11 SoCal Summer Adventures
This summer has been off to a great start for my family! We aren’t doing any big trips over the next few months, so we’ve opted to take a lot of day trips around Southern California… no complaints here!
I’ve tried to set aside Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays as our “adventure days” for longer day trips, and then on the other days, we stay closer to home as we play in the backyard, do laundry, and run to the grocery store or library. It hasn’t worked perfectly (we’ve had a few camps and VBS programs that required tweaking the schedule a bit), but overall it’s been a good system!
By the way, my kids are all school-age! We couldn’t have so easily done three day trips a week when they were in the nap-time years.
Here are some of the adventures we took this past month, in June 2024 -
Schabarum Regional Park in Rowland/Hacienda Heights (LA County)
We were actually headed to Culver City to an event celebrating the new children’s book, From Park to Playa: The Trails that Connect Us, but we never made it that far! Facing nearly another hour of traffic, I realized we were right by the freeway offramp for Schabarum Regional Park… a park we had visited back in April for a picnic for my dad’s birthday. The cheers of my kids when I suggested skipping the next hour of traffic and going to the regional park instead was all the confirmation I needed!
This park is easily accessible from the freeway and has wonderful picnic areas with quite a bit of shade from trees. There is a hike into the hills - in April when we visited, we hiked a bit and saw a (non-venomous) snake that had just nabbed a rabbit… there was a fellow hiker shrieking about it, but my children were thrilled, haha.
On this visit in June, we ate our lunches, climbed some trees, and played at the playground. There was a man at the playground feeding the squirrels (!!) so my daughters also enjoyed making up some jingles about “don’t feed the wildlife!” (he unfortunately didn’t appear to notice, lol).
Location of Schabarum Park: 17250 E. Colima Rd. Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
Castle Park in Riverside
This is a fun zone with rides, an arcade, mini golf, and a splash pad. We visited as part of a group my kids are in, so it was free AND closed to the public, which was awesome. (I’ve never visited on a normal day).
My kids loved the rides, which had virtually no wait since the park was closed to the public beyond our group. We easily filled our 4 hour visit with rides and eating lunch.
They played at the splash pad for a few minutes, but the slides were very slow, so they didn’t last long (we have never been huge splash pad people). One of my kids was really into mini golf (the course is very big!) but the others quickly lost interest in favor of more rides… the log ride was definitely our favorite.
Castle Park is right along the 91 Freeway, but they do a pretty good job hiding it with some trees in certain areas of the park… we also enjoyed seeing their resident peacock!
Chula Vista Olympic Training Center (San Diego County)
This was a super-special visit for us! We are so excited to watch the Paris Olympics from home — and even more excited to attend the LA 2028 games in person! — so we made the trip down to south San Diego County to visit the Olympic training center there (officially called the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center).
Prospective Olympians and Paralympians come to train here from all over the US - sometimes for short sessions, sometimes as residents who live here full time (like a boarding school). There are only three training centers like this in the US, so we’re really lucky to have one in Southern California!
We had initially planned to take a guided tour ($10-20 per person) but when we called to schedule it, they said they weren’t offering guided tours that day because there was a special event happening. This turned out even better!
We got to attend a (free) Team USA archery competition. We knew nothing about archery, but it was still super neat to see athletes who had traveled from around the country and even internationally to attend the event! There were several previous Olympic medalists participating, as well as people who will compete in Paris this summer.
Archery is a little tricky to watch because the arrows move so fast it’s hard to keep up with what’s going on, but we hung around for about an hour in the competition space, then walked around the rest of the grounds.
There is a self-guided walking path open daily for free that guides you past some of the training buildings. Definitely bring a stroller if you have little ones - my kids got pretty worn out on the walking path.
You can access the trail for free without a tour, so if you live locally and have little ones, that could be worth visiting on its own… it’s very stroller friendly and pretty to walk around. We even got to see skydivers!
For $10-20, you can take a tour - you need to call in advance to schedule. I believe the tours are often led by Olympians-in-training, so I’d try to get a tour if you can! If there’s not a special event happening, the campus may be pretty quiet, so taking a tour would guarantee you a more interesting experience. Or call ahead to find out about other special events open to the public.
We had dinner plans with family so we couldn’t stay in the area longer, but we’d have gone to Otay Lakes County Park if we had time - it looked beautiful off in the distance!
Great Homeschool Convention in Ontario, California
Not a nature adventure in the traditional sense, but I had a great time hosting a booth for SoCal Nature Kids in the exhibit hall at the Great Homeschool Convention in Ontario.
Most of my work with SoCal Nature Kids happens behind my phone/computer, so it’s always so rewarding to meet families who are using the SoCal Nature Kids family science curriculum, and getting to share my resources with new families!
If you stopped by my booth, thank you! I’ll be there again next June, and would love to see you then!
Going to the Movies
We enjoyed seeing Inside Out 2 as a family on a hot summer day! I like going on Tuesdays because tickets are discounted to $7 at our local theatre (I think many other theaters do this too).
We haven’t made it to one of the super discount movie days that show kids’ movies from a few years ago (like Despicable Me, Sing, etc.) for a dollar or two, but they always sound like fun. Most theaters seem to do some version of it… I have heard that these often sell-out early, so get your tickets ahead of time (and expect a crowd!) More info here:
For the record, I would definitely see Paddington or Paddington 2 at the ones offering that movie… my favorite!
Creek at San Timoteo Nature Sanctuary (Redlands, California)
We had the most delightful afternoon at San Timoteo Creek. Not all of my children were excited when I announced we were going here… one was stung by a wasp here a few years ago, and on that same visit another lost their shoes down the creek! But, by the time we came home, I think we were all glad we went.
