Cameron Park Lake Swimming Lagoon

I was really excited when I first heard about this place: a lifeguarded lake in our area! Sort of. Cameron Park is actually a bit of a hike--figure on about 1 hour 15 minutes up to 1 hour 30 depending on where you live and which way you go. Now the reason I like lifeguarded swimming areas is because I have four small children, and though I am very diligent about watching them in the water I also know that human error is something that can't always...

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Roseville Aquatics Complex

There are a few of these water complexes in our area, which can be categorized somewhere between a public swimming pool (like Memorial Park Pool) and an expensive water park (Sunsplash comes to mind). All of these places are great if you're looking for something a little more interesting than a basic pool but not as pricey as a water park. The Roseville Aquatics Complex is definitely a good option, but there are a couple of reasons why I don't recommend...

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Turtle Bay Exploration Park

We've done Turtle Bay as a day trip, but to get the most out of your visit you might want to plan a weekend away and combine Turtle Bay with a visit to Shasta Caverns, also in the Redding area. Or make it three or four days and spend some time on Lake Shasta, too. Turtle Bay is a pretty good sized complex that features permanent and traveling exhibitions. This was a home for the "Art of the Brick" Lego exhibit as well as "Grossology," both of which...

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The East Bay Vivarium

Like the more semi-local Serpentarium, the East Bay Vivarium is a shop for reptile enthusiasts. They have a lot of really amazing animals here, and unlike the Serpentarium, there is no entrance fee. This shop bills itself for what it is: a pet store, where you can buy anything from a Colombian Giant Tarantula to an Angolan Python. They don't have the feeding "experiences" like they do at the Serpentarium, but you may be able to hold or pet a snake...

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King's Beach

Do you think you can't make it to the beach on a day trip? You can! Sort of. It's not the ocean, but King's Beach at North Lake Tahoe is about as close as you'll come in a single day. Lake Tahoe is a cold lake so wait until late in the summer to visit King's Beach if you plan to swim. Bring your floaties, sand toys and a big umbrella since the sun can be pretty fierce. This is a great place for a lakeside picnic and a day in the sun. Specs ...

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Old Faithful Geyser of Californa

(Unreviewed) Hey did you know you don't have to go all the way to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful? California has an Old Faithful of its very own! Now I can't personally say anything about this place but I gather from some of the reviews I've read elsewhere that at $14 a person it's pretty expensive for what it is. The geyser itself is located in a shallow pool of water, and it erupts once every 30 minutes or so. On site there is also a picnic area...

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Top 10 places to take your grandparents in Grass Valley

Dylan's first grade teacher sent me this link, it's probably the custest thing I've seen all day! :) The kindergarten class at Grass Valley Charter made this video of 10 places in Grass Valley to take your grandparents. It's about five minutes long, so cute and very informative, too! Hope you check it out: http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=aN6ushQiM7A&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DaN6ushQiM...

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Scotts Flat Reservoir

Scotts Flat is one of the smaller of our local lakes, so although you can take your boat out there for a day you may find yourself getting bored, since you don't have to be out there for long before you've covered the whole lake. Specs Type: Camping, Swimming Distance: Local Area: Nevada City Ages: All Ages Cost: $ Information: www.csrmf.org ...

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South Yuba Club

South Yuba Club is another popular birthday party venue, with a few different party types to choose from. The most basic version is the bounce house party, which is great for little kids. The party room includes huge balls that the kids can roll around on the floor, a table for food and cake and a place where you can hang a pinata. Party organizers will even make note of your child's gifts and clean up afterwards, so you need to do almost nothing...

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ASiF Studios

ASiF (which stands for "Artists' Studio in the Foothills") is an art gallery and community art center, where some 30 local artists create and display art in a variety of media. In addition to birthday parties, ASiF offers classes for kids and adults--you can sign up to learn how to draw and paint, or you can try your hand at clay and sculpture, printmaking and mosaics. Specs Type: Birthday Parties Distance: Local Area: Sacramento Ages:...

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Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum

Once upon a time, you used to be able to take your kids here for a beautiful ride in an open-air 1/4 scale train. The route went through a lovely forested area and stopped for a short walk through a Chinese cemetery. It was a great day out and just around the corner. Sadly, the railway ceased operations back in (I think) 2008 or so, when the economy did its big nose-dive. It doesn't look like they will be opening the railway again, at least not...

