Mother on a Mission: Battling the Xbox 360 for quality Family Time. Hiking with a purpose is Key!

This summer I have been on a Mission to keep my son busy and try to minimize his time on the xBox 360. He is 13 and entering his challenging teen years. When I suggest going somewhere outdoors on the weekend, his common response is "No, momma that is lame."
This past weekend I altered my approach. I said "Honey, if I take you to Winghouse, you have to do this hike with me." Of courser bribery alone was not going to work. I need to add a little bit of mystery and purpose. "There is this broken down boardwalk and we need to go find out what happened! I think the hurricanes took it out! We need to investigate! " I read about it on one of Sandra's blog posts and decided to put a little Scooby-Doo spin on it to entice my son outside. His curiosity was slightly peaked, "Ok mom, as long as long as we don't have to drive to far."
With that we headed off to Pasco County's Key Vista Nature Park. Before we could even get to the trailhead my son spots a gopher tortoise. He was so excited I gave him the camera and said "Get a picture!" "I nailed it momma!" he said with great pride. Next we headed over to the entrance sign to get a photo and he saw this peacock running wild. They are not native to Florida, but there has been one roaming Pasco County for several years now. "Momma look! A peacock! give me the camera!"

How lucky we were that he was in the mood to strut and show off his plumes! Spotting wildlife had peaked my sons interest and he was ready for more adventure. We headed off to the trail head to hike. To avoid the crowds we headed off the main trail on to a side trail. I was marking waypoints as we went. I knew if we headed toward the water we should eventually run into the main trail again. Well we come to a clearing and we spot it! There stands that infamous "Boardwalk to Nowhere".
"We found it!" He gets all excited. We look around and really do not notice any clues. We head down what looks like a main trail. I notice the tree trunks are black. Hmm there had been a burn. But not too recent...a thick sea of leather leaf fern covers the area rather nicely. I forget about the boardwalk and am egrossed in scenery and taking photos. Travis gets ahead of me and I hear "Momma! I figured it out! There are these burnt post stubs every 6 ft and it ends here!" He is standing on this cement pad in the middle of the trail in the middle the forest. "It must have burnt down!" I was rather delighted and surprised by his observation and deductive reasoning. But I played it cool as any parent would to keep the upperhand "Hmmm...yes I see the posts. Very good honey. I agree that this is the true end of the boardwalk." He walk away all smiles......
We continued on the hike spotting a Red Shouldered Hawk, some sea gulls and an Osprey nest. At the end of that trail was a wood fence with a sign posted "Trail Closed for Maintenance! Pasco County." Of course we could not read it until we got off the trail. We only ran into that finite boardwalk because we went off the beaten path.
"Momma that was fun! We need to do that again!" Hearing that was music to my ears. "Yes honey, I will find us some more trails and more adventures."
Mission accomplished!