It’s a little silly that we have been writing posts on this blog for four months now and not addressed Wildcat Canyon. We’ve mentioned before that this is our “go-to” trail, the place we spend the MOST time outside, the place our daughter has had two of her three birthday parties, the place that we…
This past weekend, the youngest hiker and I partook in an “Animal tracking for families” workshop at Lake Merritt, put on by the California Center for Natural History and Oakland City Parks and Recreation. Participants met at Lake Merritt and spent two hours learning how to look carefully at the world around us to begin…
How well do you know the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District? I’m going to guess not as well as you SHOULD. (If you remember from this post, they also have introductory geocaching hikes for families!) We live in the East Bay, so it’s rather a haul to get there, but trails abound! Today’s focus is…
“The Earth Moved Under Your Feet… Resting beneath your feet are the ancient remains of a volcano that erupted 10 million years ago. Strange animals once roamed here, like long-necked camels and three-toed horses. Today they are replaced by grazing cattle, deer, and domestic dogs. Slowly, over millions of years, this volcano uplifted, tilted on…
OK. We are in the midst of having another snow dump on the Sierras (yay!) and while we don’t recommend heading up there this weekend, if you haven’t managed to spend any time out in the snow this year, we really, really recommend getting up there at least once. We’ll have at least a few…
A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and… the kids? While it may not ever show up in “10 ways to woo your spouse,” weeknight picnics with the entire family can be a way of squeezing in a little more outside time. School nights can be packed with homework and feel stuffed to the…
We at Bay Area Families Outside are huge proponents of exploring everywhere. There are a multitude of trails and outdoor areas around the Bay Area– it’s a veritable goldmine of local adventures. However, this post is encouraging you to do almost the opposite– find your go-to, local, don’t-have-to-google-directions trail. We live near Wildcat Canyon, and our…
One of the treats this year’s abundant winter rains have brought is the revitalization of the Bay Area creeks. As we mentioned in earlier posts, there is something powerful and invigorating about watching your local creek come back to life. Beyond that, getting out and exploring the local watercourses during the winter is a tangible…
So… your kids are out of school and there’s a whole bunch of days ahead of you. You want to get outside but you’re not sure exactly where to go. Fortunately, we’re surrounded by lots of amazing possibilities here in the Bay Area. I try to plan out a couple of day-long adventures and then…
On Saturday night, we (the 3 year old and myself) joined several other families for a night hike led by NatureBridge. We had never actually been on an organized hike (although stay tuned for a round up of several different organizations in the Bay Area that offer organized hikes for families!) so it was a…
Bay Area Families Outside 