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Effie Yeaw Nature Center

The Effie Yeaw Nature Center is a really great, inexpensive way to spend an afternoon if you are in the Carmichael area or don't mind a bit of a drive. You have to pay a small entrance fee to get into Ancil Hoffman Park, where the center is located (though I am told there is a back way). Once inside you can visit the center's collection of live animals, which includes a red-tail hawk and a great horned owl. There is a small educational center behind...

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Pioneer Park Pool

There are two public pools in our local area: Memorial Park Pool and Pioneer Park Pool. Both are equally great places to take kids during the summer. Pioneer pool is open from June to mid-September. There are plenty of open swim times, and you can also sign your kids up for swim lessons. For grown ups and older kids there is lap swim and water exercise classes. Specs Type: Swimming, Birthday Parties Distance: Local Area: Nevada...

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Aerospace Museum of California

Specs Type: Museum Distance: Short Drive Area: McClellan Ages: All Ages Cost: $ Information: http://www.aerospaceca.org Even little kids will have fun at this museum, which features both military and civilian aircraft from various points in aviation history. The displays are both indoors and outdoors, so plan your visit during nice weather. Among the Aerospace Museum's collection of aircraft are a US Navy Blue Angels’ fighter,...

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The Discovery Museum Science & Space Center

Specs Type: Museums Distance: Short Drive Area: Sacramento Ages: All ages, but older kids will benefit most Cost: $ Information: www.thediscovery.org The Discovery Museum Science & Space Center is a great educational museum that focuses on science, technology, engineering and math. Exhibits are mostly interactive, and kids get to do things like role-play NASA missions, go on psuedo-archaeology digs or build and program...

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Sacramento State Aquatic Center

Specs Type: Recreation, Water Sports Distance: Short Drive Area: Gold River (Sacramento) Ages: Preschool up Cost: $ to $$ Information: www.sacstateaquaticcenter.com The Sacramento State Aquatic Center is actually a division of Sacramento State University, so much of the center's focus is on education and water safety. There are classes and youth programs in a number of different water sports and activities, but what makes...

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Sacramento Children's Museum

Specs Type: Museum Distance: Short Drive Area: Sacramento Ages: Infant to Grade School Cost: $ Information: www.sacramentochildrensmuseum.org The Sacramento Children's Museum is small but it's a fun place to play for a few hours, and has enough to entertain kids from toddler to grade school, though older kids will probably get bored fairly quickly. Attractions include a room where kids can play with water, create whirlpools...

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Sky High

Specs Type: Amusement, Sports, Birthday Parties Distance: Short Drive Area: Sacramento Ages: School age and up Cost: $$ Information: sacramento.jumpskyhigh.com My son broke his leg at Sky High--now I know that's not much of a recommendation and it is a pretty cool place, but not without its dangers. Sky High is an activity center that is basically just a whole bunch of trampolines. The floors are trampoline. The walls are...

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Long Ravine, Lake Rollins

Specs Type: Swimming, Recreation Distance: Local Area: Colfax Ages: Grade School Up Cost: $ Information: www.longravineresorts.com One thing Grass Valley is definitely short on is beaches. We're landlocked so if you want the experience of playing in the sand and water, you need to go to a lake. Tahoe is the obvious choice for most of us, but you may not realize that there's also a really nice beach much closer than that. Long...

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Golfland Sunsplash

Specs Type: Museum, Animals Distance: Short Drive Area: Roseville Ages: All ages, but not really worth the money for kids smaller than 48". Cost: $$ Information: www.golfland.com Yeah, Golfland Sunsplash is really fun. Really fun, but dang, it costs a lot of money. For an adult, you'll pay $28. But if your kid is more than four feet tall (my eight year old is) you'll also pay $28. And you don't save a whole lot if your kid...

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Folsom Aquatic Center

Specs Type: Swimming Distance: Short Drive Area: Folsom Ages: All Ages Cost: $ Information: www.folsom.ca.us I think the Folsom Aquatic Center is just that little bit better than Gauche, but I will always plug Guache to Grass Valley residents because it's closer and less crowded. The Folsom Center has a few extra things going for it, though, including a 165 foot long water slide, four diving boards, inner tubes and an obstacle...

