Wednesday, October 30, 2019
On Saturday, my significant other, Donald, my seven-year-old, Mika, and I took advantage of the last warm day of the year (probably) and went to a place called Wishing Star Farm. The farm is located in Ellicott, which is a small town about 25 miles southeast of Colorado Springs. I have lived in Colorado Springs for more than 25 years and do not think I have ever been to Ellicott.
When I was a child, I would have considered Ellicott (with its 1,100 population) to be a large town. I was raised in a town with a population of 500. What I found interesting is that the farm is right in the middle of town. I do not remember a farm being in the middle of any of the small towns I frequented in Nebraska as a child. We used to have a farm Colorado Springs grew around, but pollution killed it.
Wishing Star Farm appears to be a working farm which has capitalized on their great location by creating a small amusement park. The farm is not a high-tech amusement center, it had basic activities that children (and some adults) love.
Wishing Star Farm had a petting zoo, of course, and all the activities related to the farm. They had bins that looked like large kid’s swimming pools with about ten inches of corn kernels in the bottom. I did not see the appeal, however there were always kids in the bins and the kids (including Mika) seemed to really like it. I guess the corn bins are like a ball pit.
Wishing Star Farm had a lawn tractor with a few train cars behind it for train rides, a collection of playhouses that appeared to be made from large liquor barrels, and a hay slide. The slide itself was not hay like the hay piles I used to slide down when I visited my grandparent's farm, but it was a very large stack of hay bales set to be steps and a large section of irrigation pipe for the slide.
Wishing Star Farm had a pedal karts track, duck races, tire jungle, roping dummies, tire swings, corn hole, horseshoe pit, and bean bag tic-tac-toe. They also had pony rides and you could pick a pumpkin; however, you pay extra for those activities. It reminded me of my childhood.
Mika’s favorite activity was the jumping pillow. The jumping pillow was a very large, inflated rubber pillow which could easily accommodate 50 children at once. Mika spent at least half the time bouncing on that pillow. Her favorite bouncing time was later in day when a large man got on the pillow. He would let the kids know when he was going to jump, so they could gather around him to be knocked over by the double bounce.
Since Donald was part of this adventure, at about three hours in he was ready to call it a day. We loaded my wheelchair back onto the back of the truck and headed home. Donald did have fun pumping water for duck racing with Mika and pushing her on the tire swings, but the other activities that were grown-up inclusive did not interest Mika such as corn hole or horseshoes.
The view of the mountains on the ride home was spectacular! We could see so many mountains. Ellicott is farther east (and farther away from the mountains) than Colorado Springs. You can see triple the number of mountains from there than Colorado Springs, however you cannot see the mountains from everywhere like here.
My piece of advice to you is to take advantage of the weather when it is to your liking. Build a snowman when it snows and take a walk (or roll) when it is warm.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
On Saturday, my significant other, Donald, my seven-year-old, Mika, and I took advantage of the last warm day of the year (probably) and went to a place called Wishing Star Farm. The farm is located in Ellicott, which is a small town about 25 miles southeast of Colorado Springs. I have lived in Colorado Springs for more than 25 years and do not think I have ever been to Ellicott.
When I was a child, I would have considered Ellicott (with its 1,100 population) to be a large town. I was raised in a town with a population of 500. What I found interesting is that the farm is right in the middle of town. I do not remember a farm being in the middle of any of the small towns I frequented in Nebraska as a child. We used to have a farm Colorado Springs grew around, but pollution killed it.
Wishing Star Farm appears to be a working farm which has capitalized on their great location by creating a small amusement park. The farm is not a high-tech amusement center, it had basic activities that children (and some adults) love.
Wishing Star Farm had a petting zoo, of course, and all the activities related to the farm. They had bins that looked like large kid’s swimming pools with about ten inches of corn kernels in the bottom. I did not see the appeal, however there were always kids in the bins and the kids (including Mika) seemed to really like it. I guess the corn bins are like a ball pit.
Wishing Star Farm had a lawn tractor with a few train cars behind it for train rides, a collection of playhouses that appeared to be made from large liquor barrels, and a hay slide. The slide itself was not hay like the hay piles I used to slide down when I visited my grandparent's farm, but it was a very large stack of hay bales set to be steps and a large section of irrigation pipe for the slide.
Wishing Star Farm had a pedal karts track, duck races, tire jungle, roping dummies, tire swings, corn hole, horseshoe pit, and bean bag tic-tac-toe. They also had pony rides and you could pick a pumpkin; however, you pay extra for those activities. It reminded me of my childhood.
Mika’s favorite activity was the jumping pillow. The jumping pillow was a very large, inflated rubber pillow which could easily accommodate 50 children at once. Mika spent at least half the time bouncing on that pillow. Her favorite bouncing time was later in day when a large man got on the pillow. He would let the kids know when he was going to jump, so they could gather around him to be knocked over by the double bounce.
Since Donald was part of this adventure, at about three hours in he was ready to call it a day. We loaded my wheelchair back onto the back of the truck and headed home. Donald did have fun pumping water for duck racing with Mika and pushing her on the tire swings, but the other activities that were grown-up inclusive did not interest Mika such as corn hole or horseshoes.
The view of the mountains on the ride home was spectacular! We could see so many mountains. Ellicott is farther east (and farther away from the mountains) than Colorado Springs. You can see triple the number of mountains from there than Colorado Springs, however you cannot see the mountains from everywhere like here.
My piece of advice to you is to take advantage of the weather when it is to your liking. Build a snowman when it snows and take a walk (or roll) when it is warm.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.