We didn’t have iPhones or tablets when I was a kid, but we had a creek, which was far better. Instead of streaming movies, we just streamed, well, a stream.

It had all kinds of great apps on it too, games like Build a Dam, Feed the Minnows, Sail a Boat, Skip Rocks, Hunt for Crawdads, Run from Snakes and Hop Across Stepping Stones. Best of all, these apps were free and never needed updating.

Any time I got bored, all I had to do was go play in the creek. Problem solved. It was a source of endless entertainment for almost every season. 

Take autumn, for instance. Spending Saturday afternoon at the creek was the perfect break from school. After I’d been cooped up in a classroom all week, the creek offered a welcome invitation to adventure.