Author: Cassandra West

Wild Indigo gives two families a first-time camping experience

June 26, 2016June 19, 2017 by Cassandra West Leave a Comment

After everyone set up their tents for the night, there was still plenty of daylight left for tossing a Frisbee across the grassy field, squealing with delight at a peppered moth–or fear over the daddy long-legs–and getting a big pot of chili ready for dinner. It was a perfect day for enjoying everything the Forest […]

A memorial for a mother who loved spending time in Forest Preserve

June 3, 2016August 3, 2017 by Cassandra West Leave a Comment

When she was a child, Pet Smith’s mother took her on many walks through the Deer Grove Forest Preserve in Palatine. “She loved the area,” says Smith, remembering her late mother Vietta Mickus, who lived in Palatine all of her life. “It was her back yard. She knew it like the back of her hand.” A homemaker […]