Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Fresh Air Family Alabama Book - TPR's In Focus - Oct. 21, 2026

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Fresh Air Family Alabama Book - TPR's In Focus - Oct. 21, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Janice Hawkins Cultural Arts Park on the
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  main campus of Troy University, featuring the International
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  Arts Center, the Fred Noll Hollis Museum,
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  and the Hua Bao Zhu Gallery. More information at troy.edu/artspark.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is
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  In Focus, and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson.
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  Recently, I joined naturalist Verna Gates
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  in a visit to the Alabama Nature Center north of Montgomery.
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  We were there to preview her new book, Fresh Air Family Alabama:
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  75 Engaging Outdoor Experiences.
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  Verna is also a journalist and executive
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  director of Fresh Air Family, and she's committed
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  to introducing families to Alabama's incomparable
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  outdoor opportunities.
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  Verna Gates, welcome back to Troy Public Radio.
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  It's always a pleasure, Carolyn. Where are we? We are at the
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  Alabama Wildlife Federation Nature Center,
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  right by the gopher tortoise enclosure.
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  We are here to celebrate your new book. The name?
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  The name is Fresh Air Family Alabama: 75 Engaging
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  Outdoor Experiences for Families. You have been leading
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  nature hikes for years. You've been executive director of
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  Fresh Air Family. You run Gross Out Camps. With all of
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  this that you do, did you find a need to put
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  it in writing? Absolutely. Even though we have all this internet and
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  everything, it's hard to really find a great place to go hiking
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  that's going to be suitable to the activities you want to do, to the age
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  you are, to the age of the children. And I think one thing that keeps
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  people from getting outside is they don't understand where to go, when to go,
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  when to go, what time to go, what's offered at the outdoor places.
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  And my book encompasses everything from the stars down to the caves.
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  And you have checked out every one of them. What impresses
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  me is how all-inclusive this book is.
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  You can take it on a hike with you. You can.
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  And I wanted a guide that could really tell you where to go and what
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  to do while you're there, and if you could take your pet, if there's a
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  cost for it, what the hours are, and accessibility.
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  Accessibility is not just about seniors, it's also about strollers
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  and toddlers because some of these places can be hard
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  for them to access. So I wanted to make sure you knew what time to
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  go and when and how and who. The book has beautiful
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  pictures. Did you take some of them? Many of them. I've been hiking this state
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  for 30 years and I've taken a lot of pictures over the years. And people
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  don't realize how beautiful Alabama is. And we're
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  so unique, number 4 in biodiversity. We have 5 distinct
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  geologic regions in the state, all the way from the mountains through
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  the plains to the beaches. Everywhere you go can be just a different
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  look and a different place, different plants, different everything.
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  When you travel the state and were trying to decide which areas
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  to put in this book, did any of them surprise you? I had several
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  surprises. One of them was the Joe Farm, which I've never been to. Since the
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  1870s, this African American family has been farming there and
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  preserving beautiful places, and it's a fantastic birding area.
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  Another one was, I was looking for a place to look for the stars.
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  It was Roland Cooper State Park near Camden. We had the best time. Some of
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  my girlfriends and I went. It's a small state park. It's really nice
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  cabins, very inexpensive, and we were sitting out there at the fire pit roasting
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  veggie dogs and watching meteors come down. It was so much fun.
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  So you can see a meteor shower at Roland Cooper State Park?
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  Yeah, it's number 2 on the Bortle scale where you can see the Milky Way,
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  you can watch meteor showers, and what a great place for grandparents to
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  take grandkids. Little chipmunk trail that you can go on, there's a lake, you can
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  rent a boat if you want to go or go fishing. So many things to
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  do there, and it's sort of a hidden jewel. Verna, I've known you
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  a long time, and you are executive director, of course, of Fresh Air Family,
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  which operates, as I understand it, 100 day camps.
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  What is special about the Alabama Nature Center, either for
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  a camping experience or for a visit from all ages?
