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Venture Vermont 2009 — Mission Accomplished

By Cathy Resmer @cresmer

click to enlarge

This summer, I blogged a couple times about the Venture Vermont Outdoor Challenge, a self-guided scavenger hunt organized by the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. I even wrote a "Getting By" column about it, because the prize for completing the challenge was a free day-use pass to all Vermont State Parks in 2009 and 2010. The deadline for entering was last Thursday, October 15; most of the parks shut down for the season in mid-October.

My partner, my kids and I spent the summer hiking, boating and swimming our way through the challenge. Last Tuesday, we tallied up our points, downloaded the photographic proof of our accomplishments on a CD, and sent the score sheets

click to enlarge

and CD to a state office in Waterbury.

On Friday, when we got home from work, there was a heavy envelope waiting for us in the mailbox... containing our silver VIP passes! Also enclosed was a sweet form letter from Rochelle Skinner, Parks Sales & Service Manager, congratulating us for earning 250 points each. Nice.

So what did we do to earn these passes? Here's a partial list of our prize-winning activities:

Skipped rocks at Kettle Pond
Waded in the water at Sand Bar State Park
Camped in Groton State Forest
Built a fairy house near our campsite
Climbed Mount Philo (worth 20 points because it was a Venture Vermont bonus activity that week)
Didn't watch TV for a week (easy because we don't own a TV)
Identified an Eastern Spotted Newt, a turtle nest and a pitcher plant
Went canoeing
Played on playgrounds
Went for a picnic
Visited Seyon Lodge
Hung our laundry out to dry
Threw a birthday party for Smokey the Bear (no candles on the cake! -- another bonus activity)

I know it's kinda corny to be so excited about this, but it was actually really fun, and now we have these free 2010 day-use park passes.

The next challenge is going to be making sure that we don't lose them before next summer...

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About The Author

Cathy Resmer

cathy@sevendaysvt.com

@cresmer

techjamvt.com

Bio:
Cathy Resmer is Seven Days' deputy publisher. She's an organizer of the Vermont Tech Jam, and compiles a weekly tech e-newsletter every Monday. She also oversees Seven Days' free monthly parenting publication, Kids VT, and is an enthusiastic wrestling mom... more