I had only been to Maymont once prior to last Friday, so my adventure started when I couldn\u2019t find the nature center.\u00a0 I drove to the only entrance I knew of, walked around for a bit, and fell in love with Maymont even more because of my lack of direction.\u00a0 I dragged my friend Monika along on the trip with me, but it took only one look at the gardens for us to decide Maymont was worth the trip.\u00a0 It\u2019s certainly a place I\u2019d love to explore more, but we were there for one true purpose only, and we were in a bit of a time crunch, so we checked out the park directory and drove around some more until we finally saw the nature center.<\/p>\n
I was shocked, firstly, at how nice the building is.\u00a0 It was not at all what I was expecting.\u00a0 I must admit, I was a little apprehensive about going to see the watershed exhibit.\u00a0 I pictured it to be a small, factual, and boring exhibit in a little nature center, but I was more than pleasantly surprised.\u00a0 As I stepped into the first exhibit room, I saw the interactive topographic map and was immediately interested.\u00a0 While these maps normally don\u2019t interest me in the slightest (Oops! Probably shouldn\u2019t admit that in a geography class\u2026), I was interested because this map covered an area I actually knew about.\u00a0 It was neat to see the map light up where the Jackson and Cowpasture meet at the Iron Gate to form the mouth of the James, and it was even more satisfying to me because I now know about these exact places.<\/p>\n
This was just the beginning of the exhibit, though.\u00a0 The sound of rushing water that was roaring away in the other room was enough to entice anyone to continue.\u00a0 I was not expecting the exhibit to be as large as it was when I walked into the next room.\u00a0 My friend and I just turned to each other and both exclaimed, \u201cThis is sooo cooolll!\u201d (We\u2019re about as lame as they come, we know).\u00a0 Immediately, we were like little kids at a zoo.\u00a0 We ran around looking at all of the aquatic fish, turtles, and frogs.\u00a0 It was apparent that most of the interactive points of the exhibit were aimed for children much younger than us, but we played with them all the same.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t really learn anything new, but the exhibits did reinforce what we have learned thus far in class, and I\u2019m sure when it comes to the parents and children that typically visit the nature center, the exhibit is extremely informative.<\/p>\n
Aside from all of the neat aquatic life that I had no idea existed in the James, there were two aspects of the exhibit that stood out to me as my favorites. The first, surprisingly, was the model-size replica of a fish ladder.\u00a0 Because my group didn\u2019t go to the dam and we weren\u2019t able to see the fish ladder on the kayaking trip, I wasn\u2019t sure exactly what the ladder looked like.\u00a0 This may seem silly, but sometimes pictures just don\u2019t do the actual thing justice.\u00a0 It was neat to be able to put two and two together and really see how the fish ladder works.<\/p>\n
My second favorite part of the trip, perhaps not for the most educational reasons, was the river otter exhibit.\u00a0 Those little stinkers were just so darn cute and entertaining!\u00a0 My friend and I took way too many pictures of them, and with them, but it was certainly a nice way to end our day off campus, just laughing at the otters and following them on the outside of the glass as they swam and frolicked through the water in their tank. \u00a0I definitely want to go back to Maymont soon to explore more of their other animal exhibits as well as the multitude of other things the park has to offer. \u00a0It’s certainly nice and reassuring that a park as nice and well-maintained as Maymont doesn’t rely solely on it’s aesthetic beauty to draw in the crowd. \u00a0It’s nice that there is such a nice nature center and an obvious focus on educating the people who visit the park about the surrounding area.<\/p>\n
(Just a little Nature Center fun and a selfie with the otters…)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I had only been to Maymont once prior to last Friday, so my adventure started when I couldn\u2019t find the nature center.\u00a0 I drove to the only entrance I knew of, walked around for a bit, and fell in love … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/files\/2013\/09\/1289975_640463799326926_19316802_n.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n