I’d researched extensively to find activities suited to Alice’s age and interests, balancing outdoor adventures with cultural experiences.

Our first full day began with a guided nature hike designed for families.

Our guide, a bearded young man named Travis who clearly adored children, taught Alice to identify animal tracks in the lingering patches of spring snow, and explained how the trees would soon be budding with new growth.

“Those trees are actually all one organism,” he explained, pointing to a grove of slender white trunks.

“They’re connected underground through their root system.

What looks like many separate trees is actually one living thing.”