[leadin]Anyone can send flowers or mail a Hallmark card. But for a more memorable Mother’s Day get outdoors with your mom for a hike, picnic, or something even more off the wall. Here are 10 ideas for a great weekend with mom.[/leadin]
1) Bike Ride
Pick a route, add a destination, include pavement or dirt (depending on mom’s preference), and get pedaling. A bike ride is among the easiest options for connecting, in the city or further in the outdoors.
2) Campfire Dinner
Take mom on a camping getaway and cook her a dinner over a fire you made (extra points for no matches or lighter). Surprise her with some real (remarkably simple) campfire brunch:
Make some genuine coffee from a percolator (we tested one for you) or other means, campfire French toast, blueberry muffins in an orange peel, and our editor’s own Mean Campfire Potatoes:
Mean Campfire Potatoes
- Place 2-3 Medium potatoes, 2 onions, 3 cloves garlic – coursely chopped – into a couple sheets of aluminum foil
- Drizzle with olive oil
- Season with salt, pepper, rosemary, and thyme
- Add butter
- Wrap completely, toss in campfire (on the coals) for 20 minutes, turning once
- Open carefully, and savor
3) Make A Postcard
If you won’t be able to make it back to the nest this Mother’s Day, you can still show mama duck you care by making – not buying – a postcard yourself.
A few ideas: put a first-class stamp on the back of a 4-by-6-inch photograph of you, address it, and toss it in the mailbox. If you’re really crafty, carve a message or design on a postcard-size piece of softwood and address it – remember, you’ll need additional postage if it’s over 13 ounces.
4) Hike And Have Picnic
If your mom is the adventurous sort, check out some rugged trails and surprise her with the picnic you’ve secretly stored in your day pack. Caveat: SECURE ALL LIDS! Go in the city at a preserve or visit a state park. Or, this year is the National Parks’ centennial, which means there are tons of events and deals happening all over the country.
5) Treat Her To Shooting Stars
From April 19 to May 28, the annual Eta Acquarids meteor shower rains streaking meteoroids at a rate of 60 per hour. This monsoon of space debris is constituted of fragments once belonging to Halley’s Comet. Prime viewing for this shooting (star) gallery will be during the new moon on the weekend of May 8 – Mother’s Day! For the best show, look to the skies between midnight and dawn, a perfect excuse to treat mom to breakfast as well!
6) Take Her To An Alpaca Farm
It doesn’t get much comfier than alpaca fleece – it’s warmer and softer than sheep’s wool, flame-resistant, and totally hypoallergenic. Not surprisingly, alpaca fleece has become increasingly popular in the United States, as has alpaca farming (over 4,000 registered farms).
Almost all farms provide tours, offer discounts on apparel, and let you get up close and personal with the animals (careful, they spit) – it’s a great way to get pics with mom and buy her the nicest socks she’ll own.
7) Take Her To A Pizza Farm
Alpacas aren’t the only farm attraction taking the country by storm, pizza farms are springing up across the country as farm-to-table movements and eating locally have become more popular.
Typically, a participating farm will open its gates to the public for one or two nights a week, and require all trash be taken with you. But the experience is one-of-a-kind. Bring a picnic blanket and a board game, see the animals, and enjoy an evening in the wide-open spaces.
Though pizza farms have taken off mostly in the Midwest, more farms are catching on across the country, from coast to coast.
8) Rock The Boat
Mother’s Day often marks the kickoff to sunny weather and ideal days for being on the water, the perfect weekend to hose down the old Alumacraft if you have it. If not, you can rent canoes and paddleboats, and treat the special lady to a relaxing – and, depending on your skill, hilarious – day on the lake.
9) Giddyup
If you haven’t got your sea legs, perhaps horseback riding is the way to go. Many unpaved trails outside the city are open for light riding and sightseeing by saddle. Many farms and ranches line the suburbs for quick getaways and horse rentals.
Don’t know how to ride? Ranches accommodate riders of all skill levels and usually have one old mare with flies buzzing around it specifically for the beginning rider.
10) Sweat Equity
If all else fails, don’t underestimate the value of pitching in to help your mom out around the house and in the yard.
Have her make up a wish list of projects beforehand, don’t tell her why, and show up ready to work. Plant a garden, put up a rack in the shed, fix the carburetor in the lawnmower, paint the fence, clean the gutters.
When it’s all done, have a home-cooked meal – or pizza – and enjoy a day well spent.
