Healing through Nature!

 My youngest and I recently took a drive down to Mill Valley and walked the multi-use trail that I used to cycle all the time when I lived in Sausalito.   It was a lovely, sunny Sunday, and she was in the mood for a long drive and listening to her favorite music.  I chose this because I knew I could park at an EV charging station and power up while we were walking.    I love this trail for the birding opportunities.  While we walked it, I believe it is better on a bike. You can go a lot farther and it branches off to Corte Madera and Tiburon.  We essentially walked from Hauke Park in Mill Valley (where there are EV chargers) to Sausalito and back - about 7 miles.  It is very scenic with Mt. Tamalpais in the back ground and wetlands all around.   The trail was quite crowded with cyclists of all varieties:  serious cyclists, tourists that rented bikes, families with little ones.  The whole gamit!  Everyone was very wel...

My 6th grader's teacher asked us to to take our kids on a "field trip" and have them photograph and note observations on a variety of ecosystems.  Perfect opportunity to have my daughter and two of her friends join one of my park visits.    Tolay Lake Regional Park includes a working ranch with goats and cattle, and it was only opened for daily public access in recent years.  I have been wanting to go here for a while, so I decided that this was a great place for their field trip!  It  is located about 8 miles southeast of downtown Petaluma, bordered by hills between the Petaluma River and Sonoma, and there is a $7 parking fee (unless you have an annual pass). As we started off from the parking lot, it immediately started raining, but the girls were eager to observe and take photos, so they were not deterred by the rain.  Most of the photos on this post were taken by my daughter. Once we made it by this initial entry point, our senses were pleased wit...