It's another scorcher of a 100+°F day in Livermore today. So my daughter and I went for a walk today early this morning along the Arroyo Mocho before the heat set in. We have been to a couple of different segments of this trail before, and today we headed to a new segment--near Robertson Park, which is the home of the Livermore rodeo.

As I wrote about our recent trip to Tassajara Creek Regional Park, I have been limited recently in my ability to hike. I have only been to the parks mid-week when I have my very young daughter with me. So we aren't really hiking for distance as much as hiking to make close observations about the natural world around us. Today we went to Livermore's Sycamore Grove Park and we had a blast noticing the different wildflowers blooming and wading in the Arroyo del Valle.

The shelter-in-place ordinances in both the Bay Area counties and, now, in the whole state of California have been a major adjustment. I am *so* grateful that hiking and walking is compatible with social distancing as we all do our part to flatten the curve, so that we can keep our hospitals from being overwhelmed. Because we have been having intermittent rain showers in the Bay, it's been a little hard to get out, even though we all need to walk in the sunshine more than ever. So when the rain cleared up this weekend for a few hours, we headed over to the Arroyo Mocho Trail, to a segment of it that is in our neighborhood.

The first two weeks in December were extremely wet, and this welcome return to the rainy season turned all of the golden hills around Livermore green almost immediately. As soon as we had a relatively dry day, our whole family jumped at the chance to soak in some sunshine and greenery at Sycamore Grove Park.

May Nissen Swim Center in Livermore is a really nice alternative to the more modern--but also more expensive--Robert Livermore Aquatics Center.

Lizzie Fountain Park is a tiny little park at the intersection of First Street and S. Livermore Ave. in Livermore. It is a little splash park where people bring their kids to play in the fountain near the lovely historic downtown. This was a big hit with my little toddler!

This is not a hike, but another fantastic East Bay swimming hole. The Robert Livermore Aquatics Center is a great public place to get exercise outdoors, and it's very kid-friendly. I was blown away by how nice this pool is, and the 9:15-11:15 am Toddler Time was just perfect for my 2-year old toddler.

A month ago, I visited this area of Sycamore Grove Park in Livermore. In my post on that visit, I opined that this area would be a great place to bring a little one. In this trip, I did just that: I brought my toddler to explore this shady, creek-side portion of this lovely park.

This past week I went to Livermore's Arroyo Mocho Trail on two separate occasions. It's a paved, multi-use path through a greenbelt along the banks of the creek ("creek" is the English translation of arroyo). On Memorial Day, my daughter and I stopped there on a spur-of-the-moment hike, because as we were driving across the trail at Arroyo Rd., I saw literally hundreds of goats. Apparently, the city of Livermore contracts with a goat herder to have the herd brought for weed control and fire prevention ahead of the Livermore Rodeo (a historic rodeo held every year on the second weekend in June). We went back today to look for the goats again, but they were already gone. Nonetheless, we very much enjoyed our walk along the creek as we listened to birds singing and watched butterflies flitting among the blossoms of California buckeye.

This was a return visit for me to Holdener Park in Livermore. The last time I went was late winter/early spring, and the hills were emerald green. Now in late May, they have already turned golden brown. It's amazing to me how fast that change can happen!