One thing I love best about Tyler Arboretum is how close its woodlands are to the city. A 20-minute drive takes me from the Philadelphia suburbs to its gardens and trails, where I can take a long walk – two hours sometimes – both along the scenic loop and beyond Tyler’s fence. I don’t know how many times in recent years, the changing light and air, the trees, flowers and birds, have helped me take a deep breath and move forward.

I think every family has its own special ways of doing things and phrases to describe them. For my family, whenever we had to deal with events, challenges and new developments, we would always take “a walk in the woods” to talk things out, away from distractions and surrounded by trees, light and shadow, wildlife and some beautiful views. We could do this because, for many years, we lived in Germany, where every city has its Stadtwald (city woods) close by. These are hardly city parks. In the hills above the Rhine River valley, we saw many wild animals, including wild boar, and the trails stretched through the forest for many kilometers. Weekdays or Sundays, if a problem came up or we simply had to decide on something, we would try to go to the local woods, some just 15 minutes away from home, to walk and talk things out.

The source of the phrase “a walk in the woods” was a bit of a family joke. My husband was a journalist, and, being Boomers, we had heard of a famous piece of Cold War diplomacy in the early 1980s, when U.S. and Soviet diplomats left their stuffy meeting room and took a quiet walk in the beautiful city forests above Geneva, Switzerland, in an attempt to reach a breakthrough on arms control. The diplomats emerged with a proposal, but, unfortunately, their governments ultimately rejected it. Our family discussions, however, were generally more successful, and “taking a walk in the woods” became our expression for finding the best way to resolve issues.

Walking in the woods is Germany’s national pastime, dating back to the Middle Ages. Apprentices, students, and pilgrims (like Chaucer’s, longing as much for adventure and fellowship as religion) walked all over Europe. Later, poets and composers from Beethoven to Heine and Goethe loved their walks in the woods, and the tradition continues today. But these usually aren’t wilderness hikes – Germany is one-third forest, despite its dense population, and many forests and meadows are very close to the cities and towns. Almost all are open to the public and crossed by well-maintained footpaths. There is relatively little “suburban sprawl,” so you can go from the city to your hike in the woods quickly and easily.

Having Tyler Arboretum nearby has given me and so many others just such a welcoming place to take a walk in the woods. I am older now, and a widow, so it is wonderful to be able to go to a place where you can walk for an hour or a couple of hours, up- and downhill, along a stream and through woods and meadows. And I appreciate the safety of its well-maintained trails!

One thing I love to do is to listen to audiobooks as I walk along. Recently, I’ve been listening to some classic novels that I read many years ago, and Tyler has given me the space to hear Anna Karenina, and even War and Peace. Those took some time, of course, but walking the circuit from the Rocky Run trail to the Dismal Run trail made it possible. I think my favorite walk is the peaceful stretch along the hillside on the upper Dismal Run (orange) trail, where you get a view over the little valley below. Nothing dramatic, but a lovely stretch of trees meeting overhead, woodland wildflowers in the spring and shade in the summer. Definitely, a place to reflect, absorb a great novel or enjoy a good travel book, and be very glad that Tyler has preserved these woodlands for the past 80 years.