Every neighborhood has a naturehood somewhere around it. We discovered another one in our Oklahoma City backyard, Martin Park Nature Center!

Within 144 acres in the city’s northwest side, Martin Park Nature Center is home to many species of animals, including birds, butterflies, squirrels, fox and reptiles. Sometimes I am told you can catch a glimpse of a deer, owl, armadillo or other wild animal during their visit. We saw many types of animal tracks, deer, raccoon, and what I think was a bobcat. We also got to look through a wood wall with holes to watch wild birds eat seed. There were some pretty neat ones.

We hiked through the trails which turned out to be about 2.5 miles, stopped off at a couple water holes and climbed some stable trees. there were quite a few trees that looked too brittle or small; not very good climbing trees. It was fun to make sure we did not take the same path to and from one place to another; if a trail ended, we crawled up dirt walls. We continually made more or less joking remarks that we were taking Robert Frost’s advice and taking the road less traveled. I was ask my 8 year old, “what path do you think Robert Frost would take?” She would point to and take us  down the one she thought less people walked on, or settle for the dirt trail verses the paved one.

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Take a closer look! Click on the images of Martin Park Nature Center below.