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  Well, it has everything you want. It has wonderful trails. You can either take
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  the Treetop Loop, which is a short trail that crosses a beautiful area,
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  or you can go on a Turkey Ridge Trail, which is a big 5-mile
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  loop that you can take. You have creeks here, there are ponds,
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  there's pavilions, and There's a beautiful nature center where you can see up
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  close species like the indigo snake, which are very rare,
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  and the gopher tortoise, which is becoming more rare. You can see animals
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  in there and watch what they do, and they have naturalists here that know everything
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  from the mushrooms to the treetops. So you're talking about an indoor
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  and outdoor experience, and what you were talking about,
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  the gopher tortoise, the indigo snake, they are critical
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  for the longleaf pine ecosystem, which is actually
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  endangered. Very much so. I tell kids that the longleaf
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  ecosystem, it needs fire. You have to have fire to germinate
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  the seeds. You can do the controlled burns. To see a longleaf
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  pine is one of the most beautiful trees, and it used to stretch
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  all the way from Texas all the way up to Maryland. Now it's just in
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  Alabama. We're one of the strongholds for longleaf pine. Let's talk
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  more about some of the places in your book because you cover the state
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  There's so many special places. Like, I took a friend of mine, was my photographer.
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  We went to Splinter Hill Bog, which is near the coast, and we walked up,
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  we're just talking, suddenly we went, ah, just phenomenal.
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  It's in full bloom, this pitcher plant bog with all these red flowers
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  and beautiful veins, and those pitcher plants are just so gorgeous.
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  It smelled heavenly, and it was full of insects and butterflies.
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  A lot of people think pitcher plants eat
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  insects. Is that correct? Well, pitcher plants grow in bogs
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  that are typically not very rich in minerals,
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  so they supplement that with insects. The hairs
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  go down so the insect can walk easily down to the bottom but not
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  come back up, and so they have a little acid down there that sort of
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  dissolves the insect, enrich their feeding. Soil feeds
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  them as well, so it enriches the soil for them. So, Verna, looking through
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  your book, the way it is organized is so useful because
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  you have a chart of different activities, everything from
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  what to what? Canoeing to biking to walking to
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  hiking to astronomy, everything from caves
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  and birding, a lot of birding, fishing, and places of culture
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  like Moundville, geologic wonders. Cherokee Rock Village was
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  another surprise. And so many wonderful places to go that orienteering
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  even and swimming, wildflowers, and where you can see wildlife.
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  How about pet-friendly? You know, I've added that in because I have a little terrier.
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  Can you take your dog on a walk with that or not? Some places don't
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  allow you to bring in your dog if there's a lot of wildlife that might
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  be disturbed by barking or a dog coming in. Another thing
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  that I noticed is that each chapter has suggested
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  activities and learning suggestions. After all,
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  nature is a teacher. It truly is, and that
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  was the hardest part of what I did. 75 different STEAM tips, we call them—
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  science, technology, art, and crafts. But it also gives you
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  something to talk to with your children about. In this particular setting in Alabama
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  Wildlife Federation, sit on a bench and see how many things you can hear
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  or see for a child, things that children can get into
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  and learn from. I've got all kinds of little tips in here. There's a place
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  in Joe Farm where they have the swallowtail kites. So get a kite, fly a
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  kite, and see how the air bends the kite in. How would you swoop
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  down if you were a bird? You're talking about trips that make memories.
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  Absolutely. Absolutely. One trip I went with you was to the Goat
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  Island, Jackson Island. You know, that, that little goat gave me a haircut that I
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  picked up. He was nibbling on my hair. It's called Jackson Lake Island,
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  and it was in the Big Fish movie. Right.
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  That is a fascinating place, just one of these 75
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  places that you're talking about in this book.
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  Are you available to do author talks? I'm quite available
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  to do author talks and book signings. I really want
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  to spread the word about how beautiful Alabama is and how
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  much there is to do There's so many wonderful places to go
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  and spectacular things to see. If you've never seen the White Chalk
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  Cliffs, they're famous in England, the Cliffs of Dover. We have them in Demopolis.
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  Verna Gates, thank you so much for the preview of your book, Fresh Air
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  Family Alabama: 75 Engaging Outdoor
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  Experiences. And we're starting here at the Alabama
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  Nature Center. Thank you, Verna. Thank you so much. Joining us for our
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  Back to Nature series was naturalist Verna Gates.
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  Author of the book Fresh Air Family Alabama: 75
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  Engaging Outdoor Experiences.
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  Verna can be contacted through her website,
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  vernagates.com. Thanks for joining us today for
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  In Focus, which is a podcast wherever you get your
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  podcasts. And feel free to get in touch at infocus@troy.edu.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported
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  Troy Public Radio.