Afternoon: Plan to arrive at the Outdoor Learning Center between 3:30 PM and 5:00 PM. (A shuttle from Duluth is available.) Receive a finalized schedule, welcome packet and nametag during registration. Settle into your lakeside living quarters and explore our site on picturesque Fall Lake.

Dinner: Informally meet the other participants over dinner.

Evening: Your official welcome and program orientation is when you will meet your instructors and the other grandparents and grandchildren through an introductory activity. Following this, an interactive gray wolf ecology presentation provides a solid base of knowledge for the week ahead.

Lodging: Outdoor Learning Center

Meals Included: Dinner

International Wolf Center Field Trip / Orienteering / Wolf Communication

Breakfast: Enjoy a hearty breakfast.

Morning: Visit the International Wolf Center and meet one of the Center's resident packs of wolves to earn more about how wolves communicate, play, hunt and eat. Explore the spectacular Wolves and Humans Exhibit, which won awards for the Science Museum of Minnesota. Hands-on displays show the fascinating, age-old dance between wolves and humans. Learn how a wolf howls or take a turn at a wolf survival video game. Meet up with the rest of the group to head to lunch.

Lunch: Enjoy a noon lunch.

Afternoon: Learn the art and skill of orienteering and navigate your way through the woods with the use of a compass on this afternoon program. Step-by-step instructions prepare you to keep you on track as you follow the orienteering course. Free time is scheduled to follow.

Dinner: Over dinner, discuss things learned in the program so far.

Evening: Howling is just one way that wolves communicate. After an introduction to several wolf communication patterns, head into the woods with a naturalist to howl to a local pack. This naturalist-led program includes an indoor introduction followed by an outdoor field trip.

Lodging: Outdoor Learning Center

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

North Woods Ecology / Beaver Ecology Field Trip / Predator and Prey Program

Breakfast: Enjoy a hearty breakfast.

Morning: Grandparents and grandchildren learn to identify prominent trees, flowers, and geologic formations of northern Minnesota. Gain a new perspective on the interconnections of this unique ecosystem through games, demonstrations, and discussion. This session includes moderate walking.

Lunch: Enjoy a noon lunch.

Afternoon: Visit the home of one wolf prey animal, the beaver. Learn how this animal, uniquely adapted to its watery environment, can successfully evade wolves and other predators much of the time. This beaver ecology and habitat field trip includes a moderate walk over some rugged terrain.

Dinner: Compare notes from the day over dinner with your fellow classmates.

Evening: What do wolves around the world eat? What adaptations do wolves have to help them in capturing and eating what they do? Wolves lead a feast-and-famine existence. Learn how they can hunt enough prey to feed the pack. Session includes the game "Muskox Maneuvers" for grandchildren and interested grandparents.

Lodging: Outdoor Learning Center

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Wolf Management or Wolf Activities / Wolf Research / Wolf Observation and Behind-the-Scenes Look

Breakfast: Enjoy a hearty breakfast.

Morning: Grandparents will explore wolf management issues, while grandchildren will pursue a number of wolf related activities. Wolf management has been a hot debate in Minnesota. Discuss a landmark decision-making process and learn how wolves have been managed, past and present. Uncover the complex issues of future wolf management during a group decision-making activity.

Lunch: Enjoy a noon lunch.

Afternoon: The use of radio tracking has been a monumental improvement in the quality and quantity of wolf research. A brief discussion of research history and methods is followed by demonstration with radio collars, antennae and receivers. Try your hand at using the same equipment used by wildlife researchers. Mapping is an important part of tracking wolves. Attempt to pinpoint the location of radio-collared wild wolves after learning the fundamentals of mapping.

Dinner: Enjoy dinner.

Evening: This return trip to the International Wolf Center allows you to observe the wolves at a new time of day. During the summer, the cooler evenings and nights are often periods of greater activity for wolves. This visit includes a "behind-the-scenes" tour and a featured film presentation.

Lodging: Outdoor Learning Center

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Enjoy a hearty breakfast.

Morning: Visualize Minnesota geology and identify common trees and wildflowers. Unfold mysteries in the signs animals leave behind. This interpretive hike to a view of the Kawishiwi Falls is about a mile in length over semi-rugged terrain.

Lunch: Enjoy a trail-side sack lunch in a beautiful spot next to a waterfall.

Afternoon: After an early afternoon return, enjoy the remainder of your afternoon pursuing activities on your own.

Dinner: Over dinner, enjoy the camaraderie of the other grandparents and grandchildren.

Evening: Historically, how have people viewed the wolf? Learn of the extreme views held by different cultures. Some myths are based on truth and some on fiction. Create your own wolf myth and present it to the group. Session is followed by craft time devoted to creating wolf related projects, such as a plaster casting of a wolf track.

Lodging: Outdoor Learning Center

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Enjoy a hearty breakfast.

Morning: While grandchildren put finishing touches on their "Wolf Performance" grandparents have about an hour of free time. Final program activities include the Children's Wolf Performance and a lively game of Wolf Jeopardy. This game is sure to be the real test of the wolf knowledge you gained over the course of the week. The wrap-up includes the opportunity for a group photo.

Lunch: The final meal included in this program is lunch.

Afternoon: Be checked out of your cabin by 1:00 PM.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch