Coyote Point Recreation Area

I visited this place with my sister and her two kids (4 1/2 and 2 1/2) and we all really enjoyed it. We spend most of our time at the Museum, which is focused on environmental education. They have an animal rehabilitation area, and displays for animals that are not able to be released into the wild. The animals are all natives, which means no exotic critters, but the natives are pretty cool too, including a badger, otter, bobcat, frogs, raptors and lots of different snakes. The daily keeper talk was on the resident great horned owl, which had a broken wing. The other part of the museum has various mechanical gadgets that kids can turn, push, or otherwise manipulate to make something interesting happen. The kids may also learn about gears, lights, air pressure, but mostly they have fun. The recreation area is located near SFO and there are picnic areas near the water, and views of airplanes landing at the airport. There is a marina, playgrounds, and trails along the beach. This looks like a nice place to spend a hot summer day. There's also a golf course near the entrance if none of the other attractions are up your alley.

California Wildflowers

We had quite a bit of rain this winter, and the wildflowers in the desert areas were expected to be at their best. If you have more time, a trip out to the desert (Joshua Tree, Anza-Borrego, etc) is expected to be very rewarding this spring. Amy and I just had most of a day, so we headed to Hemet where Diamond Valley Lake has a wildflower trail. The lake itself is a reservoir for the local Metropolitan Water District and is only about 2 hours away from West LA. The sky was blue, with a slight cooling breeze and the hills were covered in little yellow, purple and white flowers. A lot of ant colonies were very busy with whatever ants do, tiny lizards (geckos?) were running around, and we heard all kinds of birds. A california quail was heard calling on a nearby hill and on our way out, a bunny ran across the road. Luckily we didn't see or hear any rattlesnakes, which we were warned about. You can check out a few photos here.