I love Arastradero Preserve in Palo Alto, but normally we keep our hikes close to home, especially if we have others joining us. But this week, Neil was at a camp at Stanford, so I figured I’d go on a hike with Kelly while I was there, and invite others willing to make the drive to join us.
As it turned out, two other families with children near Kelly’s age joined us, and we headed out to see the lake and hike up the ridge to Wild Rye Trail together. The lake was probably the favorite part of the hike for most of the children. They could spot fish in the lake and climb the trees.
I thought they might run down the hill the way Neil and Kelly did the last time we were there, but that was taken more cautiously as the parents pointed out the birds in the area.
Kelly’s favorite part of the hike was the chance to fill out a visitors’ journal in the nature center at the park’s headquarters. She even drew a picture to show other visitors the trees and a bird she saw.
Afterwards, she insisted I help her find the journal I’d given her and took to filling that up with her opinions and observations.