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Fairy Tale Town

Specs Type: Parks, Birthday Parties Distance: Short Drive Area: Sacramento Ages: All Ages Cost: $ Information: www.fairytaletown.org Located in the same complex as the Sacramento Zoo and Funderland, Fairy Tale Town is really just an enormous kids' park. There are 25 play structures there, each one based on a fairy tale or nursery rhyme. Admission fees are pretty low and your kids can literally spend hours bouncing from one...

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49er Fun Park

Specs Type: Amusement, Birthday Parties, Arcades Distance: Local Area: Grass Valley Ages: Ages 3 and up Cost: $ to $$ Information: 49erfunpark.com If you've lived in Grass Valley for more than 10 minutes, you've either been to 49er Fun Park or at least heard about it. It's a great little local amusement center that is something like a cross between Chuck-E-Cheese and Scandia Family Fun Park. Inside there is an arcade with...

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Gauche Aquatic Park

Specs Type: Swimming Distance: Short Drive Area: Yuba City Ages: All Ages Cost: $ Information: gap.yubacity.net If you're tired of Memorial Pool but you don't want to spend the bucks to go to Golfland Sunsplash, you really need to try this place. One trip to Gauche (pronounced "Go-shay") and I swore off expensive water parks. Now, those places do have their appeal (mostly for older kids and teenagers) but when your kids are...

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The Serpentarium

Specs Type: Museum, Animals Distance: Short Drive Area: Lodi Ages: All Ages Cost: $ Information: www.snakemuseum.com The Serpentarium describes itself as a "living reptile museum," but it is also a shop where you can buy reptiles, amphibians, and even insects and spiders (Have you ever seen a bird eating spider? They've got one.) Besides the creepy-crawlies, the Serpentarium has a large display of reptiles that includes anacondas,...

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Chuck E Cheese

Specs Type: Amusement Distance: Short Drive Area: Roseville Ages: 2 and up Cost: $ Information: www.chuckecheese.com I know, but it's Chuck E Cheese. That dirty, crowded place with bad pizza you remember from your childhood. Ah, but Chuck E Cheese has a few things going for it that you might not have considered. The first is those black lights. You don't know about those black lights? When you first walk into Chuck E Cheese,...

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The Sacramento Zoo

Specs Type: Animals, Zoos Distance: Short Drive Area: Sacramento Ages: All Ages Cost: $ to $$ Information: www.saczoo.org Chances are if you've lived in this area for very long you've already been to the Sacramento Zoo. Though it's not as fancy or state-of-the-art as, say, the San Diego Zoo, it's still a nice little zoo where (if you take your time) you can probably spend a whole day. The Sacramento Zoo is not expensive (as...

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Funderland

Specs Type: Amusement Distance: Short Drive Area: Sacramento Ages: All ages, but smaller kids will enjoy more Cost: $ to $$ Information: www.funderlandpark.com Think you have to wait until August for amusement park rides to come to town? Think again! Funderland is open year-round. Sure, they don't have The Nitro or the Scrambler, but there's plenty to keep kids from preschool age to tween occupied for a whole afternoon. There's...

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Memorial Park Pool

Specs Type: Swimming Distance: Local Area: Grass Valley Ages: All Ages Cost: $ Information: www.cityofgrassvalley.com My kids love to swim, and besides a 10x10 foot inflatable pool we got on sale at Rite-Aide one year, we have nowhere to do it. That's why we love Memorial Park Pool--it's inexpensive, it's local, there's a snack bar and there's lifeguards. Did I mention the lifeguards? Three of my four kids are old enough...

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Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose

Specs Type: Museum Distance: Weekend Trip Area: San Jose Ages: All Ages Cost: $ Information: www.cdm.org My kids call this "The Clifford Place," because of its most memorable exhibit: an entire room devoted to that beloved book and TV show about a freakishly large, primary-colored dog. The Clifford exhibit is laid out like a little village, complete with a restaurant where kids can serve up fish and chips, a post office and...

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Gold Country Gym

Specs Type: Birthday Parties, Sports Distance: Local Area: Grass Valley Ages: Toddler up Cost: $ (activities) $$ (parties) Information: www.goldcountrygymnastics.com If you're raising kids in the Grass Valley area, you already know about Gold Country Gym. It's probably the area's single most popular birthday party venue, and for good reason. The gym is full of fun things for kids to climb, bounce on or...

