it was created by a bug called spittle bug, so we looked it up when we got home. Spittlebugs, aka froghoppers, create the froth on the plants when they're young nymphs. It helps keep them moist, hidden from predators, and cool in the summer heat. They're apparently really bad for the plant, because the nymph uses the plant's own sap to create the spit. It was neat looking anyway.

The end of the trail returns you to the front side of the Nature Center. There are some benches that are used for school group and some nice shadey trees. We decided to have our picnic here. After refueling, the kids had plenty of energy for climbing trees and picking mulberries.

After lunch and playtime, we sat in the bird blind and watched the birds come to the many feeders they have set up.

If You Go: The Louisville Nature Center is free, but they accept donations. The big mistake we made was assuming that since it's within the city it's not a "real hike". Therefore, I didn't take snacks for my little one. I won't be making that mistake again.

The Nature Center is basically across the street from the Louisville Zoo. As of June 2009, there is a lot of road work going on to change the zoo entrance. Just be aware of that - it can be a bit hairy.