We didn’t see another soul the whole time we were there on a random Thursday afternoon… we walked about 10-15 minutes from the parking lot to the creek, then spent an hour or two splashing in the creek.
This is a natural seasonal creek, but due to a water treatment plant nearby, it now runs year-round, usually around ankle height in most areas, or knee height for little ones (of course, always evaluate the conditions for your own safety, as water levels could rise).
When we play in freshwater, I’m always pretty careful about not having my children put their faces in the water (nor do they use their hands to eat anything without washing and sanitizing their hands first, and we definitely wouldn’t drink it), but the water here seems pretty clean… much of the water here is runoff from a water treatment plant, so it’s actually been treated already.
Then we walked back to the car and were home by dinnertime!
For more info on the trail to follow and where to park, check out my Instagram post from a few years ago — all the info is still accurate! You definitely want to be sure to park at the lot near this address: 1946 Alessandro Rd Redlands, CA 92373 otherwise you’ll have a tough time accessing the creek.
Colorado Lagoon (Long Beach, California)
This adventure was brought to you by coincidental timing: I was updating a few links within my SoCal Nature Kids: Water family nature study and noticed a listing for Colorado Lagoon in Long Beach. Though I had researched it a year ago to include in the Water curriculum, I thought to myself, “Hmm, I can’t remember much about this place!”
Imagine my surprise when less than an hour later I opened up the newest OC Tiny Hikes guide in my email and it featured Colorado Lagoon!
We had an adventure day coming up and hadn’t decided where to go yet, so the next morning we were headed to the lagoon, and it did not disappoint!
The trail around the lagoon is lovely, with a bridge over the water… we even saw a ray swimming below! There is beach access along part of the shore, and the beach has hopping with families grilling, floating on tubes in the water, playing music, and hanging out under pop-up sunshades.
Sometimes it’s a little annoying to be in a crowd, but on this day, I was personally just happy to see families enjoying this space and spending time together outdoors. The water is super clean, thanks to conservation efforts, and it was a picture-perfect summer day. (By the way, it was completely free to visit and park!)
For more details on the hike, including a trail map, details on where to park, and more tips… you can check out OC Tiny Hikes (this is Trail Guide #38) - there is a free trial, but I suggest paying the small subscription fee if you live in/near OC. I am a paying customer myself and really enjoy Michele’s detailed info and inspiration on places to go!
Rancho Los Alamitos (Long Beach)
After the lagoon, we had a little time before dinner, so we headed over to the nearby Rancho Los Alamitos (near Long Beach State University).
It’s also free to park and visit, and we enjoyed about an hour walking around their beautiful grounds, visiting their farm animals (no touching allowed), and exploring a bit of their beautiful (air conditioned!) museum/visitor centers.
The grounds are very lovely, with several little hidden gardens. We only spent about 45 minutes here because they were closing, but we could have stayed longer… I’d come back again if we were nearby!
Channel View Park (Long Beach)
After our day at the lagoon and Rancho Los Alamitos, we stopped for a tasty pizza/pasta dinner at Marri’s (just found them through an online search for local food). Then tried to find the sea turtles in the San Gabriel River that are known to hang out here. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the right spot, so we ended up at Channel View Park instead.
This playground is a little funny because there’s a lovely view of the Los Cerritos Channel, with water rushing by and birds flying overhead… and also a view of the big ole’ ugly power plant across the channel too. But, the park has a nice walking path and a fun little playground (fully gated!), which made for a lovely place to enjoy the early evening before we headed home.
Backyard Adventure: Inflatable Pool
Does it count as an adventure if we didn’t leave our property? Let’s say yes, because I want to tell you about our little pool find! This would be great for little ones (supervise them at all times, of course!) or for those without great pool access.
We got this inflatable pool from Walmart last week for $25 and had a fun few hours playing in the backyard. It held five of us (myself plus four kids) with space for all of us to sit/kneel in the water (it went to our waists.)
It’s kind of like a giant bathtub, more than a place for actual “swimming” (at least with so many people inside), but it definitely beat the little hard plastic kiddie pools we’ve used in the past!
I had hoped perhaps we could keep the water full overnight, or at least the air, so we could use it again right away. Unfortunately by the time we’d used it all afternoon/evening, the water got pretty dirty, and we had to deflate it to empty out all the water (there is a spigot at the bottom, to empty the water, but it’s terribly slow.)
We hope to set it up a few more times yet this summer, though!
Legoland (Carlsbad, California)
Our final adventure of June was to Legoland, and boy, was it an adventure! We got annual passes in April when we spent a long weekend in Carlsbad, but this was the first time we’ve gone back since then.
My husband was working, so I piled the kids up in the car, ready for a day of fun.
There was a lot of traffic so it took nearly 2 hours to arrive, and by the time we reached Legoland we were dreaming of hitting the water park in just a few minutes… until I softly bumped into a curb in the parking lot and our tire pretty much exploded!
It was a scary couple minutes as we figured out what happened (we thought we’d somehow been in an accident) but thankfully we were able to safely get into the parking lot and discovered it was just the tire.
One call to AAA, a journey to Costco Tire Center, and three hours later, we had new tires and were headed into the park.
We enjoyed the Water Park briefly before it closed (so fun! so crowded!) and then hopped on a few rides for a few hours, stopped by ChickFilA for dinner (I guess the one in Carlsbad just opened last week?), and headed home.
Not the day we were hoping for, but thankful we were all okay… and that we have passes so we can return for hopefully a slightly less eventful visit!
What did you do in June? Any fun places to share? Any disasters like our flat-tire-in-Legoland incident? Come leave a comment on this post on Instagram!