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Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park

Specs Type: Parks, camping Distance: Local Area: Nevada City Ages: All Ages, but older children will benefit most Cost: $ Information: www.parks.ca.gov Malakoff Diggins is one of the parks that was on the list of state closures, but so far it has eluded budget-insipred execution. It's a pretty neat place for a picnic and a look-around, with a number of different attractions that should appeal to older children in particular. Malakoff...

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Scandia Family Fun Center

Specs Type: Museum, Trains Distance: Short Drive Area: Fairfield Ages: 4 and up Cost: $$ Information: www.scandiafamilycenter.com You know that giant spinny thing that you see from Highway 80? That's The Screamer, at Scandia Family Fun Center. Of course, the website makes no mention of this attraction and I know it's been closed off and on, so if anyone knows its status please let me know and I'll post...

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Bridgeport

Specs Type: Parks, Landmarks, Hiking Distance: Local Area: Bridgeport Ages: All Ages Cost: Free Information: www.southyubariverstatepark.org The longest single-span wooden covered bridge in America is just down the road from us in Bridgeport. This part of the South Yuba River State Park is one of the best local places to take your kids for an inexpensive summer afternoon. The bridge itself is of course a fun attraction, but...

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Purpose Ranch

Specs Type: Birthday Parties Distance: Local Area: Grass Valley Ages: Ages 3 and up Cost: $$$ Information: www.purposeranch.com If you have a horse-loving little boy or girl, a birthday party at Purpose Ranch is pricey but oh-so worth it. This isn't an ordinary pony party, but a whole-horse experience that begins with the kids gathering in the barn to groom the horses, a short lesson in horsemanship and safety followed by...

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Independence Trail

Specs Type: Hiking Distance: Local Area: Nevada City Ages: All Ages Cost: Free Information: www.southyubariverstatepark.org Independence Trail is America's first wheelchair-accessible hiking trail, which means something for those of us with small children and babies, too: it's stroller accessible! Independence Trail is a nice, shady walk that goes fairly high above the Yuba River and travels 1 1/2 miles either east or west...

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Empire Mine State Historic Park

Specs Type: Museum, Park Distance: Local Area: Grass Valley Ages: All Ages, but older kids will benefit more Cost: $ Information: www.empiremine.org Empire Mine is one of those places that you've always known about but hardly ever take advantage of. If you're a local you already know that this area played a big role in California's Gold Rush, but if you want to learn more about that role you really need to visit Empire Mine. Empire...

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Sonoma TrainTown Railroad

Specs Type: Trains, Amusement Distance: Day Trip Area: Sonoma Ages: All Ages Cost: $ to $$ Information: http://www.traintown.com There's not a whole lot at Sonoma TrainTown, so it's a good idea to combine your trip there with something else in the Sonoma area. The primary attraction at TrainTown is the 1/4-scale railroad that travels four miles through a wooded area. The route includes tunnels, bridges and a short stop in...

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Folsom Zoo

Specs Type: Animals, Zoos Distance: Short Drive Area: Folsom Ages: All Ages Cost: $ Information: www.folsom.ca.us/depts/parks_n_recreation/zoo/ The Folsom Zoo is one of those hidden gems that you don't find out about until you've lived here a couple of years. It's a little bit overshadowed by its more popular cousin, The Sacramento Zoo, but it has a few extra things going for it. The Sacramento Zoo has a lot of exotic animals--the...

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Skatetown, Roseville

Specs Type: Sports, Amusement Distance: Short Drive Area: Roseville Ages: All Ages Cost: $ Information: www.skatetown-roseville.com This family-friendly ice skating rink has a lot to offer for not a whole lot of money. And when I say "all ages" I mean it ... if your child is too small for skates you can rent a sled and pull him around the rink. Skatetown offers group skates if you just want to get out there and go, or you...

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California State Railroad Museum

Specs Type: Museum, Trains Distance: Short Drive Area: Sacramento Ages: All Ages Cost: $ Information: www.csrmf.org The California State Railroad Museum is not huge, but it has enough to keep a family occupied for a couple of hours, especially if you take your time and then finish your trip with a train ride along the Sacramento River. This museum is pretty inexpensive and has a lot of walk-on exhibits, which is great for...

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