Let me tell you a little bit about our recent trip to the Outdoor Lab school where my firstborn will tramp around in the woods with her fellow sixth graders for a week this December.
Somewhat tangentially, have I mentioned, ever, how we just wrapped up the SUMMER THAT WOULD NEVER END? Because waking up early on a Saturday morning to drive into the cooler, breezier mountains for the Open House: totally worth it.
However.
The last leg of our drive involved bumping slowly up and down one of those unpaved, winding mountain roads ridged for icy conditions.
- I stared out the window of our 4-wheel drive vehicle and said, “How in hell will they get a bus up here in the snow?”
- Mr. Asthma Mom laughed at my ferocious, anxious gnawing on a fingernail or two. (I never bite my nails.)
- Our firstborn, AG, said “How are they going to get a BUS up here?”
- And the Sidekick hummed in one continuous monotone so she could hear her voice waver up and down with each tiny bump on the road and laughed hysterically the whole time. (Because she is eight.)
Yeah.
Up til that point, I’d made my peace with this little December adventure, mostly through avoidance, and that strategy worked right up until we reached this several-mile stretch of road. Then Open House started to seem like a really bad idea, just for the anxiety of that drive alone.
But!
The day started looking up.
Outdoor Lab takes place on a school campus set in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, not just a couple of cabins on a hillside like I’d been picturing, and as such it employs a principal and various permanent staff who all live up there. Which: if people live at the school, then clearly it must be prepared and well-stocked for both emergencies and hordes of 11 and 12 year-old children. Tweens. Whatever they are.
Gorgeous mountain peaks, open fields, hiking trails, and forest surround the whole campus, and some of the classrooms are actually original 19th-century cabins.
Plus, just look at some of the class choices: archery, wildlife, art, the solar system and all sorts of other options including a required Living History unit on the first day. The kids will also take one big hike to a nearby summit and back, even in the snow and cold (Hello, handwarmers).
How much fun does this sound? And just where is the Outdoor Lab for grownups? Is what I want to know.
Finally, the part of the tour that will successfully prevent me from experiencing panic attacks now and until I get AG back again safely after her week away:
The Clinic
I met the nurses and the respiratory therapist (!), introduced AG, and learned that,
1. When the buses arrive on Monday, all the asthma kids meet with the RT together.
2. They’ll also visit the clinic every morning to report how they’re feeling/breathing and how many times they used their inhalers the day before.
3. AG will carry her own quick-relief inhaler, but she’ll visit the clinic every morning and evening for her Flovent, along with any other kids who need daily meds.
4. Besides the permanent staff and the sixth grade teachers from AG’s school, high school and college counselors volunteer at Outdoor Lab, with the ratio working out to one adult/counselor for every five kids.
5. Every counselor and staff member carries a walkie talkie for emergencies.
6. I can call the clinic and check on AG anytime at all during the week she’s gone, even in the middle of the night. While I can’t talk to my kid herself – none of the parents can, and I’m fine with that policy – I can find out if she’s been flaring or needed her inhaler while hiking or even pass along a message to her through one of the clinic staff.
I’d heard about the incredible facilities and staff and knew that students come away from Outdoor Lab with lifetime memories, but there’s something to be said for seeing, in person, the place your child will eat, sleep, and learn for a week without you and to shake the hands of the people who will safeguard her health.
Mr. Asthma Mom and another sixth grade dad, while talking about the possibility of our daughters getting snowed in for a couple of extra days, even hatched a tentative rescue plan involving our jeep, a truck nicknamed The Beast, and some tow rope. It also involves my consuming several adult beverages at home while baking Christmas cookies with the Sidekick and trying very, very hard not to think about their drive back down the icy mountain roads.
It’s good to have a plan and I feel oddly reassured with this one, despite the boys’ obvious glee in half-hoping they’ll have to attempt it.
OK, I am seriously jealous. This sounds amazing, and extremely well organized. Why didn’t we do stuff like this as kids?
Feeling better? (Planning to stow away in her backpack?)
Holy awesome setup batman! That’s fabulous! I’m amazed they have an RT on staff — how epic is that?
So, you’ve got a lot less to worry about now, eh?
[I know you're still going to worry SOME. Because you are a mom and all.]
Tell AG we expect Notes from an Asthma Kid about it!
Heh, I know what you mean. I traveled to Washington, D.C. with my fifth grade class in Florida, but I’d been to D.C. lots of times already. This sounds WAY better.
And yes! I’m very relieved and not that nervous at all anymore. She’s going to have a blast up there.
We never had that for any of my school trips!! Not fair! That’s amazing.
Are the equally good facilities for kids with other medical condtions?
OK, I had to keep reminding myself that you are from Florida, and I am from Albera and that is why such an adventure seems so normal to me and so completely crazy to you! (Also, you’re a mom so you’re supposed to worry)
Seriously though, that’s awesome that you got to see it. I second Kerri, how epic is it that they have an RT?! They’re going to have awesome asthma care while they’re up there. Aside: I would totally love to have the job of the RT who lives there…
That’s really cool that it’s an actual school campus, it sounds perfect and super fun! Will there be other schools there at the same time or just AG’s school?
I got to go to outdoor school twice, in grades 6 and 8 – once in October and once in March, and we managed to have snow both times!!
Elisheva–The facilities are for everyone and they’re huge, but I didn’t ask about the procedures for any other conditions. They’re so well-organized and staffed, though, and the site features handicapped facilities, that I assume any issues are monitored just as closely.
Danielle–Yeah, I have plenty of experience with hurricanes, torrential rain, riptides, and everything else associated with living in a tropical climate, but I’m still getting used to parenting where we have a REAL winter!
AG’s school is very small, only 40+ sixth graders, so another small school is going up at the same time. They sleep about eight to a cabin – can’t remember the exact number – and it works out that half the kids will be from their school and half from the other one.
Heh, I would not survive for a minute in a tropical climate.
Well, the driving is definitely easier during a FL winter, that’s for sure.
Wow…. COOL! Sounds amazingly awesome and I second Kerri and Danielle about the RT.
I LOVE snow, and I hate tropical climates. Hence, I love colorado, but sadly, haven’t gotten to be there besides September and April. When it comes to snow, I’m like a fish in the water (no pun intended). (we moved to where we live in ’95 to be greeted by the ‘blizzard of 96′s 3 feet of snow when I was 5… the best winter of my life)